Jane Addams 1860-1935

Jane Addams 1860-1935

Introduction

Jane Addams (1860-1935) was born in Cedarville, Illinois in a well renowned Quaker family. After her education, she made a visit to a Toynbee Hall in London and had an inspiration for developing a comparable initiative in Chicago in 1889. She had cooperation with her friend known as Ellen Starr and started Hull House. This was her first settlement house in Near West Side, a neighborhood that consisted of several European immigrants. This was the case for those people that had an eight-hour working day and had home far from the slums. Addams not only worked with the poor people but even had engagement of political action that had an aim to set up new laws for the protection of the people. Addams joined a large number of women with herself for the objective of working towards a common purpose for providing benefits to them. Addams devoted a lot of attention in her work in order to fulfill her best obligations in the best possible way. Addams also received a lot of support from other people that really proved to be quite useful for her. This was necessary for her because she had high ambitions for the future. All those people that aims high for themselves plan their work accordingly and then strive to achieve their objectives in a suitable way. These factors were also applicable for Jane Addams. Therefore, all the issues related to Jane Addams will be discussed in detail.

Discussion

The Hull House group made efforts in professionalizing the contribution of women towards social work. The factor of neighborhoods even helped Addams in contributing towards an additional structural political objective. In September 1889, a new institution appeared in the burgeoning city of Chicago. It was neither a bank nor a store. Nor was it a church or a hospital. It was a social settlement. But what exactly was a social settlement. By the end of the nineteenth century, wealth had become almost as polarized as in Britain. There was the affluent class, a small, elite group of wealthy individuals that owned most of everything and lacked nothing in terms of material goods or luxuries. The lower class, which consisted of the marginalized and the just outright poor. Their lot was feeding off the table scraps thrown to them by the two classes above and then there was the immediate class above them. There was a middle class, who had Jane Addams (1860-1935), a graduate of Rockford Seminary (a town west of Chicago); Addams became cognizant of the plight of the impecunious and the alienation between the classes. While the rich walled themselves off in extravagant homes and luxurious neighborhoods, the middle class tried to maintain its security in semi-respectable areas that afforded the basic amenities of modern life. They lived in deplorable conditions that had overcrowded slums infested with rodents and broken dreams. Of course, they were the lucky ones. The truly down and out slept outdoors. Many of them probably made it ...