One of the most influential and respected social reformers of the 20th century, Henry Street Settlement founder Lillian Wald was a tireless and accomplished humanitarian. Born into a life of privilege, at age 22 Wald came to Manhattan to attend the New York Hospital School of Nursing. In 1893, Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement and began teaching health and hygiene to immigrant women on the impoverished Lower East Side. Wald devoted herself to the community full-time, and within a decade, the Settlement included a team of 20 nurses and was offering an astonishing array of innovative and effective social, recreational and educational services.

Wald provided leadership to the Settlement until 1930. During that time, she established herself as a national leader of social reform, and as an international crusader for human rights. Wald pioneered public health nursing by placing nurses in public schools and with corporations, and by helping found the National Organization for Public Health Nursing and Columbia University's School of Nursing. Wald was also an advocate for children and women's rights. She helped institute the United States Children's Bureau, National Child Labor Committee and the National Women's Trade Union League. She led the fight to build playgrounds in poor neighborhoods and was a tireless advocate and activist for labor rights.

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