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. One of the biggest pieces of legislation of the
New Deal was the FERA which disbursed $500 million in grants for direct relief. Over its three-year existence, FERA spent more than 4 billion dollars in relief. However, due to the discrimination of the time, African Americans were disadvantaged and sometimes did not fully benefit from this relief. As a result of their growing displeasure and political voice of the 1930s President Roosevelt created appointments of a diverse group of African American intellectuals known as "The
Black Cabinet" of which Washington was a member (Barrow, 2007). In 1934 Washington was appointed director of Negro Work in the FERA under FDR. As director, Washington criticized and publicized the unequal treatment of African Americans at the hands of state FERA administrators and white employers. Washington used his post to assert that the federal government had the responsibility of ensuring equal employment opportunities rather than allow them to develop dependency on federal relief. He called for equal employment and educational opportunities to insure that black workers would be self-supporting. He also called on fellow social workers to assume an activist political role in advocating both within the
Roosevelt Administration and in the private sector for greater work opportunities for African Americans. In the face of continued silence and resistance from the Roosevelt administration, Washington resigned as director of Negro Work at FERA and returned to his post with the Atlanta School for Social Work in 1935. He remained there until his retirement in 1960. He died in 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia. ==Washington's Social Work/Welfare Legacy and Conclusion==