Grace Abbott was the most powerful woman in the United States Government at the time of the Great Depression. She was the Chief of the United States Children's Bureau. Grace was important not only to the children of Nebraska, but to the children of the world.

Grace Abbott, born in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1878, was a woman who put a lot of effort into her job in the government. She was a social worker during the Depression. She was the director of the Child Labor Division. While there, she started the law to stop child labor. She represented the United States at the League of Nations. She was a professor at the University of Chicago, and helped plan the Social Security system.

Although she died in Chicago on June 9, 1939, she is buried in the Grand Island cemetery, along with her sister who helped her with her jobs. If you visit Grand Island, Nebraska, you could see their graves and the Grace Abbott Park.

Grace Abbott as a little girl	Grace Abbott as Chief of Children's Bureau
Photos courtesy of Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer	Written by Adam (age 10) and Zachary (age 9)

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Grace Abbott

Principal Achievements

• Chief of the Children's Bureau (Department of Labor) -- the highest federal position held by a woman up to her time.
• Administered the first federal child labor law -- keeping children under 16 out of oppressive and dangerous work in factories, mills and mines -- called "the acid test of progressivism."
• Administered the Maternity and Infancy act -- the first federal effort to bring prenatal and child health care to millions of poor Americans --credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives -- also the first federal social welfare program and the principal precursor of the Social Security Act.
• First American appointed to a committee of the League of Nations.
• First woman considered for a presidential cabinet post -- highly touted to become Secretary of Labor.
• Resident of Jane Addams' Hull House.
• Exposed the exploitation of immigrants in a series of articles for the Chicago Evening Post.
• U.S. delegate to the International Labor organization.
• Member of the Presidential Council on Social Security -- a crucial force in the passing of the Social Security Act.
• Author of classic books on immigrants and children.
• Named by Good Housekeeping magazine as one of "America's Twelve Greatest Women."
• and, Coach of the Grand Island Senior High School girls' basketball team.