American Childhoods

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Joseph E. Illick is Professor of History at San Francisco State University. We knew that he taught a course on the History of Childhood when he came to our training, because our own Case Supervisor, Maya Durrett, had taken it while she was an undergraduate. Now we see the fruits of his labors in book form, as American Childhoods. It will immediately go into our library and onto our reading lists as a valuable resource for volunteers.

American Childhoods has a unique organization that is particularly appropriate for those of us who are trying to enhance our understanding of the issues that are in the background of children from varying cultures. Joe organizes his history, appropriately, in chronological order, but he also separates it into strands that trace the distinct roots of American Indian, European American, and African American childhoods. Each of these large strands is made up of multiple sub-groups with widely varying concepts of the status of children and of disciplinary practices, yet each strand stands distinct from the other two in its treatment of the young. This is the underpinning of American family life, the background from which American social and economic events have shaped our current culture.

Reading the history of childhood in American Childhoods reminds us that poverty, family instability, and corporal punishment are not new factors in the lives of children. Like death and taxes, they are always with us. While we are often frustrated by our inability to help our children to safe and permanent homes with families who can care for them, we need to remember that, bad as things may be now, they have been worse in the past. As imperfect as our current system may be, at the very least, it is a system governed by laws and implemented by trained professionals. At least now, in 21st century San Francisco, children have defined legal rights. We who are their advocates have a court that listens when we speak up for them. Together, we do make a difference.

Thanks, Joe, for this wonderful and informative book.

—Libby Colman, Ph.D.