Breckinridge, Sophonisba (1866-1948), was a pioneer teacher of social work in the United States. She taught students to work in a community and study its problems.
Breckinridge was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on April 1, 1866. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1888. She later became the first woman to pass the Kentucky state bar examination. Breckinridge studied at the University of Chicago, where she earned a Ph.D. degree in political science in 1901 and a law degree in 1904. She then taught there for 38 years. In 1920, she helped establish the university’s School of Social Service Administration. In 1927, she helped found the Social Service Review, a journal that she edited until her death on July 30, 1948. Breckinridge’s well-known books include The Delinquent Child and the Home (1912), written with fellow social-work pioneer Edith Abbott, and The Family and the State (1934).
