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Full-Text Articles in Women's History
Bastardy And The New Poor Law: Redefining The Undeserving, Bianca M. Serbin
Bastardy And The New Poor Law: Redefining The Undeserving, Bianca M. Serbin
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
The English New Poor Law, enacted in 1834, signaled a new era of welfare in England, shedding the paternalistic provision of aid that was characteristic of the Old Poor Law. Existing scholarship positions the New Poor Law as an important landmark in the capitalist development of the English economy. This paper analyzes the text of the Bastardy Clause of the New Poor Law––which overturned the existing bastardy laws and said that mothers of illegitimate children could no longer receive aid from the parish––and contextualizes it as a major rethinking of charity in 19th century England. The debate on the …
Reevaluating The Pension System: The Struggles Of Black Widows Following The Civil War, Samantha E. Carney
Reevaluating The Pension System: The Struggles Of Black Widows Following The Civil War, Samantha E. Carney
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
Following the Civil War, the United States government invested heavily in the U.S. Pension Bureau: a government agency that distributed monetary aid to wounded veterans. This paper discusses the impact of race and gender with regards to pensions in black communities, as evidenced by the pension files of the 34th Regiment of the South Carolina United States Colored Troops. In particular, it addresses the lack of education and documentation amongst black widows which was largely due to their enslavement, in concert with the inherent racist and sexist prejudice of white Special Examiners hired by the Pension Bureau. This combination …