1920's Lifestyles and Social Trends | Epstein, Abraham 1892-1945

PIONEER OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Beginnings.

A pioneer of the American social-insurance movement, Abraham Epstein was born in Luban, near Pinsk, Russia, and came to the United States at the age of eighteen. He lived in New York City and worked at factory jobs for one and one-half years, until a friend got him a job teaching Hebrew in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soon after his arrival, he walked into an exclusive private boys' school, asked about enrollment, passed the entrance examination, and won a tuition scholarship to attend East Liberty Academy. Another scholarship enabled him to enter the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a B.S. in 1917. That same year he became an American citizen.

Commission on Old Age Pensions.

Epstein continued to do graduate work in economics at the university and conducted a detailed survey of employment and housing conditions of Pittsburgh's black population. This study, The...