Alondra Ponce de Leon

Professor Broschinsky
POLS 1100
April 21, 2016
Jane Addams Profile
Jane Addams had a great influential life that impacted the United
States of America and changed the outlook of how society saw peace. Jane
Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois, the eighth of nine children (Jane
Addams Biographical, 2014). Jane Addams grew up as a privileged kid, for
her father was an active member of political field as a senator; even though
both her mother and father died very soon in her life she was fond of both of
them, especially her father. Early on Jane was diagnosed with health issues:
tuberculosis of the spine, Potts's disease, which caused a curvature in her
spine and lifelong health problems (Jane Addams, n.d.). During her young
life she also suffered my low self-esteem. She believed she was ugly and
later on had to leave her study of medicine due to her health. All this
combined created despair and a sense of self-failure in the hopes of helping
the poor.
On one trip with friend Ellen Gates Starr, the 27-year-old Addams
visited the famed Toynbee Hall in London, England, a special facility
established to help the poor (Jane Addams Biography, n.d.). She described it

as "a community of University men who live there, have their recreation
clubs and society all among the poor people, yet, in the same style in which
they would live in their own circle. It is so free of 'professional doing good,' so
unaffectedly sincere and so productive of good results in its classes and
libraries seems perfectly ideal" (Jane Addams, n.d.). From that visit it had
started her drive of creating a settlement house similar to that one. It had let
her recognize that her dreams of helping the poor werent over and she
became determined to pursue her goal.
Soon after returning from that trip in 1889 Jane Addams and Ellen Starr
became co-owners of their own settlement house known as the Hull House.
Miss Addams and Miss Starr made speeches about the needs of the
neighborhood, raised money, convinced young women of well-to-do families
to help, took care of children, nursed the sick, and listened to outpourings
from troubled people. By its second year of existence, Hull-House was host
to two thousand people every week (Jane Addams Biographical, 2014). The
Hull House became a safe place for immigrants and people of poverty by
being able to provide multiple services to them. There were kindergarten
classes and club meetings for older children and for adults. There was also
more clubs or courses in what became virtually a night school. The first
facility added to Hull-House was an art gallery, the second a public kitchen;
then came a coffee house, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a cooperative
boarding club for girls, a book bindery, an art studio, a music school, a drama

group, a circulating library, an employment bureau, and a labor museum

(Jane Addams Biographical, 2014).
Hull House became America's best known settlement house (Jane
Addams, n.d). However, not only was the Hull House created to keep families
in a safer community, but it also was an opportunity to generate systemdirected change through improvement of societal conditions. The Hull House
group became involved in city- and statewide campaigns for better housing,
improvements in public welfare, stricter child-labor laws, and protection of
working women (Jane Addams, n.d). She was devoted to changing the
continuation of societys ways; improve equality, and the lives of others.
Something she was recognized in saying was: "to teach by example, to
practice cooperation, and to practice social democracy, that is, egalitarian,
or democratic, social relations across class lines" (Jane Addams, n.d.); all of
which she incorporated greatly.
Other than the Hull House it was no surprise on the many other
organizations she took a part of in order to develop the change she wanted
to see. Addams worked with labor as well as other reform groups toward
goals including the first juvenile-court law, tenement-house regulation, and
an eight-hour working day for women, factory inspection, and workers'
compensation. She advocated research aimed at determining the causes of
poverty and crime, and supported women's suffrage (Jane Addams, n.d.). She
was definitely seen as a supporter of womens rights as well. Giving plenty of

emphasis of the subject and presenting speeches on the cause. In one of her
speeches in promoting women to vote she said: When the reaction comes
on the part of taxpayers, women's votes may be necessary to keep the city
to its beneficent obligations toward its own young people (Jane Addams: Why
Women Should Vote, 1915).
She worked with the Chicago Board of Health, was a strong advocate
for those of color and became a member of the NAACP, served as the first
vice-president of the Play ground Association of America, even was elected
as national chairman in the Womans Peace Party; on top of other many
wonderful contributions. Recognition of these efforts came with the award of
the Nobel Peace Prize to Addams in 1931. As the first U.S. woman to win the
prize, Addams was applauded for her "expression of an essentially American
democracy." She donated her share of the prize money to the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (Jane Addams, n.d.).
Hull House and the Peace Movement are widely recognized as the key
tangible pillars of Addams' legacy. While her life focused on the development
of individuals, her ideas continue to influence social, political and economic
reform in the United States as well as internationally (Jane Addams, n.d.).
Jane Addams was also recognized as the founder of the social work
profession. Through her strong but also nurturing personality for those in
need, she become known as mother to the nation; although she herself

was never a mother she was seen that way because of her sense of
protective care of the people.
Years later, Jane Addams's health began to seriously decline after a
heart attack in 1926. She died on May 21, 1935, at the age of 74, in Chicago,
Illinois (Jane Addams Biography, n.d.). She had a funeral service right outside
of the Hull House in her honor. And although she was gone, her legacy
continued on from the helps of those who followed her to keep the Hull
House and the other organizations going strong. Jane Addams, even though
she started with her own struggles in life, she persevered into becoming one
of the most influential pacifist, even today.

References
"Jane Addams." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams>
"Jane Addams - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 21
Apr 2016.
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams
-bio.html>
"Jane Addams Biography." Bio.com. Ed. Biography.com Editors. A&E Networks
Television, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.biography.com/people/jane-addams-9176298>
"Jane Addams: Why Women Should Vote, 1915." Modern History Sourcebook.
Paul Halsall, Jan. 1999. Web. 21 Apr. 2016.
<http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1915janeadams-vote.html>