09/07/2025
A mighty girl, indeed!
Jane Addams -- the visionary social reformer and champion of immigrant communities who became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- was born on this day in 1860. The co-founder of the famous Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago, Addams was instrumental in bringing the needs of mothers and children to greater public awareness and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States.
Born in Illinois in 1860, Addams was a voracious reader as a child and was inspired by Charles Dickens' writing on the lives of the poor to spend her life helping those in need. As an adult, she learned about the settlement house movement -- a social reform movement that began in the late 19th century to provide education and healthcare resources to the urban poor. After visiting the world's first settlement house, Toynbee Hall in London, Addams was inspired to open Hull House in 1889. Hull House offered an adult night school; clubs for older children; a gym and bath house; music, theater, and art lessons; and an employment center, among many other services; at its height, 2,000 people a week walked through its doors.
Addams encouraged women to become “civic housekeepers," working for the betterment of their communities. At one point, in 1894, she served as the first woman appointed as sanitary inspector and, with the help of the Hull House Women's Club, made over 1,000 reports of health department violations. She was also a vocal advocate of women's suffrage as she recognized that human welfare concerns would not be given adequate attention by the government without the voices and votes of women.
A staunch supporter of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, Adams was elected president of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1915. In this capacity, she headed a commission which organized the first significant international effort to mediate between the warring nations. As a pacifist, she faced severe criticism once the US entered the war, and was even branded as unpatriotic. Following the war, however, President Calvin Coolidge and the public at large supported Addams and the WILPF efforts in the 1920s to ban poison gas -- which was achieved in 1925 with the signing of the Geneva Protocol.
Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 -- the second woman in history to receive the honor -- for her pioneering social reform work and her leadership of WILPF's peacebuilding efforts. Remembered as an individual who had transformed the lives of so many, especially women, Addams once said that the “[o]ld-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions are a snare in which the feet of women have always become readily entangled.” Thanks to her tireless efforts for suffrage and women’s rights, there are fewer snares in all of our paths.
To introduce kids to Jane Addams' inspiring story, there are two wonderful picture books: "The House That Jane Built: A Story About Jane Addams" for ages 5 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-house-that-jane-built) and "Dangerous Jane" for ages 6 to 10 (https://www.amightygirl.com/dangerous-jane)
For tweens and teens, she is one of the courageous changemakers profiled in "She Did It! 21 Women Who Changed the Way We Think" for ages 10 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/she-did-it) and "She Takes A Stand: 16 Fearless Activists Who Have Changed The World" for ages 12 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/she-takes-a-stand)
Adult readers may enjoy Jane Addams' classic book about the history of the remarkable institution she founded: "20 Years at Hull-House" at http://amzn.to/1wcTHrG
There are also two excellent biographies for adult readers: "Jane Addams: Spirit in Action" (https://www.amightygirl.com/jane-addams-spirit-in-action) and "Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy" (https://www.amightygirl.com/citizen)
To inspire children and teens with more stories of real-life girls and women who fought for change and stood up for justice, check out our blog post, "50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
