Running head: PROFILE: JANE ADDAMS

Profile: Jane Addams

Halima Mumin

POLS 1100

Profile: Jane Addams

Born on September 6, 1860, in Cedarville, Illinois to Sarah and John Addams, Jane
Addams was the youngest of eight children in a prominent, well-to-do family. By the time she
was eight years old, two of her siblings had died in infancy, and one in adolescence. Her mother
had passed away when she was as young as three years old. The young Jane, who would contract
Potts disease due to tuberculosis of the spine at the age of four years old, walked with a limp and
could not run properly enough to play with the other children. As a result, she spent a lot of time
with and grew very close to her father who was a philanthropist, businessman, and senator of the
state of Illinois from the years of 1854 to 1870. She revered him highly for his sense of integrity
and moral character to the point that she was embarrassed to walk beside him on the street that
people may identify her with her limp, in disbelief, as the imperfect daughter of such a perfect
man. She would opt instead to pull back and walk beside her uncle on their Sunday trips to
church.
In 1881, Addams graduated from Rockford Female Seminary where her father had been
was a trustee. There she edited the schools newspaper, and ran for and won the office of class
president throughout the years she spent there. It was at this school she would meet her dearest
friend Ellen Starr. Upon graduation, thinking she wanted to pursue a career as a doctor, she
continued on to attend the Womens Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However,
due to spine surgery and a bout of depression in part due to her illness and the coinciding death
of her father, she dropped after only six months of study. She spent some time in Europe,
attempting to find solace in travel and religion.
In 1887, at the age of 27 years old, Addams endeavored on a second trip to Europe, this
time with her dear friend Ellen Starr. They visited Toynbee Hall in London, England, and were
amazed by the work and philosophy behind the construction of the settlement, which had been

Profile: Jane Addams

established to help the poor and unfortunate masses. They dreamed of creating such a settlement
for the poor in the slums of their own Chicago.
A few short years later, in 1889, Addams and Starr were able to bring their dream to
fruition by opening the doors of one of the first settlement houses established in North America
to the public. Initially, Hull House was meant to be a refuge for the poor immigrant workers, and
women who aspired to more than being despondent homemakers, but it turned out to be so much
more! By 1907, the once abandoned mansion (which had been named for its previous owner),
would become a monumental community fixture, spanning across an entire block with a total of
thirteen buildings. The structures included a gymnasium, theater, art gallery, music school, boys'
club, auditorium, cafeteria, cooperative residence for working women, kindergarten program,
nursery, libraries, post office, meeting and club rooms, art studios, kitchen, and a dining room
and apartments for the residential staff (Nobel Peace Prize, 2015)
Hull House became home to quite a few prominent reformist figures, most of them being
women. Along with these women, Addams and Starr established the first community playground,
contributed to the formation of Americas first psychopathic clinic and juvenile court. Through
their work, child labor laws were passed along with mandatory education, housing reform,
workers rights, and health provisions in the protection of immigrants, women and children.
Jane Addams was a central figure in the progressive era, and an ardent feminist and
supporter of womens suffrage. Besides co-founding Hull House, she was the vice president of
the National Womens Trade Union League, helped found the NAACP, established the Womens
Peace Party, published Twenty Years at Hull House along with other works, essays, and
compilations of speeches shed made on the topics of pacifism and world peace at the
International Congress of Women in Hague.

Profile: Jane Addams

In 1926, Addams suffered from a massive heart attack that would lead to a decline in
health shed never quite recover from. Finally, in 1931, she was recognized for her efforts by
being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Unfortunately, Addams was sick in a hospital
in Baltimore. She passed away on May 21, 1935 shortly after an operation had revealed shed
had abdominal cancer. The funeral was held at Hull House.

References

Profile: Jane Addams

Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes. New York
Macmillan, 1910.
Nobelpeaceprize.org (2015). Jane Addams. Retrieved on July 29, 2015 from
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams-bio.html
Jane Addams. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved Aug 4, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/jane-addams-9176298.