Throughout the history of its development, the sphere of social work has witnessed the work of various contributors dedicated to achieving social equality and creating an inclusive environment in which all people can feel accepted and valued. Considering the diversity of such professionals is important for illustrating the multi-dimensional nature of the sphere. For this assignment, E. Franklin Frazier, a Marry Elle Richmond, and Dorothy Height were chosen. Their contributions to social work and accomplishments will be discussed from the standpoint of human rights, as well as social, economic, and environmental justice.
Mary Elle Richmond is considered the ‘mother’ of professional social work. She was instrumental in increasing the public’s awareness of the Charity Organization Society (COS) and the opportunities associated with supporting social work (Arnold, 2015). Therefore, her contribution correlates to work in human rights and social justice as Richmond traveled to visit homes of populations in need and worked to help them. Besides, she developed the concept of casework and suggested how it can be used to aid populations in need.
Edward Franklin Frazier was a social a prolific social worker and writer, a person of color celebrated for his book The Negro Family in the United States that analyzed the historical influences that impacted the development of the African-American family. Frazier was the first black president of the American Sociological Association and dedicated his work to examining the economic, political, and attitudinal factors that form social relationship systems and race relations.
Dorothy Height was one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement who, in her work, focused on Black women’s issues ranging from unemployment to family roles. Height presided over the National Council of Negro Women for four decades and emphasized the importance of political mobilization for women of color (WOC) as they were excluded from engaging in political affairs and could not participate at the same level as their white counterparts did (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). Her contribution was especially important due to the fostering of the dialogue between white and WOC and being a mediator in disputes during meetings of leaders with varying philosophies.
The problem of economic inequality during the pandemic has significantly affected people of color (POC), and the perspective offered by Edward Franklin Frazier could be instrumental in addressing the issue. As suggested by Frazier, the black community has been historically exposed to socioeconomic racism, which resulted in the exclusion of the group from opportunities to become financially independent and prosperous (Platt, 1988). This historical exclusion persists today as it has shown that POC are more susceptible to the economic challenges caused by the pandemic. According to Hardy and Logan (2020), several pre-pandemic economic conditions, such as lower income levels, higher unemployment, and greater levels of housing and food insecurity, have left black families with fewer ‘buffers’ to absorb the financial shocks of the healthcare crisis.
Frazier’s approach to studying social, economic, and political inequalities in the United States is essential in the described context because of the scholar did not share the disillusionment with social reform and action that supposedly gave more freedom and equality of opportunities to people of color (Jarmon, 2013). Instead, being faced with racism every day of his life, Frazier encouraged POC to speak for themselves and defend their freedoms because no one except them could do that. Therefore, if the social work profession was alive today, he would encourage POC to speak loudly about the economic barriers that have prevented them from surviving the pandemic without going into debt or suffering from food insecurity.
It is notable that besides economic inequalities, POC have also been experiencing health barriers before the pandemic, including the high rates of pre-existing conditions such as lung disease and hypertension (Shadmi et al., 2020). These conditions have an adverse impact on mortality rates among Black Americans, with the population being in the lead of the highest overall COVID-19 mortality rates (Hardy & Logan, 2020). This issue is important to consider because it points to decades of POC’s abandonment in terms of providing effective and accessible health care that could have reduced the impact of highly prevalent diseases. Such an issue would have been highlighted by Frazier, who consistently emphasized the socioeconomic roots of racism and the need to build collective forms of resistance and self-help to build a sense of community and mutual support.
To conclude, the issue of economic inequality in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly relevant to racial minorities whose lives were adversely affected by the healthcare crisis. The socioeconomic limitations that had existed before the pandemic did not go away but rather exacerbated, leaving minorities ‘to their own devices’ when dealing with them. Therefore, the contributions of social workers are imperative for alleviating socioeconomic burdens and creating a safe and welcoming environment in which people can recover from the healthcare crisis. Such prominent figures as Edward Franklin Frazier show an example of speaking loudly about minority issues without being afraid to be inconvenient or loud.
References
Arnold, S. (2015). Gender, money, and the Charity Organization Society: 1900-1919. CUNY Academic Works. Web.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020). National Council of Negro Women: American organization.
Hardy, B., & Logan, T. (2020). Racial economic inequality amid the COVID-19 crisis. Web.
Jarmon, C. (2013). E. Franklin Frazier’s sociology of race and class in Black America. The Black Scholar, 43(1-2), 89-102.
Platt, T. (1988). Constant struggle: E. Franklin Frazier and Black social work in the 1920s. Social Work, 1988, 293-297.
Shadmi, E., Chen, Y., Dourado, I., Faran-Perach, I., Furler, J., Hangoma, P., … Willems, S. (2020). Health equity and COVID-19: global perspectives. International Journal for Equity in Health, 19(104).