The Untold History of Cleveland's Multiracial Welfare Rights Movement
Kimberly Stahler, Ph.D.
Introduction
This website seeks to change the way you think about poverty and democracy. It explores the untold history of white and Black women in Cleveland who built a grassroots movement for better public assistance programs. United by a belief in participatory democracy, they fought to democratize the welfare state.
Fighting Poverty in Cleveland
The welfare rights movement in Cleveland comprised a multiracial group of women who united to change policies affecting their daily lives. White, Black, and Puerto Rican women came together because of their shared belief in a radical form of American democracy called participatory democracy.
What is "Welfare?"
Welfare had a changing definition over the twentieth century. It came to be used as it is today (to refer to public assistance for families experiencing poverty) in the postwar period. When a person said "welfare" in the 1960s, they referred specifically to a program that no longer exists: Aid to Families with Dependent Children.