International Fest
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Images from the Jane Addams Collection,Swarthmore College Peace Collection |
We can all learn from Jane Addams today. In the United States, there are many immigrants. Laws are better than they were 100 years ago, but we all need to learn to work together. Jane Addams can teach us how to be better neighbors. |
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Imagine it is 1889, the world was different from today. Hull House was in what would now be called a ghetto. Everyone was from different countries. Life was hard, trash was in the streets, there were few schools, children worked in factories. Rats were everywhere. Families often had little food and the houses were in bad condition. A girl of 12 might work in a factory from seven in the morning to seven at night. Sunday was the only day they didn't work. At work they learned to speak English. |
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Hull House was in the middle of these neighborhoods. It was to become a settlement house. Jane Addams and Ellen Starr were going to help people, and they didn't get paid. They started cooking and sewing classes and activities for boys. Then they started a kindergarten for children. Hardly anyone had gone to school. Settlers from different countries came there and got together. They began talking using the English they knew. Jane Addams thought the house belonged to all the neighborhoods around them. Anyone could come anytime. They started English classes. They started a choir, they shared stories, they all came together to share. Jane Addams started to notice that children were working. She thought it was wrong. She decided to change the situtation. In 1893, a law was passed to make it illegal for children under fourteen to work in factories. |
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Other people began to help Jane Addams work. They still thought the laws were not good enough. There were not enough schools. Parents needed money their children earned. Hull House was called a bridge that brings neighbors together. It had become a community. There was a nursery, a gym was being built, meals were being made, lunches went to factories, and people came to live and help there. The people wanted a better life. Jane Addams and her friends made speeches and gained support. Garbage was still a problem. People who helped Hull House started to become factory inspectors. Not everyone was happy about this. Jane Addams helped property owners to see how others were living and some changed. Houses were torn down, playgrounds were built, and the neighborhood changed. Jane even made friends out of enemies. The people began to improve the garbage collection. Jane Addams and her helpers followed the garbage wagons and wrote a report of what was happening. The mayor gave her the job of garbage inspector. She enforced tougher rules and the death rate dropped, the streets did not smell, and people were happier. |
Hull House nursery 1890s |
Jane Addams lived until 1935 and died at the age of seventy-four. Her health was never good. She had to stop college and her dream of being a doctor because of her health. But it didn't stop her from helping others. Jane Addams was the first women to get the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She was one of the most famous women alive and had helped change the city. The laws had changed. Hull House was now thirteen buildings. She traveled to Europe during World War One. She said, "All the people in the world are neighbors. Hull House taught me that. I must go on working for peace among my worldwide neighbors."
Bibliography:
Perez, Camila. Jane Addams. Science
Research Associates, Inc. Reading Mastery V, 1984.
Internet Links
Internet Links
Biography of Jane Addams http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/ja_bio.html
Chicago Timeline 1889 Jane Addams--Hull House http://cpl.lib.uic.edu/004chicago/timeline/hullhouse.html
Jane Addams-Andrew Carnegie Fellowship Program The Jane Addams-Andrew Carnegie Fellowship Program advances and renews interest in public service by engaging recent college graduates in intensive study and voluntary action. This comprehensive 10-month fellowship program is designed to benefit recent college graduates as they eventually seek careers in the nonprofit sector, government or business. http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/carnegie.htm
Jane Addams http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed191/assignment1/1931addams.html
Jane Addams Hull House Museum http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/hull_house.html
Nobel Peace Prize Archive http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/1931a.html
Portraits of Hull House from the Jane Addams Collection, Swarthmore College Peace Collection http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/Exhibits/jane.addams/hull-house.htm
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