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Victoria Ryder Honors American Studies Lillian Wald January 30, 2012 Lillian Wald Lillian Wald was born on March 10, 1867. She was born from German-Jewish parents, and this allowed her to be accepting of other mixed cultures. Lillian became interested in helping people and nursing when her sister was sick and had a personal nurse. Lillian was many things other than a nurse. She was a social worker, teacher, author, publisher, and an activist for women’s, children’s, and civil rights. Even through Lillian felt very strongly about helping people, she was always open to hear other people’s ideas and their thoughts on certain subjects. While the government did not like the idea of immigration, Lillian thought it was a great thing. She felt that immigration was a very good thing because the mixing of cultures could bring people together. Lillian also felt that both Americans and immigrants liked the idea of a democracy and that idea should bring the two groups together. Learning was very important to Lillian. She thought that the women, children and poor should be equally as educated as the men and business owners. In order to solve the problems Lillian felt were causing problems with America she created plans. To show that immigration could be a positive thing, Lillian gave speeches about the blending of cultures showing that it is a good thing not a bad thing. She realized that many of the poor were sick and were not getting the proper treatment, so she went and talked to an insurance company known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Together they set up a national health insurance plan. In order to provide benefits to children she set up reading classes to encourage the children that education was important. Lillian also provided sewing, reading, writing, and nursing classes in order to improve the education of women.

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