Doris Marie Bender (November 29, 1911 – November 15, 1991) was an Alabama social worker. Her programs to help the elderly and disabled adults, developed in Mobile County, became models for later state-wide efforts to protect these groups of people. Bender was inducted into the
Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...
in 1994.
Biography
Bender was the oldest of four children and born in
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
to Mary Frances McCafferty Bender and Theodore Jackson Bender.
She helped raise her younger siblings after the death of her mother.
Bender earned an undergraduate degree at the
University of Alabama and did graduate work in the field of
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
at
Tulane University and the
University of Chicago.
Bender began work with the Mobile County Relief Administration in 1933.
Bender took over as director of public welfare for
Mobile County in 1943. She would work as the director there until she retired in 1976.
She helped found — and later served on the board of — the Alabama Office of Volunteerism.
Bender's innovations as a social worker in Alabama included the creation of an adult
foster care program for elderly and disabled victims of abuse and neglect and in-home care for the elderly.
Both of these programs were used to develop state-wide efforts for adult foster care and in-home care.
Bender was a vocal advocate for racial and gender equality. She hired the first black social worker in Alabama,
Rosemary Butler, in 1946.
She broke down gender barriers, becoming the first woman to be elected to the Board of Directors of First Southern Federal Savings and Loan Association, the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees of Spring Hill College, and Miss the first woman selected from outside the
University of South Alabama staff to serve on the Admissions Committee of the USA School of Medicine.
Bender was inducted into the
Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...
in 1994.
In 2007, she was inducted into the Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame.
References
External links
Find a Grave
{{Authority control
1911 births
1991 deaths
American social workers
People from Mobile, Alabama
University of Alabama alumni