Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los AngelesMain MenuResearch of the DecadesResearch1960s Illustration DevelopmentIllustration DevelopmentPlaylists of the DecadesPlaylistssparcinla.org185fc5b2219f38c7b63f42d87efaf997127ba4fcGreat Wall Institute - Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)
1media/WelfareRightsorganization_thumb.jpg2022-08-01T23:40:05+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491960s Welfare Activism3Activists marching under the NWRO banner in the Poor People’s Campaign, Washington, D.C., May–June 1968. 1960s/70s Welfare activists were mostly working-class black and some white mothers, and the majority of them were themselves welfare recipients. As welfare recipients, women of color, and working-class people, they faced a wave of policies and ideologies that stigmatized them, policed their behavior, and made receiving benefits increasingly difficult. These policies were but one element of a larger political crisis, wherein the California government stoked racialized and gendered fears in order to shrink the welfare state. Rather than simply acquiesce to this reality, welfare-rights groups in California refused to accept it. In 1963, Johnnie Tillmon—a black single mother on welfare—decided to get in touch with fellow welfare recipients in Los Angeles. She was tired of enduring the stigma that came with being on welfare—and she did not want to endure it alone. She envisioned a group of welfare recipients that would support one another, exchange advice, and even pressure the California government for policy changes. In putting this group together, the first step was to find out who else was on welfare, or Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). “That was a hard job”, said Tillmon, “because that kind of information was not made public. We were in the housing project manager’s office one day when he was called to the phone. Instead of taking the call in his office, he took it from outside. While he was out, we started looking through the papers on his desk.” Among those papers was a list of neighborhood welfare recipients, and Tillmon “copied the names”. Soon after, she went door-to-door, spoke with neighbors in her housing project, and a group of welfare recipients began to form. This group came to be called Aid to Needy Children-Mothers Anonymous ([1], p. 18), or ANC-MA: one of many local welfare-rights groups across the country.media/WelfareRightsorganization.jpgplain2022-08-01T23:45:06+00:001960sGina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49
1media/Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 11.17.51 AM_thumb.png2022-07-20T18:19:25+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491963 Welfare Mother's Movement1The welfare mothers movement in Los Angeles can be traced to 1963 and the founding of the ANC Mothers Anonymous of Watts. Initially it had little connection with the larger women's movement, and its members did not view themselves as part of that movement. Later, after the formation of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), and especially after Johnnie Tillmon took the helm of the national organization, this changed. The turning point might well have been the publication of her 1972 Ms Magazine article, "Welfare is a Woman's Issue." By 1979 and the International Women's Conference in Houston, women of color and poor women had become a visible presence in the larger women's movement (which ranged from reformist groups like NOW to radical feminists) and were making their voices heard and their issues public. At the present time, there is only one interview included in the "Welfare Mothers" series: the oral history of Johnnie Tillmon, one of the founders and leaders of the ANC Mothers Anonymous of Watts. Hopefully, an oral history of Ardelphia Hickey, another key person in the ANC mothers group, might be conducted eventually. It should also be noted that Alicia Escalante, the founder of the ELA Welfare Rights group (later named Chicana Welfare Rights Organization) was interviewed for a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of California, Santa Barbara.media/Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 11.17.51 AM.pngplain2022-07-20T18:19:25+00:00California State University, Long Beach University Archives1963Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49
1media/Lyndon Johnson Kentucky 1964_thumb.jpeg2022-08-01T20:09:48+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491964 War on Poverty1President Lyndon B. Johnson declares the 'War on Poverty' and proposes the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which lays the ground for projects through the Office of Economic Opportunity. In his State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced his “war on poverty,” when the national poverty rate was 19 percent. His project created Medicare, Medicaid, a permanent food stamp program, Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America and the Job Corps.media/Lyndon Johnson Kentucky 1964.jpegplain2022-08-01T20:09:48+00:001964Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49
