Jane Addams: A Brief Biography
Jane Addams was another leader in her community trying to help the lower classes immigrants assimilate to America. Addams was born the 6 of September of 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her father, John H. Addams, was a Quaker owning a flour and sawmill factory. Addams was born into a good family where most of her childhood she spent comfort. Since a child, she always had an intuition to help and live among the less fortunate. “On that day I had my first sight of the poverty which implies squalor, and felt the curious distinction between the ruddy poverty of the country and that which even a small city presents in its shabbiest streets […..] I declared with much firmness when I grew up I should, of course, have a large house, but it would not
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be built among the other large houses, but right in the midst of horrid little houses like these.” (Addams, p. 2) As a child, Addams was an eager little girl ready to learn anything she can. “I would store my mind with such details of the process of making wheels as I could observe and sometimes I plucked up courage to ask for more.” (Addams, p.4) She had this strong connect with her father and it continued to grow after her mother died.
Addams felt ashamed of her appearance. She would often walk with her uncle on Sunday to avoid be connected to her father. According to Addams, she felt like she was the ugly duckling and an outsider. Her father and stepmother got married when she was about eight years old. Mr. Addams political life had an important impact on Jane. Jane met president Abraham Lincoln who was very influential person towards the lives of the immigrants and as well as Jane. Addams attended Rockford Female Seminary, where she took course in the liberal arts and science. Her stepmother “set high standards for intellectual achievements.” (Janeaddamsproject.org) Addams graduated from Rockford Female Seminary on 22nd of June of 1881. She enrolled into Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Addams didn’t finish her medical career due to her illness. Instead she decides take a tour of Europe, she is not amused and becomes bored. When she returns for her second tour of Europe, she found her meaning to life in
London. She took a tour of the worst part of London and was horrified by living conditions. “They were huddled into ill-fitting, cast-off clothing, the ragged finery which one see only in East London. Their pale faces were dominated by that most unlovely of human expressions.” (Addams, p. 44) Addams described the people who were living in East London. The pale face indicating that might be suffering from malnourishment. Addams also tour a settlement house called Townbee Hall, where English men were trying to solve the problems of “outcast” London by living among the poor. This is a turning point in Addams career. She finally knows what she wants to do in life. Addams was willing to help anyone she could help no matter what race, gender or ethnicity you were. Thus, Addams realizes the importance of equality and how it affects everyone in society.
Addams was a firm believer that everyone should be welcome to America. But it became hard for immigrants to assimilate to American culture when there was no type of program that would help them become more Americanized. Much of the immigrants didn’t fit in culturally or politically. Because many immigrants arrived to the rural area of the east, the rural area suddenly became an urban area with more than 4 million people living in Chicago. As a result, it increases the problems with sanitation, crime and housing. Chicago was not well taken care of. “The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of school inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, the streets lighting bad, the paving miserable and altogether lacking in the alleys and smaller streets, and the stables foul beyond description.” (Addams, p. 64) Most of the immigrant were ignorant and remain with their old customs. “They made room for newly arrived immigrants who are densely ignorant of civic duties.” (Addams, p. 65) As more people came, the jobs were becoming scarce. Factory owners prefer to have children working because they paid them less and were able to fit in very small place that adults couldn’t do. Addams was afraid that if the children of the immigrants didn’t become Americanized then the cycle would repeat itself again. As a result, they would remain outsiders and poor because they didn’t have the opportunity to become better. In order to help the poor immigrants, the community must all contribute to help them. “Hull-House was soberly opened on the theory that the dependence of classes on each other is reciprocal; and that as the social relation is essentially a reciprocal relation, it gives form of expression that has a peculiar value.” (Addams, p. 59) Addams’ mission was to help the less fortunate and to find ways to better their lives. She wants the state or the city to take control of the problems that poor people were facing like the unforced sanitation. Jane Addams was striving for social and politically equality. Socially, she wanted to provide minority class with more opportunities to become more Americanized and better educated. Politically, she wanted to teach them about the political system that America has. Therefore, the outsiders would eventually become Americans.
