How Did Jane Addams Influence Social Work?

How has social work evolved or changed for the better from the 1960s till present time?

Many reformers at this time such as Jacob Riis focused on the poor and immigrants moral improvements and ignored the crippling impact of low wages and dangerous working conditions. Organizations expelled immigrants from drinking and other forbidden behaviors such as prostitution and gambling. What these reformers didn’t understand was that the conditions that immigrants faced, led them to act these ways. Jane Addams realized this. Addams developed a new weapon against poverty: the settlement houses.

Poverty has been a big issue over the past century or so and continues to be a problem to this day in the United States. Due to the Civil War, rural areas and industrial areas were affected by poverty. The poverty of rural sharecroppers in 1877 was different from the poverty of unemployed industrial workers in 1939. Even though both situations were dealing with a form of poverty, both were two completely different situations. There were several major events that happened that caused poverty of rural sharecroppers in 1877. Although there were various events leading up to the poverty of unemployed industrial workers in 1939, poverty in the year of 1877 was just as bad, if not worse, as in the year of 1939.

Jane Addams was a strong champion of several other causes. Until 1920, American women could not vote. Addams joined in the movement for women's suffrage (women's right to vote). She was a vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Addams was also a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

One of America's most prominent social activists, Jane Addams dedicated her whole life to the poor and social reform. Born on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, Jane grew up to become one of the most notable college-educated women of her time. Utilizing her education, Addams developed her own political and social beliefs and applied them to society during the Progressive Era, leading to many reforms that have shaped our world today.

Jane Addams and her colleague, Ellen Gates Starr, founded the most successful settlement house in the United States otherwise known as the Hull-House (“Settlement” 1). It was located in a city overrun by poverty, filth and gangsters, and it could not have come at a better time (Lundblad 663). The main purpose of settlement houses was to ease the transition into the American culture and labor force, and The Hull-House offered its residents an opportunity to help the community, was a safe haven for the city, and led the way through social reform for women and children.

During the late 19th and early 20th, there were many problems caused by the rapid urbanization and industrialization. In response, a group of individuals came together and their goal was to reform the United States. During this era people were dealing with problems such as poverty, the breakdown of democratic government, and the exploitation of labor. In addition, very limited group of people owned the majority of wealth of this country. This individuals were trying to reduce the long working hours, and as Zinn says: bring a remedy to changes that the industrialization was causing.(Zinn 354)

The late 1800’s were a time in American history where the country saw tremendous economic growth. Big businesses ran the country and even held power over the government. According to Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the government took bribes from business leaders. These bribes allowed the big businesses to take advantage of workers. Laborers at the time we faced with extremely long work hours and very little pay. In hopes of reversing their luck, many workers took to strikes and riots to get what they wanted. However, the big business friendly government put an end to many of these occurrences. Due to the fact that America was run by a government bribed by big business, workers received low wages as well as unhealthy

The industrial revolution introduced many new technology and improved our economic system. There have been a large increase in manufacture and machine tools since then. This led to better transportation, steam powered factories, consumer goods, a large workforce, and labour conditions. During the 1870’s , many financial issues had arise in the United States of America and in many European countries. Due to the financial crises that arise , it led to a major depressing era in history that is called the Panic of 1873. In “Standing at Armageddon” written by Nell Irvin Painter, the author discusses the progressive era and the United States economic crisis , as well as, social status during the ninetheeth century. Painter explains on how the high class white people owned most of the United States industry and due to their wealth, they owned fifty-one percent of the properties in America. They were the wealthiest one percent of the United States. There were different layers of wealth and social status which also integrates with race and ethnicity. Those who were wealthy in America weren’t the ones working hard and getting their hands dirty. Many low class were immigrants, women and blacks who worked in factories and were receiving low wages and poor work conditions. The low class owned only 1.2 percent of the properties in America. This caused major issues in the united states because the workers formed

Jane Addams in most famously known for her making of the Hull House in Chicago. The Hull house was the first settlement house in Chicago and it provided services to underprivileged people. Jane Addams helped establish social welfare and social work through her contributions to Franklin’s New Deal. Addams did much more than that. Jane Addams was also an organizer for the labor unions, an early feminist who understood the importance of equality, an author, and a noble peace prize winner. Jane Addams saw that we as a nation had large problems when it came to poverty and unfairness. It was unseen to most Americans so she created social reforms and forced these issues to be more seen by the public eye. I will discuss how Adams became a social worker,

During these years after the Civil War, many Americans struggled. Although the industrial world boomed, so many people were looking for jobs that many did not have any jobs. For the ones that happened to have jobs, the working conditions were so atrocious that sometimes it might not have even been worth it to have a job. As demonstrated in the article titled What Does Labor Want? It explains the concern of many workers. The passage voices the want of a reform from the workers. They say that human beings should be treated just as well as every other person in the world. These workers worked well over 14 hours a day doing very strenuous labor. They pleaded for shorter work days and better treatment of workers. The people also were fearful of the huge up and coming businesses. They did not like the power the companies had over the government and economy. The people knew these businesses had the power to change the prices of all goods to whatever they wanted. Although there were many corrupt things about the working world, one good thing of it all was that women were now able to work. Instead of having to sit at home and be a typical housewife day after day, they were now able to work in some factories and stores. The picture from Document J shows

An American pragmatist and feminist, Hull-House founder Jane Addams (1860-1935) came of age in time of increasing tensions and division between segments of the American society, a division that was reflected in debates about educational reform. In the midst of this diversity, Addams saw the profoundly interdependent nature of all social and political interaction, and she aligned her efforts to support, emphasize and increase this interdependence. Education was one of the ways she relied on to overcome class disparity, as well as to increase interaction between classes. Her theories about the interdependent nature of living in a democracy provided a backdrop for her educational theory. Education, she thought, needed to produce people who

Two Works Cited    Victoria Bissell Brown's introduction to Twenty Years at Hull-House explains the life of Jane Addams and her commitment to insight social change to problems that existed during the turn of the 20th century.  As a reaction to the hardships of a changing industrial society, Addams decided to establish a settlement house in the West side of Chicago to help individuals who had suffered from the cruelties of industrialization.  Rejecting the philosophies that stemmed from the Gilded Age, such as social Darwinism and the belief that human affairs were determined by natural law, Addams was a progressive who wanted government to be more responsive to the people.

The Great Depression broke down security and belief in American society during the early 20th century and brought out hidden prejudices. The once optimistic mood during the Roaring 20’s turned to pain. The dire economic situation caused Americans to return to past social stigmas where certain groups of people were seen as inferior; as a result, the American Dream, where everyone could seek their ideal of success, was reduced to merely a dream. John Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Like in his later work, The Grapes of Wrath, he was inspired by his environment to expose the lives of people during the Great Depression using Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Steinbeck demonstrates in Of Mice and Men through the characters that the American Dream was naturally discriminatory towards certain groups of people because of common perceptions held during that period.

The Gilded Age at the end of the 29th century was a time of booming industrialization, urbanization, and economic growth for the United States but it was also a time of violence and strife for lower classes— as industries expanded and the economy grew, working conditions worsened and only a small percent of Americans reaped the benefits of the industries’ success while the working majority saw little to none of the profit. This unequal distribution of wealth caused the working class to suffer; although Urbanization brought about certain technological advancements, as European immigrants began flooding the United States, they settled in cities in search for jobs and as city populations grew living conditions worsened and the majority of the working class struggled to make ends meet. Because of the harsh conditions they were forced to work in endure under wage labor, workers started to rebel against their employers and strikes became a popular method of attempting to gain control over the labor market in order to improve their conditions and raise their wages. In response to the negative effects of materialism, capitalism, and even imperialism—all isms that were found rampant during the Gilded Age— both Henry George and Edward Bellamy provide what they believe to be solutions to America’s corrupt industrial polity.