Olivia Pieterse 20'
(journal article)
This article, titled From Charity to Security: The Emergence of the National School Lunch Program, discusses
the creation and formalization of the national school lunch program. It also showed how the national lunch
program would not be a federal issue if not for World War II and the Great Depression. The article begins
by providing the reader with general information about the early beginnings of the school lunch program in
addition to stating what the rest of the article will be about. The article continues to describe how the United States
created its own system influenced heavily by other nations, specifically Great Britain. The author relates Great Britains’
lunch system with the Boer War and relates the U.S. system with World War II. The article then transitions and goes
into detail about the beginnings of the national school lunch program. The first account of a feeding program in the US
was at the Children’s Aid Society of New York in 1885. It then discusses the growth of the program, mainly caused by
various Boards of Education and eventually school lunch committees.
During the early 1900s, nutritional science and social welfare programs were increasing rapidly. As a result, many
individuals in these fields backed the school lunch program in order to further their own agenda. This helped publicize
and popularize the school lunch system all over the country. In addition, The Great Depression also increased support for
school lunches. Many agricultural corporations and farms had surplus foods. The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation
then took that surplus and gave it to schools for the children to eat. The school lunch program also helped employ many individuals
during the Depression. War was also another critical factor in nationalizing the school lunch program. Geist Rutledge describes how
World War II enabled the creation of the national school lunch program. She states how policymakers argued that the school lunch
program was a matter of national security. This strategy worked in the policymakers’ favor, and the National School School Lunch
Act of 1946 was passed under Harry S. Truman. This source is very important to my research topic. It provides an understanding of
what I am researching and how it came to be: The National School Lunch Program. The author is a college professor, so the intended
audience of this article is probably a college student studying history and/or nutrition. The author does not have a particular point of
view. The article is written with very little bias if any bias at all. This article is crucial for my research and is definitely more important
than other sources I have read.
This article, titled From Charity to Security: The Emergence of the National School Lunch Program, discusses
the creation and formalization of the national school lunch program. It also showed how the national lunch
program would not be a federal issue if not for World War II and the Great Depression. The article begins
by providing the reader with general information about the early beginnings of the school lunch program in
addition to stating what the rest of the article will be about. The article continues to describe how the United States
created its own system influenced heavily by other nations, specifically Great Britain. The author relates Great Britains’
lunch system with the Boer War and relates the U.S. system with World War II. The article then transitions and goes
into detail about the beginnings of the national school lunch program. The first account of a feeding program in the US
was at the Children’s Aid Society of New York in 1885. It then discusses the growth of the program, mainly caused by
various Boards of Education and eventually school lunch committees.
During the early 1900s, nutritional science and social welfare programs were increasing rapidly. As a result, many
individuals in these fields backed the school lunch program in order to further their own agenda. This helped publicize
and popularize the school lunch system all over the country. In addition, The Great Depression also increased support for
school lunches. Many agricultural corporations and farms had surplus foods. The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation
then took that surplus and gave it to schools for the children to eat. The school lunch program also helped employ many individuals
during the Depression. War was also another critical factor in nationalizing the school lunch program. Geist Rutledge describes how
World War II enabled the creation of the national school lunch program. She states how policymakers argued that the school lunch
program was a matter of national security. This strategy worked in the policymakers’ favor, and the National School School Lunch
Act of 1946 was passed under Harry S. Truman. This source is very important to my research topic. It provides an understanding of
what I am researching and how it came to be: The National School Lunch Program. The author is a college professor, so the intended
audience of this article is probably a college student studying history and/or nutrition. The author does not have a particular point of
view. The article is written with very little bias if any bias at all. This article is crucial for my research and is definitely more important
than other sources I have read.
Geist Rutledge, Jennifer. “From Charity to Security: The Emergence of the National School Lunch Program.” History of Education, vol. 44, no. 2, Mar. 2015, pp. 187–206. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/0046760X.2014.979252.