Ida Pruitt
Ida Pruitt was an American educator and social worker with deep personal ties to China, where she spent much of her life. Born to American missionaries, she was raised in a Chinese village, which profoundly shaped her identity and career. After completing her education at Columbia University, she returned to China to teach at a girls' school and later pursued studies in social work. Pruitt played a significant role in the development of social work in China, particularly through her work with the Rockefeller Foundation at Peking Union Medical College.
From 1938 onwards, she also focused on promoting small producers' cooperatives in China, which included establishing a fundraising branch in the United States. Pruitt was a prominent advocate for American diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China and worked to educate Americans about traditional Chinese life through her writings. Her books, based on her extensive experiences, offer a nuanced view of Chinese culture, aiming to counteract Western stereotypes. Pruitt's lifelong commitment to China highlights her unique position as a bridge between American and Chinese societies.
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Ida Pruitt
Author
- Born: 1888
- Birthplace: Penglai, Shantung, China
- Died: July 24, 1985
- Place of death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Biography
Ida Pruitt, an American woman perhaps more comfortable in China than in the United States, felt strong ties to China for good reason: her parents were American missionaries, and they gave birth to and raised their daughter and their five subsequent children in a Chinese village. As a child, Pruitt, who was raised at least partly by a nanny, attended missionary schools but was still immersed in Chinese culture. She journeyed to the United States for her college education, graduating from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College in 1910 and then immediately returning to China, where she taught at a school for girls in Chefoo until 1918.
Pruitt then resumed her college studies in Philadelphia and Boston, focusing on social work, and she was a war relief worker from 1918 until 1919. In 1921, hired by the Rockefeller Foundation, Pruitt again returned to China to run the new Department of Social Work at Peking Union Medical College. Pruitt remained in this position until 1938, when she traveled to the United States on behalf of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, an international organization aimed at encouraging the development of small producers’ cooperatives in China. In the United States, Pruitt worked to start the cooperative’s American fund-raising branch, Indusco, and she served as the executive secretary for the cooperative’s American committee until 1952. She was also the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives’ major fund-raiser and spokesperson in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Pruitt fought for American diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1979, and her books helped Americans gain an understanding of traditional pre- Communist life in China. In composing her historical and autobiographical books, Pruitt drew on her personal experiences of living in China for fifty years, experiences she often recorded in notes and journals throughout her life. Pruitt’s books therefore depict authentic Chinese people and culture rather than Western stereotypes.