Animals and Children First: A History of Humane Societies

When our country's humane societies were founded more than a century ago, their guiding principles were to protect the defenseless—a group that included animals and children. Northwestern University historian Susan Pearson tells the story of how humane societies came into being and sets the scene of a very different time, when such organizations had police power that enabled them to make arrests and bring cases before local magistrates. Much more than an institutional history, her work answers broad questions about the development of individual rights in Gilded Age America, including how our views on the rights of minors have evolved since the days when our society viewed children as analogous to animals.

This program is generously underwritten by Southwest Airlines.