The right to work is the right to live: The social work and political and civic activism of Irene McCoy Gaines

Irene McCoy Gaines was an African-American social worker, civic leader, and political activist whose career spanned both world wars and beyond. This article places her career in the contexts of the community and the profession in which she practiced and chronicles her work to improve employment, housing, education, and social opportunity for African Americans. Gaines's papers provide strong evidence that Progressivism did not die with the Progressive years, that African-American women social activists had a voice distinct from that of white activists, and that racism and sexism conspired to make it extraordinarily difficult for African-American women activists to be recognized as social work leaders.