Summary Grace Abbott (1878-1939) was born in Grand Island, Nebraska to activist parents who worked for the Underground Railroad and the women's suffrage movement in the Midwest. After attending the University of Nebraska, Abbott and her sister Edith moved to Chicago to become residents of Hull House, a settlement house founded in 1889 by social reformer Jane Addams. Living side by side with poor immigrant residents of the community, Abbott became an influential advocate for immigrant rights, and served as director of the Immigrants' Protective League. As chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor from 1921 to 1934, Abbot was the highest ranked woman in the U.S. government, where she led the fight to end child labor, which was common in factories and mills, and introduced groundbreaking programs for maternal and infant care. She helped draft America's Social Security Act in 1935, which created the Social Security program as well as federal protections against unemployment. From 1934-39, she was editor of The Social Service Review, and a professor of public welfare at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. Interviewees: scholar John Sorensen, Director of the Abbott Sisters Project and editor of A Sister's Memories: The Life and Work of Grace Abbott from the Writings of Her Sister, Edith Abbott; Cristina Jiménez, immigrant rights activist, Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream.

• Documentary
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• History