The Sin of Omission:

The contributions of African-Americans have been omitted from social work. This paper notes selected pioneer black women who can be ranked with such white pioneers as Dorothea Dix or Mary Richmond. Katy Ferguson and Cynthia Lugenia Burns Hope were exciting contributors in meeting the health, education, and welfare needs of African-Americans and others. they were innovative in their approach-spanning the free and slave communities of the black experience. Black women were movers, shakers, and ground breakers in developing the dual system of social welfare. They shoudl be included in courses of history/policy, methods, human behavior, and research, and there should be courses on African-American women. They have been on the leading edge in individual and institutional responses to human needs. Ignoring their myriad contributions is indeed a sin.