Home Work by Ruby Oram

Home Work by Ruby Oram

How reforms to girlhood education in the Progressive Era cemented inequalities of gender, race, and class in urban school systems.
 
In Home Work, historian Ruby Oram tells the story of how middle-class, white women reformers lobbied the state to implement various public education reforms to shape the lives of girls and women in industrial cities between 1870 and 1930. Women such as Jane Addams and Florence Kelley used education reform to target working-class communities and advocate for their middle-class ideals of girlhood and femininity, which could vary depending on the racial or socio-economic backgrounds of the girls. For example, reformers generally encouraged white girls to care for their future families, while pushing Black girls toward becoming domestic workers in others’ homes. Using Chicago as a case study, Oram also explores how many of the reforms sought by white women were in response to evolving anxieties about immigration, health, and sexual delinquency.

An illuminating addition to the history of urban education in America, Home Work enriches our understanding of educational inequality in twentieth-century schools.

Ruby Oram is assistant professor of practice in the Department of History at Texas State University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226844336
ISBN 10	0226844331
Title	Home Work
Author	Ruby Oram
Series	Historical Studies Of Urban America
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Year published	2025-11-04
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.