Twenty Years at Hull-House Essay

Furthermore, in most cases, it may seem the United States has a system in which immigrants are not given the chance to form a bright future. In the novel, “Antonio soon found himself settling for jobs that were clearly beneath him. He stood under the baking sun at the on-ramp to the Santa Monica Freeway, selling oranges for two dollars a bag: a dollar fifty for the guy from the produce market, fifty cents for him,” (Tobar, 53). Many of the immigrants that live in the U.S. have little power that allows them to succeed. Some races have benefitted from it more than others. The Cubans, for instance, have had it much easier than most immigrants who have migrated to the United States; whereas, Antonio, a Guatemalan, had trouble finding a stable job that allowed him to sustain himself. In contrast to many other races, many Americans described Cubans as being visitors who represent, “all phases of life and professions, having an excellent level of education… More than half of their families with them, including children brought from Cuba to escape communist indoctrination in the schools,”

They addressed issues in the political and the economy. The middle class women had less to do because there was a decrease in birth rates, an influx of immigrants, and new technologies available. Jane Addams was a well-known middle class women that founded the Hull House, which housed college students. During this time, it was hard for women like her to graduate because they were taught about things that didn’t exist. The Hull House offered programs such as English, dance, union meetings, athletics and more. During this Progressive Era, these women advocated eight hour work days and six work weeks. As a result, they formed work unions to make this

Simply put, America is the land of opportunity. In the past, immigrants have left most of their family, memories, and familiarities with their homeland in search of a better life in America, where jobs were easy to find and the economy was booming. These immigrants formed almost the entire American population, a demographic anomaly in which people from nationalities separated by land and sea; these people come from countries separated by expansive distances can live within the same neighborhood. Both Anna Quindlen with her essay “A Quilt of a Country” and John F. Kennedy with his essay “The Immigrant Contribution” have documented the story of these immigrants and what they have done to contribute to the great country of the United States of America. Both authors have written in their own unique style which has changed the reader’s perspective of their accomplishments, contributions, and sense of community in their new nation. In the essays “A Quilt of a Country” by Anna Quindlen and “The Immigrant Contribution by John F. Kennedy, they show similar writing styles by both using the formal diction in their writing, and contradict in the way that Quindlen takes a more poetic approach in her writing, while Kennedy, being the President of the United States, uses more sophisticated dictions.

Racism is a big part of this book. It shows the absurdity of what people thought back then, which is an important lesson. It is important for us to learn what people’s views used to be, and how important it is not to go back to that mindset.

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.

In the United States, there were many problems and solutions that the city dwellers and immigrants faced during the Gilded Age. During this time, most immigrants that came from Asia, Mexico, Europe, Ireland and others country were uneducated and unskilled. This led them to many problems that need to be solved for them to survive in America. One of the problems that immigrants faced was finding a job because most immigrants had a language barrier of not speaking English. The solution to their problem was ethnic neighborhood because a person who understands both languages can translate the information to find them a job. However, the job was difficult to find because there were too many immigrants looking for a job; therefore, there was less job available for them. In this oppose solution, there is some immigrant that will have to face poverty until they can keep seeking for the job available for them.

Jane Addams revolutionized many aspects in the Progressive Era from the movements of suffrage, child labor, welfare, settlement houses, and other aspects in social reform. Adams recognized the problem of child labor while she was over the Hull House. In Addams book Twenty Year at

an you imagine living in a run-down neighborhood, with streets full of garbage? How about having to watch little children play in the streets wearing dirty, ragged clothes? Jane Addams grew up in a place like this, and she wanted to make changes in the world, so she founded the Hull House. How did the Hull House have a positive impact on people and America? It helped create new laws, teach immigrants important skills, improved education, and inspired others to fight for what is right.

Jane Addams particular role in the movement showed how it wasn’t just the unhappy elite or middle class who wanted change but also the women, immigrants, blacks, and the poor. With the writing of her book Twenty Years at Hull-House Addams wanted to share the beliefs and ideals that she had always nurtured and tried to accomplish. This was her belief in bringing all members of society into the scope of democracy and to reach a compromise that protected the rights of the individual while fulfilling the need of the nation as a whole. Progressives as a whole usually drew from either the Social

Unfortunately, this mass migration to the "New World" came at a terrible cost to the lives of the Natives already here. Not everyone came here free to pursue a better life. Many arrived as indentured servants, even worse much more came as slaves. Upon arriving some immigrants found success, many others did not, and a select few of them, as well as some Natives, expressed their experiences through writing about their quest. One author, Charles W. Chesnutt, in The Wife of His Youth tells of the torment that burdened some free-born blacks. Chesnutt’s character, Mr. Ryder, achieved a level of status and class that was better than many whites, due to his assumed mixed race and literacy. However, Liza Jane, Mr. Ryder’s former wife shows up at his house one day looking for him, yet does not recognize him. Ryder is left to decide if he will reveal himself to her and the impact that would have on him among his societal friends. Perhaps, this is what minorities today go through when they achieve the level of status they are seeking. Are they sellouts for succeeding, or should they use their gains to assist others in their communities, like them, in obtaining a better life? Moreover, all the rewards in the world are of no value if one has not the liberty to enjoy

Jane Addams was a major influence during the Progressive Era. As a progressive reformer she had attempted to eliminate the corruption of the government while trying to promote women’s suffrage. Throughout her life Jane Addams had assisted immigrants from all over the world, regardless of their color, and established the Hull House as a result of her efforts. Throughout her life, Jane had been noticed for her achievements and became an important figure for those around her. As a result she became the first female president of the National Conference of Social Work.

The United States, as pioneer of the free world, had been presented and opened to judgment as it was found that her practices and standards were not the same. Wherever from Fiji to Shanghai to Bombay to Manila to London distributed news articles about the after war racial pressure in Southern America, including that of the Ku Klux Klan. The best danger was the Soviet Union, who abused the possibility of U.S. majority rules system as a sham. It appears just as by falling flat at popular government, the nation would flop in everything. Remote representatives that were dark or even recently dim cleaned couldn 't visit America without confronting segregation, and this issue alone was one that constrained the legislature that its position on race was erroneous. She reminds the peruser that regardless of the possibility that these individuals were not the ones unmitigatedly victimized, the dignitaries felt the weight of prejudice and took those

African American individuals still faced inhumane discrimination and were often not looked at as people, let alone cared for or acknowledged. To anyone else, their opinions did not matter and their lives were not valued. The 1930?s was also a time in which America was being rebuilt after the detrimental effects of the Great Depression. Furthermore, there was a greater presence of African Americans in northern states, which brought about racial tension from powerful white figures who did not want African Americans in what they believed to be ?their cities?. The struggle to find jobs was present all over, and African Americans found it even more difficult to support themselves. The narrator faced all these obstacles throughout the course of this novel.

During the early 1900’s many progressives were females looking to legacy of positive change. A large reform movement that women were involved in was the Settlement House movement. Popularized by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr who opened the Hull House, Settlement Houses boarded middle class workers (many females) that would live in between urban slums to help out the poor though medical knowledge and the sharing of education. These types of reforms not only helped the poor and unfortunate, but also granted females more power. Female organizations, like the National American Woman Suffrage Association, grew in size, and females were able to transform their traditional social roles into public and political roles.

In the novel, The Book of Unknown Americans, Chirstina Heriauvez uses the characterization of Alma to depict an immigrant's´ journey in America to unravel the truth about the dark side of assimilating. The novels demonstrates that immigrants´ are filled with hope at the prospect of starting someplace new which often blinds them to believing that their new place will be better than their current situation. It can easily be impacted by racism, intolerance and the mistreatment of others.