Dunn, Loula Friend (1896–1977)

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Dunn, Loula Friend (1896–1977)

American public-welfare worker. Born May 1, 1896, in Grove Hill, Alabama; died June 1977, in Washington, DC; attended Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) and University of North Carolina; never married; no children.

Taught illiterate children from rural areas in Alabama (1916–17); served as caseworker, Alabama State Child Welfare Dept. (1923–33); served as regional social worker and director of employment in numerous southern states; served as commissioner of Alabama State Department of Public Welfare (1937–50); became the 1st woman director of American Public Welfare Association (1950); served as vice president of American Association of Social Workers (1935–36), Child Welfare League (1940–50), and American Society for Public Administration (1946–47); appointed to federal advisory panel on welfare- benefit coordination (1959).