In 1889, Hull house founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Star. Hull house contained so many clubs that help the immigrants interact with each other. The clubs were forcing them to speak English; as a result, the culture barrier was being broken. In every club, there was a picture of President Lincoln. Addams wanted the immigrants to see that President Lincoln was the epitome of a self-made man. He was one of the poorest whites and became the president of United States with hard work and dedication. He was a role model for the immigrants. If he can become a president, then the immigrants also have an opportunity to become a president if they put their mind to it. “Whenever I held up Lincoln for their admiration as the greatest American, I invariably pointed out his marvelous power to retain and utilize past experiences; that he never forgot how the plain people in Sangamon County thought and felt himself had moved to town.” (Addams, p.24) In each club, the immigrants began to set rules creating a democratic environment. As a result, they learn how to vote for the leader for their group. Here they got a sense of how to look at each candidate and choose the person who they thought would represent them the best. Hull House also created a kindergarten to have a place for the kids to attend while their parents are working. The children were being taught English class and many other interactive classes. “The value of these groups consisted almost entirely in arousing a higher imagination and in giving the children the opportunity which they could not have in the crowded school, for initiative and for independent social relationships.”(Addams, p. 69) These little school was providing a better opportunity for them to learn. She is basically comparing a public school and the little school she has. Public schools are crowd with fewer opportunities. Addams adds that just because you are poor doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish your goals. “It required a constant effort that the pressure of poverty itself should not defeat the education aim” (Addams, p. 69) that the children had. English was an important factor in becoming Americanized. As a result, Addams also added an English class for adults. Although she wanted the immigrants to become Americanized, she wanted them not to forget their culture. “One thing seemed clear in regard to entertaining immigrants; to preserve and keep whatever of value their past life contained and to bring them in contact with a better type of Americans.” (Addams, p. 153) In addition, she help passed the mandatory school law requiring children to attend mandatory school because the factories were creating a dangerous condition for children to be around there. Addams way of solving social problems were to used a scientific method and proved that it is affecting the community negatively. She wanted to improve the lives of the immigrants in order for them to obtain a higher education and understand America’s politics. Hull House mission was “to provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philarithropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.” (Addams, p.73) Thus, Addams believe that these social clubs and activities would help the poor immigrants assimilate to American culture and politics.
be built among the other large houses, but right in the midst of horrid little houses like these.” (Addams, p. 2) As a child, Addams was an eager little girl ready to learn anything she can. “I would store my mind with such details of the process of making wheels as I could observe and sometimes I plucked up courage to ask for more.” (Addams, p.4) She had this strong connect with her father and it continued to grow after her mother died.
Addams felt ashamed of her appearance. She would often walk with her uncle on Sunday to avoid be connected to her father. According to Addams, she felt like she was the ugly duckling and an outsider. Her father and stepmother got married when she was about eight years old. Mr. Addams political life had an important impact on Jane. Jane met president Abraham Lincoln who was very influential person towards the lives of the immigrants and as well as Jane. Addams attended Rockford Female Seminary, where she took course in the liberal arts and science. Her stepmother “set high standards for intellectual achievements.” (Janeaddamsproject.org) Addams graduated from Rockford Female Seminary on 22nd of June of 1881. She enrolled into Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Addams didn’t finish her medical career due to her illness. Instead she decides take a tour of Europe, she is not amused and becomes bored. When she returns for her second tour of Europe, she found her meaning to life in
London. She took a tour of the worst part of London and was horrified by living conditions. “They were huddled into ill-fitting, cast-off clothing, the ragged finery which one see only in East London. Their pale faces were dominated by that most unlovely of human expressions.” (Addams, p. 44) Addams described the people who were living in East London. The pale face indicating that might be suffering from malnourishment. Addams also tour a settlement house called Townbee Hall, where English men were trying to solve the problems of “outcast” London by living among the poor. This is a turning point in Addams career. She finally knows what she wants to do in life. Addams was willing to help anyone she could help no matter what race, gender or ethnicity you were. Thus, Addams realizes the importance of equality and how it affects everyone in society.
