Ninety years ago, this month, the United States Congress passed the Social Security Act, a milestone piece of legislation designed to “provide for the general welfare” by establishing federal old-age benefits and enabling states to better support the elderly, blind, and disabled children, maternal and child welfare, and public health. Since its passage, Social Security has touched nearly every American life, offering a safety net that has kept millions of Americans out of poverty and enabled them to flourish well into old age.
Yet we forget just how monumental this legislative achievement was and the figures who helped make it possible. Here in North Carolina, few remember the vital advocacy of one of our own: Frank Porter Graham.
“Dr. Frank” stands among the greatest North Carolinians in history. Though he briefly served as a United States senator, his most enduring legacy lies in his tenure as president of the University of North Carolina and his tireless activism for a more just and humane South. Graham envisioned a “cleaner, nobler, and more beautiful America,” and spent his life advancing the causes of racial equality, labor rights, and economic justice. He was fearless in his pursuits, and along with his successor William Friday, Graham helped make Chapel Hill and the UNC System synonymous with the social, economic, and political progress of the 20th-century South.
Joe Waters is Capita’s Co-Founder and CEO
