November 25th, 2008
Inspiring Women: Jane Addams
Those unfamiliar with American history might not recognize the name “Jane Addams,” but there’s no doubt she was an inspiration to many women.
Born in Cedarville, IL, Jane was the eighth of nine children (though three of her older siblings died in infancy), in a loving and prosperous family. Her mother, Sarah Weber Addams, died during pregnancy when Jane was two years old, and her father, John H. Addams was the president of the Second National Bank of Freeport, served as the Senator of Illinois from 1854 to 1870, and also owned the local mill. He was also a founding member of the Republican Party and an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln, but he wasn’t Jane’s only illustrious relative. Her first cousin, twice removed, was the noted cartoonist Charles Addams, creator of characters that we would come to know as The Addams Family.
Despite the fact that she had been born with Pott’s disease, which caused a curvature of her spine, and gave her life-long health issues, Jane’s father encouraged her to pursue higher education (though not at the expense of her femininity, or steering her away from marriage and motherhood), and she had an international education, ultimately graduating from Rockford Female Seminary (now Rockford College) in her home state of Illinois. After graduation, she wanted to study medicine but her father felt it would be inappropriate for a young woman of her class. When he died suddenly, Jane inherited $50,000, and used the money to pay her tuition at the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, PA.
In 1885, Jane began a two-year tour of Europe, an adventure she repeated in 1887. During the second tour, she visited London’s Toynbee Hall, a settlement house for boys based on the then-new philosophy of charity. Toynbee Hall was the main inspiration for Jane’s later creation: Hull House, which she co-founded in 1889, in Chicago, with her college friend Ellen Gates Starr. The house was named after the man who built the actual structure, Charles Hull, and the initial investment for the project came from the remains of her $50,000 inheritance. Later, the project would be sponsored by Helen Culver, a real estate agent who had initially leased the building to Jane and Ellen, who were also the first two occupants. At its height, Hull House would be home to twenty five women.
Hull House, at the peak of its activity, was visited by about 2,000 people each week. Facilities included kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, an art gallery, a book bindery, a drama group, a girls club, a gymnasium, a library, a music school, a night school for adults, and a swimming pool. The night school was particularly influential, becoming the forerunner of the continuing education classes that are offered by many modern colleges and universities. In addition to offering cultural opportunities and important services to the largely immigrant population of the neighborhood, Hull House also served as an on-the-job training facility for young social workers. From one building, it eventually grew into a 13-building settlement with its own playground.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Hull House was also a women’s sociological institution. Jane was a friend and colleague to early members of the Chicago School of Sociology, and even co-authored the Hull House Maps and Papers in 1893, which would define the interests and methodologies of the School. She worked with George H. Mead on various social reform issues including promoting women’s rights, ending child labor, and was part of the mediation team during the 1910 Garment Workers’ Strike. Some of the other goals she worked toward included the first juvenile-court, regulation of tenement houses, an eight-hour working day for women, workers’ compensation, and factory inspections. She also strove for justice and equality for immigrants and African Americans, as well as supporting women’s suffrage and advocating research to determine the causes of crime and poverty.
While the academics of her day called her career “social work,” Jane did not consider herself a social worker. She combined the theories of pragmatism and cultural feminism with the central concepts of symbolic interactionism to form her sociological ideas.
She was elected president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, thus allowing her frequent trips to Europe and Asia where she would spend time with civic leaders and diplomats working to reiterate her belief that women had a special mission to preserve peace.
In 1931, Jane Addams was recognized for all of her work, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – the first American woman to win it.