Addams was a firm believer that everyone should be welcome to America. But it became hard for immigrants to assimilate to American culture when there was no type of program that would help them become more Americanized. Much of the immigrants didn’t fit in culturally or politically. Because many immigrants arrived to the rural area of the east, the rural area suddenly became an urban area with more than 4 million people living in Chicago. As a result, it increases the problems with sanitation, crime and housing. Chicago was not well taken care of. “The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of school inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, the streets lighting bad, the paving miserable and altogether lacking in the alleys and smaller streets, and the stables foul beyond description.” (Addams, p. 64) Most of the immigrant were ignorant and remain with their old customs. “They made room for newly arrived immigrants who are densely ignorant of civic duties.” (Addams, p. 65) As more people came, the jobs were becoming scarce. Factory owners prefer to have children working because they paid them less and were able to fit in very small place that adults couldn’t do. Addams was afraid that if the children of the immigrants didn’t become Americanized then the cycle would repeat itself again. As a result, they would remain outsiders and poor because they didn’t have the opportunity to become better. In order to help the poor immigrants, the community must all contribute to help them. “Hull-House was soberly opened on the theory that the dependence of classes on each other is reciprocal; and that as the social relation is essentially a reciprocal relation, it gives form of expression that has a peculiar value.” (Addams, p. 59) Addams’ mission was to help the less fortunate and to find ways to better their lives. She wants the state or the city to take control of the problems that poor people were facing like the unforced sanitation. Jane Addams was striving for social and politically equality. Socially, she wanted to provide minority class with more opportunities to become more Americanized and better educated. Politically, she wanted to teach them about the political system that America has. Therefore, the outsiders would eventually become Americans.
In 1889, Hull house founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Star. Hull house contained so many clubs that help the immigrants interact with each other. The clubs were forcing them to speak English; as a result, the culture barrier was being broken. In every club, there was a picture of President Lincoln. Addams wanted the immigrants to see that President Lincoln was the epitome of a self-made man. He was one of the poorest whites and became the president of United States with hard work and dedication. He was a role model for the immigrants. If he can become a president, then the immigrants also have an opportunity to become a president if they put their mind to it. “Whenever I held up Lincoln for their admiration as the greatest American, I invariably pointed out his marvelous power to retain and utilize past experiences; that he never forgot how the plain people in Sangamon County thought and felt himself had moved to town.” (Addams, p.24) In each club, the immigrants began to set rules creating a democratic environment. As a result, they learn how to vote for the leader for their group. Here they got a sense of how to look at each candidate and choose the person who they thought would represent them the best. Hull House also created a kindergarten to have a place for the kids to attend while their parents are working. The children were being taught English class and many other interactive classes. “The value of these groups consisted almost entirely in arousing a higher imagination and in giving the children the opportunity which they could not have in the crowded school, for initiative and for independent social relationships.”(Addams, p. 69) These little school was providing a better opportunity for them to learn. She is basically comparing a public school and the little school she has. Public schools are crowd with fewer opportunities. Addams adds that just because you are poor doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish your goals. “It required a constant effort that the pressure of poverty itself should not defeat the education aim” (Addams, p. 69) that the children had. English was an important factor in becoming Americanized. As a result, Addams also added an English class for adults. Although she wanted the immigrants to become Americanized, she wanted them not to forget their culture. “One thing seemed clear in regard to entertaining immigrants; to preserve and keep whatever of value their past life contained and to bring them in contact with a better type of Americans.” (Addams, p. 153) In addition, she help passed the mandatory school law requiring children to attend mandatory school because the factories were creating a dangerous condition for children to be around there. Addams way of solving social problems were to used a scientific method and proved that it is affecting the community negatively. She wanted to improve the lives of the immigrants in order for them to obtain a higher education and understand America’s politics. Hull House mission was “to provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philarithropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.” (Addams, p.73) Thus, Addams believe that these social clubs and activities would help the poor immigrants assimilate to American culture and politics.