Alice Salomon (1872-1948) was an educator and activist who was a foundational figure in the thriving field of social work that exists today.
Alice Salomon (1872-1948) was an educator and activist who was a foundational figure in the thriving field of social work that exists today.
While motherhood can take many forms, to mother is to usher forth new generations through care, work and imagination. For the entire month of December, we’re celebrating mothers — including those who raised children who went on to lead the civil rights movement and school desegregation efforts, such as Alberta King and Louise Little, as well as mothers of movements like Lorena Borjas who started the Latinx trans movement. All of the women featured this month were dedicated to the survival of children in their work and to imagining better futures for the next generation.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Anna Malaika Tubbs, the author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK Jr., Malcom X and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. My work focuses on motherhood, through the lens of feminism, intersectionality, and inclusivity, and I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about mothers: women who ushered forth new generations and new futures through their care, work, and imagination.
Today, we’re talking about an educator and activist who was a foundational figure in the thriving field of social work that exists today.
Let’s talk about Alice Salomon.
Alice was born on April 19, 1872 to a middle-class Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. Her childhood was blotted by several personal tragedies, including the deaths of several of her siblings when they were still young.
Her family was never very religious, but after Alice’s father died in 1886, her mother encouraged her children to restore their Jewish faith. Those efforts didn’t work. Alice would eventually convert to Christianity as an adult.
Alice finished school when she was 15 years old. She desperately wanted to go to university, but there were very few educational opportunities for middle class women in Germany. She decided to attend a small art school to study… needlework.
In 1893, Alice joined a women’s group dedicated to relief work. Through her service, she became aware of the everyday injustices of poverty. In her autobiography, Alice described feeling a new sense of shame about her own family’s relative prosperity. During this time, she often argued with her mother about whether they could part with the pictures on their walls and the rugs on their floors. She wanted to give everything to the people she felt truly deserved it.
Alice wrote, “During the first decade of my work, I could not see a man doing heavy and dirty labor in the streets without wondering why he did not attack people like me who were free from drudgery.”
These years were absolutely formative in shaping the rest of Alice’s life. In 1899, she launched the first one-year training course for social workers in Europe. She was also publishing articles on a variety of cultural issues, which helped her finally land a place at Berlin University in 1902. She earned a doctorate in 1906 and wrote her dissertation on gender pay inequality.
Alice later established the German Conference of Schools of Social Work for Women. By 1920, the field had gained official recognition, and women were earning diplomas in social work. She also helped found the German Academy for Women’s Social and Educational Work and later became the first president of the International Committee of Schools of Social Work.
After her success in promoting social work in her home country, Alice set her sights on the rest of Western world. She traveled across Canada and the U.S. in cramped train cars – stopping in Vancouver, meeting mormons in Utah, and talking to Jane Addams in Chicago. Alice found New York inspiring, and she encountered more modern approaches to gender equality – in some households men even cleared the table after a meal. All the while, she lectured to crowds in North America and Europe about the importance of relief work. She also became known for her activism for world peace during World War I and for women’s rights.
By the time Alice turned sixty years old, she was internationally recognized and celebrated. The school she had founded was renamed in her honor, and she was also awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine. But she was not able to enjoy these achievements for long. The Nazi party had come to power in Germany, and Alice was in danger.
Despite the fact that she had converted to Christianity, in Hitler’s Germany, anyone born to a Jewish family was considered Jewish under the law. Alice was subject to the same state-sanctioned discrimination and violence as millions of other Jewish people in Germany and nearby parts of Europe.
Alice’s name was taken off the school she started. She wasn’t even allowed in the building anymore. Nonprofit groups she belonged to dissolved and so did much of her social circle. Alice raised funds and advised people who were attempting to flee Nazi Germany. But, her opportunities to continue her life’s work in Germany shrank under Nazi rule. Still, Alice continued her international lectures.
But this also didn’t last. Her progressive politics and international profile made her a target for the Nazis. In 1937, she was interrogated by the Gestapo after returning from a speaking tour in America. They claimed her international travel was suspicious and gave her a choice: leave Germany within three weeks or be sent to a concentration camp.
Alice immigrated to New York in September of 1937. Though she was sad to leave her colleagues and friends behind, she remained hopeful for the future. She wrote, “So long as I lived in Germany, I was powerless. In sending me away, the Nazis loosened my tongue. Inadvertently, they gave me, after empty dreary years, a new lease on life.”
At first, she enjoyed a warm reception in America. In early 1938, Eleanor Roosevelt invited Alice to tea at the White House. And she was honored by various women’s and social work groups for her work as a philanthropist and educator. But Alice couldn’t find a stable job beyond speaking gigs.
It may seem strange that someone as influential as Alice would have trouble finding new work. But she was in her mid-60s and a war refugee. She didn’t become a U.S. citizen until 1944, so she was ineligible for public employment for many years. The job market was also tight, and many refugees struggled to win positions over qualified American applicants.
Alice committed herself to writing a memoir recounting her life’s work but she couldn’t find a publisher to take it.
In August 1948, a severe heat wave stifled New York for five full days. As the temperatures hovered around 100 degrees, Alice died alone in her apartment. The exact date of her death is not known.
Though Alice ended her life largely in isolation, her legacy has grown in the years since. The Nazis destroyed many of her writings, however the manuscripts of her memoir were re-discovered and finally published in Germany in 1983. Her school for social work in Berlin was also renamed in her honor. In 2001, the Alice Salomon Archive was created in Berlin.
Today, we remember Alice as a mother of modern social work. She was a feminist and educator who remained committed to her service to others during even the darkest of times.
All month, we’re talking about mothers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you Monday!