Jane Addams (1860–1935)

Jane Addams was one of those remarkable rare creatures, a true citizen of the world. She used her intelligence and humanity to assist disadvantaged people in Chicago to develop intellectually, artistically, intellectually, physically, and emotionally. As a social scientist she formulated ideas and plans then was always ready to change them when new information about people and societies showed the need. You could say she was for the underdog, but not just for the underdog, because she show more realized the underdog could sometimes act on ideas that were not beneficial to society. This put her on the bad side of some underdogs. She tolerated and supported all religions at her settlement, which put her on the bad side of many religious people. She supported people who were wrongly accused of anarchism this put her on the bad side of many politically conservative people. In fact she said that rather than ignoring human rights in order to prosecute anarchists the government should show how the government assisted people through the support of their political and human rights. She encouraged play, pleasure and humor saying that drudgery and hard work could not be all humans had to look forward to. Above all, she knew the necessity of community, the way the individual could thrive only by assisting community in whatever individual way he or she could. If there were such a thing as a secular saint, I'd nominate Jane Addams. I would encourage everyone to read this book before they vote. show less

Interesting historically. Addams was an assimilationist who spoke fairly respectfully about Southern European and Jewish traditions; a reformer who sought government by experts but also the franchise for women; a believer that labor rights mattered and that bad conditions produced bad behavior rather than the reverse; and a condemner of prostitution who both thought that many women were tricked or coerced into sex work and that sex work ruined any woman who engaged in it such that other show more “good” people were justified in excluding them from polite society no matter how repentant they were. show less

As the title says, this book chronicles two decades in the life of Hull House, founded in Chicago by Jane Addams. Addams talks about her own life to the extent that it inspired her to build the house, and about the life of the house and its members. The house became a refuge for new arrivals to Chicago, a place for youth to gather safely, and a place where the traditions of immigrants' home countries could be showcased and passed down to new generations.

The actual work done by Hull House is show more valuable and important, and it is inspiring these days to read about initiatives that bring people together. I did find this something of a slog, though. Lots of long, dense paragraphs and long chapters. Definitely one for the dedicated reader rather than the casual one.

I read this after seeing it mentioned in The Women of the Copper Country, by Mary Doria Russell. show less

Jane Addams of Hull House and late 19th century reform fame makes a plea and case for easing the destruction of the lives of the youth of Chicago. Her solutions and depiction of the problems lack a preciseness and, therefor, are of minimal help. However, she is convincing that there is a large urgent problem that needs remedy. The industrial/factory system has over history left so many deformed mentally and physically. The stories of the 14 and 15 year olds is most painful and compelling. show more This piece of advocacy should be read as an informative historical artifact as it otherwise may be baffling, hard to comprehend, to the modern reader.

Quotes: (page 69-70) “May we not assume that this love for excitement, this desire for adventure, is basic, and will be evinced by each generation of city boys as a challenge to their elders? And yet those of us who live in Chicago are obliged to confess that last year there were arrested and brought into court fifteen thousand young people under the age of twenty, who had failed to keep even the common law of the land. Most of these young people had broken the law in their blundering efforts to find adventure and in response to the old impulse for self-expression...Only a utilization of that sudden burst of energy belonging partly to the future of the imagination and of the deepest emotions of youth could have prevented them!”

(page 101-102) “After all, what is the function of art but to preserve in permanent and beautiful form the emotions and solaces which cheer life and male it kindlier, more heroic, and easier to comprehend; which lift the mind of the worker from the harshness and loneliness of his task, and, by connecting him with what has gone before, free him from the sense of isolation and hardship?
Were American cities really eager for municipal art, they would cherish as genuine beginnings the tarentella danced so interminably at Italian weddings; the primitive Greek pipe throughout the long summer nights; the Bohemian theaters crowded with eager Slavophiles, the Hungarian musicians strolling from street to street, the fervid oratory of the young Russians preaching social righteousness in the open square.”

(page 135) “The discovery of the labor power of youth was to our age like the discovery of a new natural resource, although it was merely incidental to the invention of modern machinery and the consequent subdivision of labor. In utilizing it thus ruthlessly we are not only in danger of quenching the divine fire of youth, but we are imperiling industry itself when we venture to ignore these very sources of beauty. of variety and of suggestion.” show less