Relations of Power: Issues of Gender and Class in the Struggle for “Security” in Old Age, 1927–1933

Abstract

What was it like to be old, poor, and female in the 1920s and 1930s? What kinds of struggles and negotiations did older women, including those who had once been financially comfortable and socially prominent, engage in to meet their needs during the Great Depression? These are the questions we take up in this special section of the Journal of Aging, Humanities and the Arts. Our approach is interdisciplinary, with an emphasis on close readings and narrative analysis of case files kept by social workers (called “Visitors”) on women age 60 and older who applied for pensions from a private foundation, the Luella Hannan Memorial Home (LHMH) in Detroit, Michigan between 1927 and 1933. This introduction draws on feminist theories to define “power” as a dynamic and relational process that includes both accommodation and resistance. A sociohistorical context is provided for the articles in the issue, all of which are based on LHMH archives, stored at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne ...