Hull House Thesis

Jane Addams is recognized as a social and political pioneer for women in America. In her biography, which later revealed her experiences in Hull House, she demonstrates her altruistic personality, which nurtured the poor and pushed for social reforms. Although many of Addams ideas were considered radical for her time, she provided women with a socially acceptable way to participate in both political and social change. She defied the prototypical middle class women by integrating the line that separated private and political life. Within these walls of the settlement house, Addams redefined the idea of ?separate spheres,? and with relentless determination, she

Jane Addams, a pioneering social worker, helped bring attention to the possibility of revolutionizing America’s attitude toward the poor. Not only does she remain a rich source of provocative social theory to this day, her accomplishments affected the philosophical, sociological, and political thought. Addams was an activist of courage and a thinker of originality. Jane Addams embodied the purest moral standards of society which were best demonstrated by her founding of the Hull-House and her societal contributions, culminating with the winning of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1892, Addams delivered a speech in a lecture to the Ethnic Cultural Societies about the settlement housing. These societies probably had political connections to human rights issues. The speech is called The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements, and its main points were to give the immigrants and underprivileged the same opportunities as the rest of the population. Addams states, “ This paper is an attempt to.... analyze the motives which underlie a movement based not only upon conviction, but genuine emotion”.(Addams,1910) She does not aid the poor and foreign born because it is right or wrong, but because they are humans just like herself. In The Subjective

The life of living as a poor settler or an immigrant was a problem in the urban life. Most of the immigrants faced poverty that needs to be secured with food, shelter, healthcare, and money. For example, if there were no food for the immigrants to eat, they will starve to death. A shelter was one of the most important things they need because it keeps them securities from harm and it is a cozy place for them to sleep. Another source they need was health care because without medical attention most of them had the disease. The disease like cholera, yellow fever, and typhoid came from bad hygiene which was preventing bad sanitation. The health factor was

Jane went to Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia in the fall of 1882. Later in the 1880’s Jane traveled to Europe where she visited a settlement house by the name of Toynbee Hall. Settlement houses were the country’s way of providing community services to the poor. Addams and her friend, Ellen Gates Starr, the Hull House in the lower income section of Chicago in 1889. Most of the residents who lived there were from countries such as Italy, Russia, Poland, Germany, Ireland, and Greece. Hull House provided a day care center for children of working mothers, a community kitchen, and visiting nurses. Addams and her staff gave classes in English literacy, art, and other subjects. Hull House also became a meeting place for clubs and labor unions. Most of the people who worked with Addams in Hull House were well educated, middle-class women. Hull House gave them an opportunity to use their education and it provided a training ground for careers in social work.

In recent history, many Americans have had a growing concern for the immigration (both legal and illegal) growth in our country. While the United States of America was settled by European immigrants, the unprecedented growth the late 1800s saw, led to reform on the immigration policy, which once was nonexistent. Based on conditions floods of immigrants caused in the cities of the country, the immigration reform was needed. Not only were the lives of immigrants negatively impacted in the United States, but so were previously settled Americans.

Although Addams has done many impeccable things, one of her most distinguishable actions was co-founding Hull House with her friend Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. Hull House is a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, inspired by the Toynbee Hall she visited in England. Opening Hull House, Addams expected the settlement to be a place where the poor could attend cultural programs, such as art, however her ideas changed as she explored the city and got to know her neighbors. While walking down the streets of Chicago, the reformer noticed all the poor immigrants residing in the cramped and dirty tenements, which led to her newfound passion to help

At first, Addams and Starr were only offering readings and painting slides, but the Hull-House took a turn when they realized the need for a safe child environment. A kindergarten was added to the house with 24 enrolled children and 70 on the waiting list, and a day-nursery followed soon after. But the Hull-House was not only for mothers and children. Starr offered sewing and cooking lessons for girls, while Addams ran a boy’s club. Lectures and classes on a wide range of subjects including English, citizenship and art were offered for free by social reformers, students and university teachers like Susan B. Anthony and Frank Lloyd Wright (“Hull House” 1).Soon after, Addams and Starr were joined by Julia Lathrop, a college friend and lawyer, and Florence Kelley, a member of the Socialist Labor Party. It was because of Kelley that the Hull-House became a center for social reform. She, along with Alzina Stevens and Mary Kenney, spear headed the research of the sweating trade in Chicago which lead to the passing of the Illinois Factory Act of 1893. As a result, Kelley, Stevens and Kenney were recruited by Senator John Altgeld as factory inspectors. Other working-class women interested in social reform also educated the middle-class of the Hull-House (“Hull House” 1). By 1907, the Hull-House had expanded to include 12 additional buildings, a gymnasium, a boarding school for

Another goal of theirs was to improve city life. The Hull House wasn’t just a place where immigrants could participate in programs and learn, but it was a place where they were able to feel safe and get the support and assistance they needed to live a normal life in the large city of Chicago.

In the late 1800s, America became more attractive to immigrants as they considered its growing economic opportunity. Many families and individuals packed up their belongings and undertook the life-changing journey to the western frontier of America to pursue the “American Dream.” This was the

They turned the building into America's first social settlement, and named the building Hull House in honor of Mr. Hull. Hull House was established to reduce poverty through offering social and educational services to the poor immigrants, and laborers of working-class Chicago. Some of the helpers at Hull House include Alice Hamilton, Florence Kelley, Julia Lathrop, Ellen Gates Starr, Sophonisba Breckinridge, Grace Abbott, and Edith Abbott. Hull House also gave young workers an opportunity to acquire job training. When she wasn’t working at Hull House, Addams worked to establish the first juvenile

In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in American society. Industries had started to realise that it was not as simple as it was before to abstract the immigrants. As the country developed and became more successful it attracted outsiders who were searching for chances. During the 1920¡¯s the United States began to confine immigrants due to cultural and economical purposes. The immigrants faced several afflictions such as: racism and religious oppression. The examination of immigration expressed an important

To achieve this end, they provided many free forms of entertainment to enrich the every day lives of the poor such as concerts, lectures, and clubs for children and adults. The also taught classes in literature, history, art, domestic activities and the trade of bookbinding. To further their ambition in bringing culture to the destitute, the Hull House featured an extensive library, an art gallery with pieces from their own private collections and a small theater where they encouraged those who visited to put on plays from everything from Shakespeare to their own creations – all free of charge, of course. On top of nourishing the souls of impoverished workers, they helped alleviate some of the burdens they carried by providing free daycare and kindergarten. The Hull House offered citizenship classes for immigrants and allowed local trade unions to use it as a meeting house as well. Also, Addams took note of the fact that majority of the Hull House's patrons were homesick immigrants. In order to better serve them, she hosted ethnic events involving food, dance and music from a variety of ethnic groups such as German, Italian, Polish, Irish, and Greek. Attendance at these events were high as immigrants gathered together to enjoy an evening fondly remembering and sharing their homeland. In addition to this, they also

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

At the beginning of the chapter, the author raises questions that were prevalent a century ago and that are still important today.  The one question I found most interesting is, “Can white, native-born, economically secure Americans ever really understand, much less help, those who are struggling to survive?” (1).  Much of the prevalent political culture emphasized Aryan superiority, as well as the concern a changing society would suffer from massive immigration.  Even authors, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, recognized the oppression she suffered from as a woman.  However, she did not recognize the oppression others suffered in her embracing of anti-immigration as well as racist beliefs.  Reactionary to the massive immigration of this time, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also supported eugenics to improve the human race.  Yet Addams did not argue immigrants were inferior to the Aryan people.  In fact, three-quarters of her residents at Hull-House were first and second generation immigrants.  Not only was Addams sympathetic to the poor, but she also was sympathetic to the plight of immigrants.