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Dorothea Spellmann

Running heading: DOROTHEA SPELLMANN

Dorothea Spellmann
Karmen Andrews
Social Work: A Helping Profession SOCW 2113
Professor Rehder
October 22, 2009

Abstract

Dorothea Spellmann
Ms. Dorothea Spellmann was a social work pioneer. At a time in United States History when social work was forming national and local organization, she worked in establishing foundations for many organizations that are still operating today. She worked in the social work profession at many different levels and areas.
Spellmann was born in 1907 in St. Louis, MO. She attended Washington University in St. Louis, MO and earned her a Bachelor’s Degree in 1928 (National Association of Social Workers, 2009). Her Bachelor’s Degree was in Sociology and Psychology (Kayser, personal communication, September 29, 2009). After graduation, she taught high school then earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the School of Applied Social Sciences (SASS) of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, specializing in group work (Kayser, 2009). Spellmann attended classes at SASS with Mary Blake and studied under Wilbur I. Newstetter, Grace Coyle, Gertrude Wilson, and Gladys Ryland (Blake, 1979).
Spellmann worked for the Cleveland YWCA in the Girl Reserve and Young Adult Departments. She spent three years at the Brashear Settlement House located on the campus of Pittsburgh University (Calkin, 1979). She worked at the YWCA in Honolulu, HI, from 1936-1944 and was in Honolulu during the attack on Pearl Harbor (Kayser, 2009). In 1944 she visited a Japanese American internment camp in Wyoming and wrote “Horizons Can Be Clear” for the Reporter discussing the camp and the challenges the Japanese Americans faced due to being relocated to the camp and living in the camp (Heimsoth, 2005). In the 1930’s and 1940’s Spellmann helped to organize the Social Services Employee Union and the American Civil Liberties Union (National Association of Social Workers, 2009). She supported...