A potential end to subminimum wages for disabled workers would certainly be a historic moment in the United States. It would also mark a continuing shift in attitudes toward workers with disabilities.

The Fair Labor Standards Act 14 (c) certificates that allow for subminimum wages was created in 1938. What was done before then?

Minneapolis city leaders in the early 20th century grappled with ways to help people with disabilities find jobs. Attitudes were challenging. It was a time when people who were described as “handicapped” could all too easily be described as a “burden on society” in the same sentence. Or when someone with a disability did have a job, news coverage was condescending at best.

One solution that emerged was the Placement Service for Handicapped People. It was an agency supported by the Minneapolis Community Fund, which in turn financially supported the Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies. The Minnesota Historical Society maintains a small collection of information about the agencies and their operations. Various agencies served an array of people deemed worthy of assistance.

The placement service opened its doors in 1930. By 1935, the placement service had convinced more than 400 Minneapolis business and industry owners to hire more than 2,400 disabled workers. Some employers were so happy with their initial hires, they returned again and again to find more workers.

The program was described in what today would be very cringe-worthy terms, in an April 14, 1935 Minneapolis Journal article:

“That crippled friend to yours or the man in the next block who is so hard of hearing – how in the world did they ever find jobs and then keep them. Or that chap you saw in an office the other day with the pronounced spinal curvature and that cabinet maker with the missing hand?”

“Such questions undoubtably parade through the minds of many Minneapolis people from day to day.”

The agency was run by John Wiley “J.W.” Curtis, assisted by an unnamed “disabled young woman clerk.” While it is disappointing that readers didn’t learn the clerk’s name, it’s worth noting a 1930s-era newspaper’s use of the word “disabled” instead of “handicapped.”

Curtis was described as a tireless worker, who spent his days meeting with employers and urging them to hire people with physical disabilities. One focus for him was Goodwill Industries and its jobs programs. Pictures of workers with the 1935 article showed a woman sewing and a man repairing shoes at a Goodwill workshop.

Was the agency a success? By the numbers, yes. In 1934 alone the agency placed almost 750 workers in jobs. Their combined earnings that year were $29,182.29. Workers were placed in a wide range of jobs, from office to industrial work.

But most emphasis was on physically disabled workers, rather than people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Curtis ran the agency from its founding in 1930 until his death in 1947 at age 72. The Texas native’s workforce career began in the Philippines, where he ran manual training programs after the Spanish-American War. He spent his career in teaching and workforce programs.

He is buried at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, His modest headstone states “Teacher.” It also includes the phrase “He served his fellow man.”

The History Note is a monthly column produced in cooperation with the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. Past History Notes and other disability history may be found at MNDDC’s “With an Eye to the Past” site.