Search Results

This chapter discusses how not all black social worker activists decided to work within organizations. The social workers who chose to participate with organizations eventually created an autonomous institution, the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). The chapter presents the historical context of NABSW's emergence, examining their grievances, demands, strategies and tactics, and outcomes of the mobilization. Through an analysis of the content of their movement activities and the culture of the organization, the chapter argues that NABSW's struggle, while starting as a demand for more substantial voice within the profession, ultimately employed an exit strategy, which led to their separation from the National Conference on Social Welfare (NCSW) to pursue their goals independent of the restrictions of the larger professional organization.

This introductory chapter examines the historical documents of two black social movements, National Conference on Social Welfare (NCSW) and National Federation of Settlements (NFS). The differences in the organizational cultures of NFS and NCSW, the strategic decisions made by their leaders, and the network of relationships between black social workers across the two organizations explain the several factors that either promote or restrict the incorporation of movement ideas into organizations. The chapter also presents the book's overarching goals. First, it argues that the inclusion of movements into organizations is already a very movement-like process. Second, it claims that Black Power was the primary motivation and political lens for the creation of new racial organizational practice in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Finally, it asserts that the development of black associational life is an essential outcome of the Black Power movement that has had broad implications in the professions.

This chapter analyzes the outcomes of black social workers' activism in these two relatively similar social work organizations: National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) and the Techni-Culture Movement (TCM). While both had the same goals, employed similar tactics, and had a cross-membership of activists, they pursued different strategies and had very contrasting outcomes. Leadership and organizational culture both have a significant role in explaining the different paths of these two intra-organizational social movements (IOSMs). The chapter claims that differences in the racial discourse and practices of the NFS and NCSW, along with organizational identities and legacies surrounding social action, formed their respective organizational cultures such that black activists encountered diverse targets. In addition, the leaders of the NABSW and TCM made decisions—which are turning points in their mobilization campaigns' trajectories—that also help explain their different outcomes.

This chapter traces the history of the National Urban League with a specific focus on Eugene Kinckle Jones's leadership. It covers the decade of the 1920s and the many issues that Jones and his contemporaries confronted, as social workers faced the dual challenge of adjusting their tactics to meet the growing needs of a black migrant population and establishing themselves as professionals. Ultimately, the duties of black social workers and the aims of the NUL included evaluating and reviewing settlement houses, in addition to other specific concerns of migrating blacks. Here, Jones made headway for the social-work movement by establishing professional training for black social workers, tackling the problem of housing to cope with the influx of black migrants from the South—among many other efforts on behalf of black social workers, which eventually made him one of the prominent social workers in America..

This chapter outlines the mobilization process of black social workers within the National Federation of Settlements (NFS). This process resulted in the emergence of the Black Caucus of Settlement Workers and its attempted transition from a black assembly to a multicultural campaign for representation—also known as the Techni-Culture Movement (TCM). Similar to the development of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), the TCM's growth takes place within the context of the expansion of Black Power politics. The chapter considers the demands, grievances, strategies, and outcomes of the TCM's activism. These social workers employed a voice strategy and maintained a commitment to gaining representation throughout their mobilization, which ended in the so-called “black takeover.” The chapter also tackles the emotional dynamics at work in conflicts within the organization.

This chapter discusses how black professional associational life developed during the Black Power era. Black professional associations emerged from a combination of two principal factors: unprecedented black access to both white-collar employment and higher education, and the Black Power movement ideology of “closing ranks” by establishing independent black organizations. The simultaneous rise of Great Society antipoverty programs led to a gathering of black professionals in both government and non-profit programs serving the black poor, which makes for an ideal case in examining the process of intra-organizational social movements (IOSMs). The chapter also describes the relationship between the action and organization of black social workers and the framing of the Black Power movement.

This chapter looks at the strategies for implementing anti-racist practice. In the 1980s the anti-racist social work movement argued that effective anti-racist practice would also require the significant recruitment of black and Asian workers who could challenge practice on the frontline and change the culture of social work organisations. This chapter revisits some of the early 1980s debates and traces the history of the anti-racist social work movement and the role of early leaders of that movement. But rather than an overt focus on policy regimes and bureaucracies, which many in the 1980s became concerned to focus on, it argues we need to look at the practices and the networks of anti-racist practitioners ‘the catalysers’ who can bring about significant organisational changes to services.