11. A “Brilliant Woman in the South”: Sophonisba Breckinridge
Born into an elite Kentucky family in 1866, Sophonisba Breckinridge became a well-known social reformer. Like many of her contemporaries, she graduate from Wellesley College in 1888 and went on to become a teacher of mathematics in Washington, DC. After the death of her mother, she returned to Kentucky and became the first woman admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1895. Unable to obtain a clientele because she was a woman, Ms. Breckinridge went to work at the University of Chicago, where she ultimately earned a PhD in political science and economics. In 1904 she became the first woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.
Three years after earning her law degree, Sophonisba joined Hull-House and continued to focus her energies on vocational training, housing, truancy, and juvenile delinquency. As she became involved with the creation and professionalization of the field of social work, Ms. Breckinridge researched and wrote her first book, The Delinquent Child and the Home, published in 1912. She would go on to write many more books that focused on the on the challenges faced by immigrants as they assimilated to American culture and social norms. Additionally, she focused her research on the challenges that women faced as low-wage earners outside of the home and devalued laborers inside the home.
Breckinridge framed her arguments as an analysis on how social norms impact household economies. She was an advocate for equality and a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as well as a member of the National Urban League, Woman’s Peace Party, League of Women Voters, and Women’s Trade Union League.
After leaving Hull-House she collaborated with other reformers to establish the Wendell Phillips Settlement House on Chicago’s west side. This settlement house was a place to train African-American social workers. The Wendell Phillips house had a day nursery, supported several Boy Scout troops, and had programs specifically for women and girls. She retired as a full-time faculty member at the University of Chicago, but continued teaching part time until 1942. She died in 1948 at age 82. The Breckinridge House is named in her honor housing undergraduate students at the University of Chicago.