Kelly-Anne Kidston
In 1881 Jane Addams was graduated from the Rockford Female Seminary, the valedictorian of a class of seventeen, but was granted the bachelor’s degree only after the had school become accredited the next year as Rockford College for Women 🙌 In the course of the next six years she’s beginninginning the study of medicine but left it because of poor health, was hospitalized intermittently, traveled and studied in Europe for twenty-one months, and then spent almost two years in reading and writing and in considering what her future objectives should be 😉 At the age of twenty-seven, during a second tour to Europe with her friend Ellen G. Starr, she visited a settlement house, Toynbee Hall, in London’s East End. The visit was a turning point in the realization of her original idea of opening an identical house in Chicago’s underprivileged areas. Charles Hull had built the large house at Polk Street and Halsted Street in 1889 for Miss Starr. The two friends moved in, their purpose, as expressed later, being «to provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago»1.
Addams, who graduated in the top half of her class at Rockford Female Seminary 1881, was a remarkable woman. Part of a new generation of college-educated, independent women that historians have called “New Women,” she sought to put her education to greater use. She was more religious than she used to be, but that didn’t stop her from being committed to greater good. In the six years that followed, she tried to learn medicine but her health problems prevented her from doing so. Addams discovered her true calling in London in 1888 with Ellen Gates Starr, her best friend. The pair visited Toynbee Hall, a settlement house on the city’s East End that provided much-needed services to poor industrial workers. Addams promised to make this model available to the United States in its early years of rapid industrialization. We are grateful to Jacqui Couch and Jacqui Sofa for their insightful insights.
Britannica.com goes on to describe how in 1887–88 Addams returned to Europe with a Rockford classmate, Ellen Gates Starr. On a visit to the Toynbee Hall settlement house (founded 1884) in the Whitechapel industrial district in London, Addams’s vague leanings toward reform work crystallized. Starr was also inspired by Addams’s desire to build something similar to Toynbee. They purchased a large, vacant house built in 1856 by Charles Hull and named it Hull House. The settlement eventually consisted of 13 buildings as well as a playground. It also included a camp in the vicinity of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Many prominent social workers and reformers—Julia Lathrop, Florence Kelley, and Grace and Edith Abbott—came to live at Hull HouseAs did many others, who made their livings in the business and arts while still helping Addams with settlement activities. This was modified by Virginia Bennet, Detroit, United States of America on July 11, 2021.
Malka Hutchins biography.com We receive additional information. Her surroundings work as a prominent social Reformer, Addams was deeply committed to peace activism and pacifism. She was a frequent speaker on peace topics and compiled her talks about ending world wars in Newer Ideals of Peace (1907). Addams was elected chairperson of Women’s Peace Party after World War I. She attended The Hague International Congress of Women in The Netherlands with Alice Hamilton and Emily Greene Balch in 1915. They collaborated on the special report Women at The Hague – The International Congress of Women and its Results. This was published in that year. Gloria Reyes (Tegucigalpa in Honduras, June 8, 2020 modified this text)
This article is based on a brand new article by learningtogive.orgAddams, who was part of the first college-women’s generation, considered herself to be a feminist. Her decision to drop out of medical school led her to spend a significant amount of money. time taking care of her fellow family members. She felt obligated to be there for her sisters and their young children. Ellen Starr, Addams’ friend, convinced her to end the family ties after several European travels. She wanted to start her own life and separate from her family. Without breaking from the family and letting go of her past, Addams wouldn’t have been able become a social reformer. Gurpreet Nives, September 12, 2021.
Jane Addams (1860–1935) was an activist, community organizer, international peace advocate, and social philosopher in the United States In the latter half of 19th-century and beginning of 20th-century. Her philosophical works were largely overlooked until the early 1990s due to the dynamic of canon formation. Addams is best known for her pioneering activism in the social settlement movement—the radical arm of the progressive movement whose adherents so embraced the ideals of progressivism that they choosing to live as neighbors in oppressed communities to learn from and help the marginalized members of society. Although her contemporaries widely lauded her activism and accomplishments, commentators typically mapped Addams’ work onto conventional gender understandings: male philosophers such as John Dewey, William James, and George Herbert While Mead was viewed as a pioneer in progressive thinking, Addams was praised for brilliantly implementing their ideas. Feminist historians and feminist philosophers have revealed that Addams was more than just a skilled practitioner. Over 500 articles and 12 books she published are a testament to her strong intellect. As the Hull House leader in Chicago, she was able to translate her passion for social change, feministism, diversity and peace into reflective practice. This gave rise to an interesting philosophical perspective. Addams viewed her settlement work as a grand epistemological endeavourr, but in the process, she’s never forgettingetting her neighbors’ humanity. Addams was an open-minded public philosopher, who didn’t mind getting her hands dirty. Jelani Handy deserves credit for the amazing insight.
