Forrester Blanchard Washington

Forrester Blanchard Washington (1887–1963) was an American pioneer in social work.

Early life and education Washington was the first of four children born to John Washington and Lucy Wily Washington in Salem, Massachusetts in 1887. His location somewhat protected him from the open racism that inhibited that lives of his southern African American peers (Barrow, 2007). "Washington's family raised him in this comparatively tolerant environment and was able to provide him with the opportunity for a rich education, one that was exceptional for African Americans of that era" (p. 201). His family moved to Boston where Washington graduated from South Boston High School in 1905. He graduated from Tufts College (now University) in 1909. He pursued a post-baccalaureate degree in economics at Harvard University from 1912 to 1914 and graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in social economy in 1917. He was married in 1918. Washington was a National Urban League (NUL) fellow and received his social work training at the New York School of Social Work, which subsequently launched him into his career (Barrow, 2007).

Detroit Urban League and WWI In the following years Washington held a number of important leadership positions. In his first position he served as the first director of the Detroit Urban League (DUL). He led the DUL when the city experienced the rapid growth of its black population during the World War I era migration. Washington called for equal employment opportunities in Detroit while urging the black migrants to adjust to urban life. However, his leadership of the DUL was short-lived when he was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight World War I. Washington was later released from the army when Dr. George Edmond Haynes (another social welfare pioneer) obtained his release so that he could help assist Dr. Haynes with the newly created Division of Negro Economics within the U.S. Department of Labor (Barrow, 2007). Although defunded and short lived, according to Barrow (2007):

Work in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Atlanta University School of Social Work Thereafter, Washington returned to Detroit where he would eventually become the director of the NUL affiliate in Philadelphia called the Armstrong Association of Philadelphia in 1923. He also became director of research for Associated Charities (Barrow, 2007). Three years later he became the director and educator at the Atlanta University School of Social Work (now the M. Whitney Young, Jr. School of Social Work). It was from this post that Washington would be recruited to become the director of Negro Work in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) in February 1934 (2007). As it relates to his tenure at the Atlanta University Social of Social Work, Barrow states:

As such, Washington felt that it was important to train other African American social workers to work with their own people. Washington's work was meaningful, but in 1927 he reached a career plateau and desired a change. Washington understood that, although there had been a northward migration, most African Americans still lived in the South. They had many unmet needs and few people and institutions to help them. He wrote to an associate and described "an epiphany" (Washington, January 5, 1928, as cited by Barrow, 2007). He had been encouraging other trained social workers to relocate to the South and finally recognized that "the only common sense thing [was for him] to practice what he preached" (Washington, January 5, 1928, as cited by Barrow, 2007). He made a decision to "consecrate his life to social work education" (Washington, January 5, 1928, as cited by Barrow, 2007) and accepted the position of Director of the Atlanta School of Social Work in 1927 (p. 177). This speaks to Washington's commitment to education, to his people, and to the social work profession. As aforementioned, this position led to Washington's subsequent position in the FERA during the great depression. The Great Depression called for new bold action to alleviate widespread suffering as a result of 1929 crash. This action came from the newly elected president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932.