"Won't be weighted down:" Richard R. Wright, Jr.'s contributions to social work and social welfare

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, June, 2004 by Kevin F. Modesto

In contrast, Booker T. Washington (1903) downplayed the importantce of a classical liberal education and emphasized a grassroots, bottom up approach to uplift and self-help. His success in providing high quality technical training to as many Blacks as possible truly had a great impact on the community. His concept of moving people from being worked to work was critical to the spirit of uplift in the people (Washington, 1903). However, when these artisans moved north they were often met by barriers to plying their trade or finding adequate work. Many of these barriers were erected by fear and prejudice on the part of the majority culture.

Much of R. R. Wright Jr.'s contributions to social work and social welfare were born while trying to tear down the barriers of race and build a level field of free and equal competition for African Americans. Wright ([1912] 1969) believed that education and free and equal economic competition were the primary means to self-help and uplift. It is an ideal that was instilled in him from an early age by his parents and grandparents.

In his 1909 work, Self-help in Negro Education, Wright outlines the contributions of African Americans in achieving their own uplift. He shows how the education of Blacks cost Whites little or nothing. Wright (1909) quoted George W. Cable, an ex-confederate soldier, who said, "The Negro, so far from being the educational pauper he is commonly reputed to be, comes, in these states, nearer to paying entirely for his children's schooling, such as it is, than any similarly poor man in any other part of the enlightened world." In many ways, self-help was the only real option for Blacks during this period. In fact, Wright's commitment to self-help was so strong that in his work The Negro in Pennsylvania he criticized Pennsylvania's colonial practice of supporting Freedmen as a means of making Blacks dependent on their former masters.

Wright was keenly aware of the dangers of dependence and the messages that Blacks were receiving from both the majority White culture and even some elements from within the African American community. Philosophically, Wright fell between DuBois and Washington, actively advocating and creating opportunities for employment for all African Americans as well as encouraging and creating opportunities for the educational uplift of his people. Wright (1913) states, "It has been chiefly the school which is gradually raising the Negro from unskilled to skilled labor, and making even his unskilled service more productive, by enlarging his desires for consumption, increasing his foresight and in general strengthening his character." Uplift, for Wright, could occur through manual labor and or classical liberal education, but it was primarily a product of Negro self-help. His passionate defense of self-help would prove to be both a point of great impact and a point of contention.

Contributions to Social Work and Social Welfare

Eighth Street Settlement House

One of Wright's early adventures in social work came while living and working at the Eighth Street Settlement House in Philadelphia. His work there was a part of his fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Some of his early duties included teaching evening classes to many of the boys who worked in a variety of jobs and did not attend school. In addition, he had some recreational duties with the boys. Wright began to investigate the conditions in the immediate area and resolved that there was a need to facilitate home ownership among African Americans in the community. Thus, Wright proposed that the Settlement House start a bank. Originally the idea was not well received by W. W. Frazier, the benefactor of the settlement. However, he suggested that Wright explore the possibilities of purchasing all the houses in the settlement neighborhood and he commissioned him to conduct a study on the feasibility of developing a homeownership program for blacks in the community (Wright, 1965).