Relationship of race relations to social welfare reform
Winston explains the place of race relations in women's activism over social welfare issues during the 1940s and 1950s. Having noted that various women's groups in Raleigh, North Carolina, were primarily concerned with issues of education, welfare, and child labor, Winston explains that race relations in and of themself were not a primary concern for many of the women's groups with which she interacted. Nevertheless, she explains how after becoming involved in the State Department for Public Welfare, she worked to tear down racial barriers. Explaining that she was not necessarily a "champion of racial equality at that time," Winston explains that the perpetuation of "separate but equal" in training programs and welfare programs was inefficient. Instead, the goal was to improve standards across the board, regardless of race.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Ellen Black Winston, December 2, 1974. Interview G-0064. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- ANNETTE SMITH:
-
Were many of these women interested in race relations, in improving race
relations? Or can you identify some of those who . . .
- ELLEN WINSTON:
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Not really. I don't remember when women's organizations became directly
concerned with race relations. These were, in many cases, special
organizations, that grew up with this particular interest rather than
being the old line women's organization. When I went into the State
Department of Public Welfare, we had a professional Negro on the staff.
They had had one prior to that time, too. I do know that when I did the
WPA training job, we had training groups for whites and training groups
for blacks. One of the first things I did when I got into the state
office was to say, "Well, now, we are not going to continue to
have separate meetings and training and informational sessions on the
basis of race. It's too time consuming, it's inefficient, it's
wasteful." I wasn't really being any activ
champion of racial equality at that time It's just that I didn't
recognize that there were any particular reasons for not going ahead and
having everybody meet together. And we had no problems. That's the
interesting thing. In the 40's, we had no objections. We were always
meeting with people in terms of professional programs, but there was
never any question or any problem. And we were, from the beginning,
encouraging counties to have more black workers on their staffs and that
sort of thing. When it comes to the whole question of racial strife and
attitudes and so on, it just wasn't part of the public welfare that I
administered.
- ANNETTE SMITH:
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Were a good many people that were on welfare in North Carolina black?
- ELLEN WINSTON:
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Of course they were. And our big concern was that they had their needs
met, that we wouldn't have problems about discrimination in the receipt
of benefits
