Historical Content in the Social Work Curriculum: The Value of Local History

Overview: This paper presents rationale for enhancing content on history across the social work curriculum and provides examples of how local history enhanced the undergraduate social welfare history course. Local history strengthens learning of important historical developments in social work and social welfare and increases awareness of students' future practice contexts.Proposal text: Knowledge of the history of the social work profession and of the historical forces that shape the development of social welfare is critical to developing competence in social work. Study of history helps students develop a critical perspective on current controversies within social welfare and the social work profession (Reisch & Staller, 2011). The study of local history allows social work students to consider the economic, political, social, and cultural origins of the problems that have shaped and constrained the lives of people they serve (Smith & Stuart, 1982). This paper presents examples of how local history can animate social welfare history and provide students with context about the practice environment, including relationships between diverse populations and the impact of unequal distribution of power. It also suggests ways in which social work programs can incorporate local history content into their course.
The paper focuses on the history of Detroit and southeast Michigan, where the majority of the students and alumni of the BSW and MSW programs live and work. Examples from three historical eras – Detroit’s settlement in the 18th century, the Progressive Era, and the Great Depression and World War II – illustrate how Detroit’s history complements and extends the narrative typically presented in social welfare history textbooks. The settlement of Detroit shows diverse populations living together, depending upon one another, and that there were hierarchies based on who had power and who wanted to keep power. The existence of slavery in Detroit reveals that it was not confined to the South but something that shaped social relations in the city's early days (Boyd, 2017; Miles, 2017). During the Progressive Era, availability of jobs in the auto industry spurred immigration from abroad and the Great Migration of African Americans from the South. Competition for jobs and anti-union efforts by the auto companies led to dangerous and unsteady working conditions and racial conflict. Interventions of the Department of Public Welfare for women and the Detroit Urban League for Black newcomers that aimed to help individuals adjust to circumstances illustrate individualized approaches to help and the need for interventions on a macro scale (Boyd, 2017; Ciani, 2005). Federal labor and housing policy in the 1930s and 1940s profoundly affected Detroit and its environs in ways that produced the racial conflict and activism of the 1960s with consequences lasting to today (Sugrue, 2014).
The examples include information from historical accounts of African Americans, Native Americans, and women that increase students’ understanding of the diversity of experiences. The pandemic has highlighted the race-based social and economic inequities that continue to affect Detroit and surrounding communities that have experienced high rates of illness, hospitalization, and death. As the profession addresses the impact of the pandemic, students who understand historical context will approach practice in ways that are sensitive to the unique needs of individuals and communities where they work and use the knowledge to work towards social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.