Jane Addams

Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois in 1860. She grew up in a very traditional family. Her parents had hoped for her to be an ordinary housewife with kids, but Jane didn’t see why her father and brothers had the opportunity to learn about math and science, and she had to stay at home and cook and raise kids. During her life Jane founded and held important positions in many organizations. Her main goal was to reform the government and she fought for 1progressivism and 2women suffrage. She also protested for peace during World War 1.

One of Jane Addams main accomplishments was founding the settlement home called the Hull House. The idea came when Jane and her friend Ellen Starr traveled to Europe and saw Toynbee Hall, which was a settlement house in London, much like the soon to be Hull House. When Addams and Starr came home, they founded the Hull House in the slums of Chicago in 1889. The Hull house provided food, medical checkups, an art gallery, libraries, English and citizenship classes, theater, music and art classes, a kindergarten and childcare. Progressivism and women suffrage was also promoted in the Hull House. Although the Hull House had its ups and downs, it stayed open throughout Addams life, even in the depression of the 1930’s. Opening the Hull House proved to Jane Addams that poverty was a problem in the country and it inspired her to find the root of where this poverty was coming from, the government. From that point on Jane Addams worked extremely hard to change the way things were run in the country. The women at the Hull House founded the Juvenile Protective Association which was the first juvenile court in the nation.

Jane Addams devoted her life to leading women into progressivism, and so she was a large part of many very important organizations and associations for this cause. In 1911 she became the first vice-president of the National American Women Suffrage association. She voted and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party in 1912. Another association she was involved in was the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which position she help until her death. She was elected the first president of this league in 1919. Jane Addams foresaw a war, and she organized this group to prevent the war and try to keep peace between countries. When the US joined World War 1 in 1917, many people criticized Jane Addams and called her a 3socialist, an 4anarchist and sometimes she was even accused of being a communist. Because of this, she was even kicked out of the DAR, the Daughters of the Revolution. Nevertheless, Jane Addams maintained the Hull House and remained president and vice-president of many suffrage and peace groups. Jane was also a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Settlement Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.)

Not only did Jane Addams start, and work hard for many organizations and associations, she had many other accomplishments in her life. One major accomplishment was that Jane Addams was the