Grace abbott biography

ABBOTT, GRACE (1878-1939)

Grace Abbott

Grace Abbott was perhaps the greatest champion of children's rights in American history.

Grace abbott biography

She was born (November 17, 1878) and raised in Grand Island, Nebraska. Abbott was part of an accomplished pioneer family. Her father was the first lieutenant governor of Nebraska, her mother was a leader of the early Plains women's suffrage movement, and her sister, Edith, was the first woman in American history to become the dean of a major university graduate school, the University of Chicago.

Grace Abbott herself was the first woman nominated for a presidential cabinet post, secretary of labor for Herbert Hoover, and the first person sent to represent the United States at a committee of the League of Nations.

As chief of the U.S.

Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934, Abbott was the highest ranking and most powerful woman in the U.S. government when the Depression hit. She was the only trained social worker at the top political levels in Wa