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Conclusion
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conclusion On foot and by bus, tens of thousands of African American women, with young children in tow and papers in hand, made their way from impoverished neighborhoods across Philadelphia to the doorsteps of public institutions to claim benefits and services for themselves and their families. They came despite the di≈culty of gaining access to state programs and the inadequacy of the resources that fragmented, poorly funded agencies provided. After encountering rebu√s and routine denials, they came back, bringing more documents to prove their eligibility. They came despite the myriad restrictions surrounding public programs, the numerous burdens imposed, and the intrusive surveillance that accepting benefits frequently entailed. They knew that those who sought assistance were often publicly condemned as lazy, immoral, and dependent, and black mothers raising children alone were the most stigmatized of all. But still they came. City and state bureaucrats did not advertise the availability of most publicly funded benefits and services, especially in black neighborhoods, but women heard about government programs through word of mouth and community networks and learned how to navigate dauntingly complex bureaucracies. Between 1945 and the early 1960s, working-class African American women claimed public institutions for themselves. 182 Conclusion African American women’s movement without marches resembles other tidal changes in American social history, when masses of ordinary people— propelled by the common problems produced by poverty and prejudice and pulled by shared aspirations for dignity and opportunity—have turned toward the places and institutions that seemed to o√er resources to improve their lives and their children’s prospects. Di≈cult personal decisions made by myriads of individuals and families generated the Great Migration that carried generations of African Americans out of the impoverished, repressive Jim Crow South to Philadelphia and other northern and western cities where both political freedom and economic improvement seemed attainable. The persistence of racial and gender discrimination amid the new circumstances of urban life induced impoverished yet resilient and determined women to seek out and take hold of whatever public resources might be available to them. In ever-growing numbers , they proceeded to the doorsteps of public institutions—to ‘‘1801 Vine,’’ the ‘‘dpa,’’ and ‘‘pgh.’’ Every woman whom o≈cials turned away was replaced by another seeking similar services; every woman who succeeded in obtaining welfare benefits, court-ordered child support, an a√ordable apartment in public housing, health care, or education for her children was soon followed by many others. In linking their fate to public institutions, women turned state programs into battlegrounds over the distribution of power and resources in the postwar city. Women’s movement without marches reverberated through the halls and boardrooms of city and state institutions, made headlines in the press, and altered many vitally important aspects of daily life in African American neighborhoods . For women whose schooling had been truncated and whose job opportunities were limited, whose family budgets were ordinarily stretched so tightly that any unavoidable expense could precipitate a crisis, and whose relatives, friends, and neighbors were equally impoverished, the scanty resources provided by public institutions were crucial in enabling them to support themselves, maintain their bodily integrity, and fulfill their responsibilities to their children. Yet women’s success in securing resources from public institutions rarely helped them escape from poverty. Taken together, the policies and programs that constituted the postwar welfare state sustained black women and children in a situation of chronic deprivation. Although Philadelphia General Hospital (pgh) sought to accommodate women’s demands, several institutions responded to their assertive pursuit of resources by introducing restrictive new policies. A harsh public discourse condemning women’s use of public institutions emerged as a powerful counterforce to their activism. Women’s movement into public institutions traversed a complicated terrain. [34.226.141.207] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 17:31 GMT) Conclusion 183 Public institutions were not integrated into a coherent social welfare system, but had grown up independently, forming a confusing patchwork of agencies and programs that remained full of gaping holes. Each program had its own eligibility requirements, rules and regulations, and institutional culture. Women made astute decisions when seeking public services, choosing programs that would help them cope more e√ectively with the most acute of the myriad problems that they faced: poor health, inadequate housing, limited education, discrimination in the labor market, and responsibility for the labor of social reproduction. Local institutions were not necessarily more responsive to their needs than federal ones, despite the fact that...