The project has compiled a list of some of the most significant events in American social welfare history.  It starts with the introduction of Africans as indentured servants for plantation owners in Virginia in 1619 and ending on August 22, 1996 when President William Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, ending public welfare as we knew it. The goal is to eventually include as many as possible of the most significant events that have had an impact on American social welfare policies and programs.

1600′s 1700′s 1800-1850 1851-1900 1900-1950 1951-2000 2001-Present

 
1817: Galluadet University Founded

1817: Galluadet University Founded

Gallaudet University for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing the first free U.S. school for the deaf is founded in Hartford, CT.  It was the first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing, and is still the world’s only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.

1963: March on Washington

1963: March on Washington

A major event in the centuries-long struggle to help black Americans achieve equal rights was the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.”  On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people from across the nation came together in Washington, D.C. to peacefully demonstrate their support for the passage of a meaningful civil rights bill…