Many observers of Hurricane Katrina witnessed the power of relief policy to improve or hinder the lives of disaster survivors. The struggle to reconstruct the city and support its citizens occurred after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, as well. Confronting the first major U.S. disaster since the re-incorporation of the American National Red Cross, relief officials tested the methods of modern social work in San Francisco. Even as the 1906 catastrophe expanded the reach of national and municipal relief officials, urban destruction also brought women and minorities into the public realm. The necessities of post-disaster everyday life changed women's roles in the public sphere, where women volunteered as disaster relief workers and refugee women lobbied to obtain aid. This lecture examines gendered responses to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire from three different perspectives: relief policy, female relief workers, and refugees.
Andrea Davies-Henderson, Ph.D., Research Associate, Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford, will lead the colloquium.