1media/Yakima Valley_thumb.jpg2022-08-01T21:08:00+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491964 The Yakima Valley Council for Community Action(YVCCA) is organized to coordinate the War on Poverty efforts in the Valley.1Late Nov.-Dec. 1965: The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee initiates a national table grape boycott. In Washington’s Yakima Valley, justice for farm workers would be aided by federal “war on poverty” programs. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed off on the “Economic Opportunity Act of 1964,” effectively initiating the “war on poverty,” as well as the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), with the aim of alleviating the harsh conditions encountered by many populations that had been previously institutionally neglected.3 The role of the war on poverty’s Yakima Valley administrative entity, the Yakima Valley Council for Community (YVCCA), was to train a group of Chicana/o leaders that would organize independently of the YVCCA. The YVCCA thus ushered in the organizational framework of el Movimiento by training its leaders. Prior to war on poverty efforts, the Catholic Cursillo Movement in the Valley trained individuals to take leadership positions within the community.4 The Cursillo movement began in the U.S. in 1957 as a Catholic ministry designed to train members in community leadership and engagement via weekend retreats. One organizer, Ricardo Garcia, noted that Cursillo activity existed around 1964-65, while others contend that Cursillismo didn’t necessarily have an impact until 1967. The movement stressed unity and action to better the lives of others. At the peak of Cursillo and YVCCA action, organizers helped establish centers throughout the valley to aid many of those in need, especially farm workers.media/Yakima Valley.jpgplain2022-08-01T21:08:00+00:001964Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49
1media/National Welfare Rights Organization_thumb.jpeg2022-08-02T00:26:46+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491966 The National Welfare Rights Organization1“I’m a woman. I’m a Black woman. I’m a poor woman. I’m a fat woman. I’m a middle-aged woman. And I’m on welfare,” Tillmon writes in her landmark 1972 essay, “Welfare is a Women’s Issue,” published in Ms. magazine. “In this country, if you’re any of those things you count less as a human being. If you’re all of those things, you don’t count at all.” In 1966—three years after ANC-MA’s founding—welfare recipients built a national group: the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). The NWRO used lobbying and direct action to pursue a three-pronged agenda: a “guaranteed annual income”, an increase in “availability of welfare benefits and services”, and improved “access to consumer credit ([3], p. 301).” Johnnie Tillmon was selected to serve as the NWRO’s chair, bringing with her the knowledge and experience she had gained in California. Across California, welfare-rights activism grew organically: in living rooms and churches. It organized in direct opposition to the language and policies of Governor Ronald Reagan, the California legislature, bigoted social workers, and even middle-class black and feminist communities. It formed local organizations, including Tillmon’s ANC-MA, the California Welfare Rights Organization (CWRO), and many others. Imedia/National Welfare Rights Organization.jpegplain2022-08-02T00:26:46+00:001966file:///Users/labuser/Downloads/humanities-06-00014-v2.pdfGina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49
1media/Welfare_thumb.jpg2022-08-02T00:41:22+00:00Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a491935 ADC to 1962 AFDC1Welfare - Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) established in 1935, made money available exclusively to children, signaling distrust of poor adults and made it apparent that welfare was a resource for circumstantial "undeserved" poverty. In 1962 - ADC became AID to FAMILIES with DEPENDENT CHILDREN (AFDC). AFDC was similar to its predecessor in that it was carried out by individual states and still aimed to enforce traditional gender roles, but now served families. Under AFDC, welfare recipients were heavily policed. In many states, they were subject to “employable mother” laws, which “required all able-bodied mothers to work when ‘suitable work’ was available”; other laws disqualified welfare recipients who had children out of wedlock. ADC, AFDC, and the Moynihan Report helped to shape local policies and narratives. Governor Reagan’s California was particularly averse to the notion of welfare, let alone welfare rights—so Tillmon, Johnson, Jermany, and other activists had a huge task ahead.media/Welfare.jpgplain2022-08-02T00:41:22+00:001962file:///Users/labuser/Downloads/humanities-06-00014-v2.pdf and https://www.newamerica.org/weekly/rise-and-reign-welfare-queen/Gina Leonf0ac362b4453e23ee8a94b1a49fbeeafde2a0a49