Department of Maternal and Child Health

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MCH/Public HealthMilestonesPart IV 1920-1929
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Greg R. Alexander, MPH, ScDCathy Chadwick, MPH
Donna J. Petersen, MHS, ScDMaryAnn Pass, MD,
MPH Martha Slay, MPHNicole Shumpert, BS

• Department of Maternal and Child Health
• The MCH Leadership Skills Training Institute
• University of Alabama at Birmingham

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Acknowledgement

• Supported by funding from the Maternal and Child
  Health Bureau

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1920
Womens Vote
APHA develops section on Child Hygiene
American Birth Control League
Maternity and Infancy Care Act Sheppard-Towner
Grace Abbott replaces Julia Lathrop as head
of Childrens Bureau
Child Health Association
Increasing number of public health nurses
First school of public health
Child Health Day
Almost every state has an MCH unit
1929
Stock Market Crash that will lead to the Great
Depression
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1920 Womens Vote

• In 1920, an amendment was added to the
  Constitution giving women the right to vote.

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Womens Vote
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Cities of 100,000 Provide MCH

• By 1920, all cities with a population of
  100,000 provided some MCH services.
• In addition, most state health departments had
  established an organizational unit for maternal
  and child health.
• The idea that child health was a public
  responsibility was generally accepted by the
  American people, although some doubts and
  opposition still existed.

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1921 APHA Section Child Hygiene

• The APHA established a section on Child Hygiene
  in 1921.

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American Birth Control League

• With growing support for contraceptive
  information and distribution, the American Birth
  Control League was established in 1921 by
  Margaret Sanger.
• Nonetheless, Congress still failed to pass a
  bill which would have removed prohibitions
  against contraceptives and information about
  them.

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Margaret Sanger
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Maternity and Infancy Care ActSheppard
Towner(1921-1929)

• The Maternity and Infancy Care Act, better
  known as the Sheppard-Towner Act, was adopted by
  Congress in 1921 and remained in effect until
  1929.

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Maternity and Infancy Care ActSheppard Towner

• The passage of this Act resulted in federal
  grants-in-aid to states for child and adult
  health programs.
• Another major result of this Act was the
  development of full-time units of maternal and
  child health services in state health
  departments.

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1921

• Grace Abbott replaces Julia Lathrop as head of
  Childrens Bureau, taking over administration of
  Sheppard-Towner Act

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Grace Abbott
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1923 Child Health Association

• The Child Health Association was created as a
  result of a merger between the American Child
  Health Association and the Child Health
  Organization.
• Its main focus was the health of the school
  child.

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School Children
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1927 Increased Number of Public Health Nurses

• By 1927, there were 11,500 public health
  nurses, representing a tremendous increase from
  the 900 nurses practicing in 1907.

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Public Health Nurses
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Schools of Public Health

• From 1918 to 1923, schools of public health
  were established in colleges and universities in
  order to meet the health departments increased
  need for more broadly trained personnel.

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1st School of Public Health Johns Hopkins
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1928 Child Health Day

• In 1928, the first National Child Health Day
  was declared by Calvin Coolidge.

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Calvin Coolidge
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1929 Maternity and Infancy Care ActSheppard
Towner

• Concerns about socialism resulted in the lapse
  of the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1929.
• By the time the Maternity and Infancy Act
  expired in 1929, every state but one had
  established MCH units.

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1929 Stock Market Crash
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Food Lines during Depression
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Maternal and Child Health/Public Health
Milestones 1920-1929Photo AcknowledgementsSlid
e 6 Three suffragists casting votes in New York
City(?). CREATED/PUBLISHED ca. 1917.NOTES
Caption "Calm about it. At Fifty-sixth and
Lexington Avenue, the women voters showed no
ignorance or trepidation, but cast their ballots
in a businesslike way that bespoke study of
suffrage." National Photo Company Collection
(Library of Congress). memory.loc.gov (American
Memories)Slide 8 Caricature of the New York
Board of Health. wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov. Courtesy of
the National Library of MedicineSlide 10
Doctor examines a small baby. www.ihm.nlm.nih.gov
. Courtesy of the National Library of
MedicineSlide 12 Margaret Sanger. American
nurse Margaret Sanger's lifelong campaign for
birth control made it possible for women to
obtain information on contraception and
reproduction. In 1916 she opened the first
American birth-control clinic, and later founded
the organization that became the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America. Culver
Pictures. www.encarta.comSlide 14 DHEW book.
Credits The Childrens Bureau Slide 16 The
peoples free dispensary, Portland, OR.
wwwihm.nlm.nih.gov. Courtesy of the National
Library of Medicine. Slide 18 Grace Abbott,
Chief of the Children's Bureau of the Dept. of
Labor, half-length portrait, seated, facing
slightly right. CREATED/PUBLISHED 1929 Aug.
24.NOTES National Photo Company Collection,
American Memories. Library of Congress.
www.memory.loc.gov
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Maternal and Child Health/Public Health
Milestones 1920-1929Photo AcknowledgementsSli
de 20 School children in classroom.
Created/published between 1915 and 1925.
memory.loc.govSlide 22 Nurses in a Row.
Courtesy of the Visiting Nurse Service of NY.
www.jwa.orgSlide 24 Schmidt JC. Johns Hopkins
Portrait of a University. Office of University
Publication, The JHU, 1986. Slide 26 Calvin
Coolidge. www.encarta.comSlide 28
www.encarta.com By 1933 the banking system in the
United States was near collapse. Some banks had
made speculative investments in the stock market
and were hurt by the crash of 1929. Others failed
when depositors, fearing that their bank would go
bankrupt, rushed to withdraw their savings. Here,
depositors besiege Merchants Bank in Passaic, New
Jersey. UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVESlide 29
www.encarta.com. The Great Depression forced many
Americans to go hungry or depend on charities for
food, clothing, and other necessities. Here,
people wait in a breadline to receive free food.
Culver pictures
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CREDITS

• This work builds upon the earlier efforts of
  Dr. Allan C. Oglesby, Cindy Camberg, EdD, and
  Cathy Chadwick of the Maternal and Child Health
  Institute to Increase Leadership Skills Project,
  San Diego State University, and draws upon their
  Manual of the History and Philosophy of Maternal
  and Child Health as a foundation for this
  multi-volume series.