Crisis Discovers Character: Lillian Wald By Edith Cologo Lillian Wald was one of the first women who gave all her life to be in service of the poor people. She was born on March 10, 1867 into a wealthy Jewish family in Cincinnati. She moved to the Lower East Side New York in the 1890s. Lillian Wald passed away with heart disease on September 1, 1940. Lillian Wald had a very inspiring life: her actions, her writings, her presence during the pandemic of 1918, and her ideas all impact my own life. Lillian Wald was a woman who had a vision. Her vision was to make people of all races, class and gender equal. She understood that white supremacy should have not had a place in the modern American society. Far right military groups such as the Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) held no future for the nation. She was among the protesters who spoke up against the film called “The Birth of the Nation” (1915) which promoted white supremacy. She said one day “Reform can be Accomplished only when attitudes are changed” (https://www.doonething.org/heroes/pages-w/wald-quotes.htm) which means that it is not enough to have an idea of a revolution, the mentality of the society should be changed as well in order to have successful reform. A lot of times mentality and attitude change is the most challenging because people don’t like changes. Lillian Wald changed the mentality of the people by showing them her incredible skills during a time of crisis like it was the pandemic of 1918. Another of her quotes that is still pressing today: “The task of organizing human happiness needs the active cooperation of man and woman: it cannot be relegated to one half of the world.” (https://www.doonething.org/heroes/pages-w/wald-quotes.htm) This quote reminds us that men and women should be working together for a brighter future. Women were most of the time marginalized in society. For a complete life, the society needs both women and men. Let’s just think about it: how much does humanity miss by leaving a very valuable group, the women, out of major decisions that have formed our history over thousands of years when men were the ones who made decisions over politics and economics? Women and men can see the same things differently, and that is why we, the society, need both men and women to lead us to a brighter future. Lillian Wald understood that. She was a humanitarian. The result of her actions are still present today: she founded Henry Street Settlement in 1893. The building is still providing social services, health care for all New Yorkers, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Also in 1909 Lillian Wald took part of establishing the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP). With Lillian Wald’s ideas, health care became available not only for the rich, but for the poor as well. If she was here today she might be working at the frontline to fight against the COVID-19, the same way as she did in 1918 during the influenza epidemic when Lillian Wald was coordinating nurses. Similar to COVID-19 nowadays, both epidemics were from a novelty virus that nobody knew about before. They didn’t have sufficient medication in 1918 or any vaccine available. Many people were suffering and many lives were lost every day. Although the pandemic was devastating, Lillian Wald always showed extra skills in order to persuade the people around her to give their best. She motivated other nurses by taking care of patients and comforting people who had lost their loved ones. By giving herself to the patient's care, she brought many nurses to follow her path, to wake up so early, take care of the patients all day and save lives. She also inspired different social groups and religious believers to forget about their differences and work together. Lillian Wald’s influence united different people. She wrote a very remarkable article about her experiences during the pandemic titled “When the City is a Great Field Hospital” in 1918. (https://www.henrystreet.org/news/latest-news/sleepless-nights-in-1918-lillian-wald-and-henry-streets-first-influenza-epidemic/) Our nursing system in America would be different if she hadn’t lived. She helped many poor people to get affordable health care by giving them treatment for a fair lowered price. Lillian Wald was an activist who worked for the interests of the society and for peace. She also supported Margaret Sanger to make birth control accessible for poor women and help them to be responsible for their own bodies. She was a frontline worker, a suffragist who fought for women's rights, and she spoke up against discrimination against people of color. I am a student at Hostos Community College, enrolled in WGS 100 with Professor Jerilyn Fisher, Spring 2020. Our class wrote biographies as our "Making a Difference" project, done in partnership with WomensActivism.NYC. Works Cited - The EMILY Fund: https://www.doonething.org/heroes/pages-w/wald-quotes.htm Date accessed: May 2, 2020, Date Published: undefined - Henry Street Settlement: https://www.henrystreet.org/ Date accessed: May 1, 2020, Date Published: undefined - Henry Street Settlement , Sleepless Nights in 1918: Lillian Wald and Henry Street's First Influenza Epidemic, https://www.henrystreet.org/news/latest-news/sleepless-nights-in-1918-lillian-wald-and-henry-streets-first-influenza-epidemic/, Date accessed: May 3, 2020 - Lillian Wald: https://jwa.org/media/wald-lillian-still-image Jewish Women’s Archive, Date accessed, May 03, 2020 - Lillian Wald, activist and educator: https://aaregistry.org/story/lillian-wald-activist-and-educator/ Date accessed: May 12, 2020 - Wald, Lillian: https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/people/wald-lillian/ Social Welfare History Project, Date accessed, May 2, 2020, Date Published January 09, 2019

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