Video Presentation Submitted by: Gina Grasto, Demar McClain, Michael Starks and Bea Turner

THE WOMEN AND POOR LAWS

White Men White Women and Children Deserving Poor (White Men, Women & Children) Undeserving Poor (White Men, Women and Children) Freed Black Slaves (Men and Women) Indentured Black Slaves (Men, Women and Children)

MARRIAGES IN COLONIAL AMERICAWhite men were encouraged to marry white women, single persons to live with stable families and divorced men and women were strongly encouraged to re-marry or risk a fine (Abramovitz, 94). Never married single women were seen as insurgents to the patriarchal society of the colonial times as well as potential financial burdens. Men deserting their wives were common among the poor, so not to become a public financial inconvenience, laws allowed women to remarry after their husbands failed to re-emerge within 3 years. Henderson states, "Divorced men remarry much more often than divorced women do and part of their quick economic rebound has to do with the added incomes from their new spouses. But even men who don't remarry recover financially within five years of divorce because of the higher salaries males typically receive." (1)

RAISING CHILDREN IN COLONIAL AMERICA bea

PATERNITY LAWS OF COLONIAL AMERICA

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Questions for Group Discussion

y Abramowitz discussed the qualifications

that were deemed relevant to gaining access to welfare during the earliest days of the United States of America. How does the stigmatization of the indigent apply today and what similarities can be traced back to the colonial days as discussed by Abramowitz?

y Given the overwhelming longevity and

systemic persistence of social and economic inequality between men and women in U.S. societal practices, what are some of the key reasons expressed in the readings that champion an immediate need for change concerning this devastating issue?

y U.S. History has shown to have always leaned

in favor of the personal security of WASP male through a patriarchal view since the creation of the country. What can be done to revolutionize this fundamentally flawed and biased approach of thinking when it comes to our country s ever changing individual, familial, and social dynamics that leave women and other minorities economically destitute while struggling to make ends meet?

References

Abramovitz, M. (1988). Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy form Colonial Times to the Present. Boston, MA: South End Press. Brown, N. (2009). History, law & policy for a foundation for health care delivery for Australian indigenous children. Journal of the Pediatrics Clinics of North America, 56(6), 1561-1576. DOI:10.1016/j.pcl.2009.10.002 Dinitto, D. (2007). Social Welfare: Politics and Public Policy (6th Ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Rosen, D. (2003).Women and Property across Colonial America: A Comparison of Legal Systems in New Mexico and New York. William and Mary Quarterly, 60(2), 355-381. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/3491767 Trattner, W.I. (1999). From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America (6th Ed.). New York, New York: Free Press.