Axios's Essence of...Series takes the greatest works of practical philosophy and pares them down to their essence. Selected passages flow together to create a seamless work that will capture your interest from page one. Jane Addams was arguably the most influential woman in American history. Her mission as a public intellectual, social activist and reformer shines forth brightly in her inspiring and easy-to-read autobiography. In her time, she was as famous as a president.
In 1889, while many Americans were disdainful of newly arrived immigrants, Jane Addams established Hull-House as a refuge for Chicago's poor. The settlement house provided an unprecedented variety of social services. In this inspiring autobiography, Addams chronicles the institution's early years and discusses the ever-relevant philosophy of social justice that served as its foundation.
Jane Addams was a famous social activist living in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. She’s perhaps most famous for introducing the Settlement movement to the United States and for founding Hull House, a hugely influential settlement house in Chicago. Settlement houses were founded on the idea of uplifting the poor working class by quartering the rich and poor together in close proximity. By living together under the guidance of settlement workers, the poor would have access to communal education, healthcare, day care, food, and shelter, allowing them to improve their positions in society instead of being ground under heel by the privations of poverty and the brutality of workhouses. Immigrants in particular could take advantage of the settlement’s safety net, helping them naturalize more easily in their new country as they struggled to find stability while both working and raising children. Hull House, named after the house’s original owner, was Addams’ life work. It brought together the urban poor—mostly recently-settled immigrants—together into a vast thirteen-building complex near the heart of Chicago’s downtown. In this book Addams describes the house, its founding, and its operations; because running the house was such a major part of her life, she considered this book to be her autobiography of sorts. Hull House remained open until 2012, operating continuously for over 120 years. For her work at Hull House and for her involvement in the Peace Movement of World War I, Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the award’s first American woman recipient. At the time of her death she was the most well-known female public figure in America. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.
Jane Addams, the co-founder of Hull House, the famous settlement home, writes about her experiences and insights in her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull House. As a child growing up in Illinois, Addams suffered from Pott’s Disease, which was a rare infection in her spine. This disease caused her to contract many other illnesses, then because of these aliments, Addams was self-conscious of her appearance. She explains that she could not play with other children often due to a limp, a side effect to her illnesses. Still, she is able to provide relatable and even amusing childhood anecdotes. Addams was very close to her father. She admired him for his political work, which likely inspired her own interest and attention to the social problems of her society. In a time invested with xenophobia and cruelty towards immigrants, Addams bought land in Chicago and co-founded a settlement house named Hull House. There, Addams sought to improve the lives of immigrants and the poor by providing shelter, essential social services, and access to education. Addams served as an advocate not only for the impoverished and immigrants, but also for women. She was a leader within the women’s suffrage movement, determined to expand the work she did for her community to a national scale. Twenty Years at Hull House provides both a conversation about social issues and an example of how to act against them. Though originally published in 1910, Addams autobiography provides social discourse that is not only still relevant, but also considered radical by some. Addams’ autobiography was well received when it was first released, impacting many key reform movements. Twenty Years at Hull House still carries that effect today, inspiring its readers to improve their community and advocate for those in need. This edition of Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams features a new, eye-catching cover design and is printed in a readable font, ready to inspire readers to follow the footsteps and musings of activist Jane Addams.
This eBook edition of "Twenty Years at Hull-House: The Life and Work of the Great Jane Addams" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Twenty Years at Hull-House is an autobiographical account of Jane Adams' Life who spent nearly fifty years, fightingfor improved living and working conditions for America's urban poor, for women's suffrage, and for international pacifism. In 1889 Jane Addams co-founded with Ellen Gates Starr Hull House, located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was opened to accommodate recently arrived European immigrants. Addams and Starr were the first two occupants of the house, which would later become the residence of about 25 women. At its height, Hull House was visited each week by some 2,000 people. Jane Addams (1860 – 1935), known as the "mother" of social work, was a pioneer American settlement activist, public philosopher, sociologist, protestor, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. In 1931 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States. Contents: Earliest Impressions Influence of Lincoln Boarding-school Ideals The Snare of Preparation First Days at Hull-house The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements Some Early Undertakings at Hull-house Problems of Poverty A Decade of Economic Discussion Pioneer Labor Legislation in Illinois Immigrants and Their Children Tolstoyism Public Activities and Investigations Civic Cooperation The Value of Social Clubs Arts at Hull-house Echoes of the Russian Revolution Socialized Education
Jane Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Citizen, Louise W. Knight's masterful biography, reveals Addams's early development as a political activist and social philosopher. In this book we observe a powerful mind grappling with the radical ideas of her age, most notably the ever-changing meanings of democracy. Citizen covers the first half of Addams's life, from 1860 to 1899. Knight recounts how Addams, a child of a wealthy family in rural northern Illinois, longed for a life of larger purpose. She broadened her horizons through education, reading, and travel, and, after receiving an inheritance upon her father's death, moved to Chicago in 1889 to co-found Hull House, the city's first settlement house. Citizen shows vividly what the settlement house actually was—a neighborhood center for education and social gatherings—and describes how Addams learned of the abject working conditions in American factories, the unchecked power wielded by employers, the impact of corrupt local politics on city services, and the intolerable limits placed on women by their lack of voting rights. These experiences, Knight makes clear, transformed Addams. Always a believer in democracy as an abstraction, Addams came to understand that this national ideal was also a life philosophy and a mandate for civic activism by all. As her story unfolds, Knight astutely captures the enigmatic Addams's compassionate personality as well as her flawed human side. Written in a strong narrative voice, Citizen is an insightful portrait of the formative years of a great American leader. “Knight’s decision to focus on Addams’s early years is a stroke of genius. We know a great deal about Jane Addams the public figure. We know relatively little about how she made the transition from the 19th century to the 20th. In Knight’s book, Jane Addams comes to life. . . . Citizen is written neither to make money nor to gain academic tenure; it is a gift, meant to enlighten and improve. Jane Addams would have understood.”—Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review “My only complaint about the book is that there wasn’t more of it. . . . Knight honors Addams as an American original.”—Kathleen Dalton, Chicago Tribune
Hull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull House complex was completed with the addition of a summer camp, the Bowen Country Club. With its innovative social, educational, and artistic programs, Hull House became the standard bearer for the movement that had grown, by 1920, to almost 500 settlement houses nationally.
Journalist. Suffragist. Antilynching crusader. In 1862, Ida B. Wells was born enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 2020, she won a Pulitzer Prize. Ida B. Wells committed herself to the needs of those who did not have power. In the eyes of the FBI, this made her a “dangerous negro agitator.” In the annals of history, it makes her an icon. Ida B. the Queen tells the awe-inspiring story of an pioneering woman who was often overlooked and underestimated—a woman who refused to exit a train car meant for white passengers; a woman brought to light the horrors of lynching in America; a woman who cofounded the NAACP. Written by Wells’s great-granddaughter Michelle Duster, this “warm remembrance of a civil rights icon” (Kirkus Reviews) is a unique visual celebration of Wells’s life, and of the Black experience. A century after her death, Wells’s genius is being celebrated in popular culture by politicians, through song, public artwork, and landmarks. Like her contemporaries Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, Wells left an indelible mark on history—one that can still be felt today. As America confronts the unfinished business of systemic racism, Ida B. the Queen pays tribute to a transformational leader and reminds us of the power we all hold to smash the status quo.
