Jane Addams and Hull House
by Kit L.
Throughout history, people who have migrate from one place to another as a result of a grater force or desire that drives them abroad. During the mid 1890s, the Hull House was an establishment to answer to some of the social problems that the influxes of immigrants from Eastern Europe that society has left behind. The Hull House was established by Jane Addams, also known as Laura Jane Addams. She was born into an upper middle class family, where she had the connection and access to financial assistance from wealthy friends who were willing to donate to help her make the Hull House successful. In her late twenties, she was able to traveling to Europe where she visited the Toynebee Hall, one of the world’s first settlement houses. After witnessing it in all its glory, she became inspired by what an institution like that, can do for the poor and the economically disadvantaged. Social reform became her interest almost instantaneously.
The Hull House was originally a mansion built in 1856 by Charles Hull who was a wealthy landlord. After his death, with the help of Ellen Gates Starr, another progressive feminist reformer, she and Jane leased the Hull House and turned it into a fully functional settlement house for European immigrants, where they were able to turn it into a multipurpose institution that would resemble our modern day community shelters. With education, medical care, child care and legal aid, it was one of the most successfully ran public institution through private funding. This is a landmark for as one of the most successful settlement homes established in the U.S, and made Jane Addams a heroine of her time for her pioneering work during the 1890s.
The first thing that Jane Addams set up in the Hull House was a kindergarten, as a result of her attitude towards the importance of educating young children, as well as maintaining their health and overall wellbeing. Because of the economic situation, a lot of children especially those who come from migrant families, are often neglected and abandoned due to large family size, and the incapacity of the parents to care for their children. Jane Addams believed that in order to help dissolve economic and social problems, she must start from roots; and in this case, start caring for them while they’re still young, so when they are older they won’t become victims of degeneration. The role to care for children consequently became one of her main focuses in her journey to social reforms.
Throughout the period of twenty years where the Hull House had operated, it cycled through hundreds and thousands of people each month that would arrive at the settlement house seeking help mostly from Eastern Europe. The house also served as a community center for intellectuals for get-togethers to discuss social and economic problems and reform solutions. She gave lectures and taught many classes. As a result, she brought inspiration to many people of the time for what she believed in, and fought for.
However, Hull House itself, was not only famous for its good deeds of community service and its pioneering work, it was also known for its haunted stories. The most famous one was the Devil Baby. According to this urban legend, a mother who was a regular at the Hull House, gave birth to a child who looked like a monster. The mother was a good catholic woman, but the father of the child was an atheist. It was rumored that the baby had the resemblance of the Devil. Speculations varied from horns to scaly skin, Jane had to lock the baby away and he eventually died. Although the Devil Baby never caused any casualties, it created widespread rumor that the Hull House had to deal with all throughout the years as visitors poured in to speculate the baby. In her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House, she also made remarks about the ghost of Mrs. Charles Hull who haunted the second floor. Nevertheless, as time goes by, these speculations died out and Hull House continues to be a historic landmark.
Ever since she was a child she had always have bad health; nevertheless, it didn’t stop her from striving for social reform up until the last days of her life. Jane Addams is also the first women to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She worked on numerous social reforms: from establishing juvenile courts to participating in the movement for women suffrage and right to vote, she continued her legacy as an activist even after the operation of Hull House. She was one of the greatest women that ever lived during her time. Today, the Hull House has become a historic landmark that is part of the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Work Cited:
Ghosts of the Prairie: The Hull House: http://www.prairieghosts.com/hull.html
History’s Women: http://www.historyswomen.com/socialreformer/JaneAddams.html
Just the Arti-Facts: Women History, Jane Addams: http://www.chicagohs.org/aotm/Mar98/mar98artifact.html
The Hull House Museum, University of Illinois at Chicago: http://wall.aa.uic.edu:62730/artifact/HullHouse.asp
Women in History: Jane Addams: http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/adda-jan.htm
University of Oregon, Department of Political Science: U.S. Political Thoughts: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jboland/addams_h.html
Throughout history, people who have migrate from one place to another as a result of a grater force or desire that drives them abroad. During the mid 1890s, the Hull House was an establishment to answer to some of the social problems that the influxes of immigrants from Eastern Europe that society has left behind. The Hull House was established by Jane Addams, also known as Laura Jane Addams. She was born into an upper middle class family, where she had the connection and access to financial assistance from wealthy friends who were willing to donate to help her make the Hull House successful. In her late twenties, she was able to traveling to Europe where she visited the Toynebee Hall, one of the world’s first settlement houses. After witnessing it in all its glory, she became inspired by what an institution like that, can do for the poor and the economically disadvantaged. Social reform became her interest almost instantaneously.
The Hull House was originally a mansion built in 1856 by Charles Hull who was a wealthy landlord. After his death, with the help of Ellen Gates Starr, another progressive feminist reformer, she and Jane leased the Hull House and turned it into a fully functional settlement house for European immigrants, where they were able to turn it into a multipurpose institution that would resemble our modern day community shelters. With education, medical care, child care and legal aid, it was one of the most successfully ran public institution through private funding. This is a landmark for as one of the most successful settlement homes established in the U.S, and made Jane Addams a heroine of her time for her pioneering work during the 1890s.
The first thing that Jane Addams set up in the Hull House was a kindergarten, as a result of her attitude towards the importance of educating young children, as well as maintaining their health and overall wellbeing. Because of the economic situation, a lot of children especially those who come from migrant families, are often neglected and abandoned due to large family size, and the incapacity of the parents to care for their children. Jane Addams believed that in order to help dissolve economic and social problems, she must start from roots; and in this case, start caring for them while they’re still young, so when they are older they won’t become victims of degeneration. The role to care for children consequently became one of her main focuses in her journey to social reforms.
Throughout the period of twenty years where the Hull House had operated, it cycled through hundreds and thousands of people each month that would arrive at the settlement house seeking help mostly from Eastern Europe. The house also served as a community center for intellectuals for get-togethers to discuss social and economic problems and reform solutions. She gave lectures and taught many classes. As a result, she brought inspiration to many people of the time for what she believed in, and fought for.
However, Hull House itself, was not only famous for its good deeds of community service and its pioneering work, it was also known for its haunted stories. The most famous one was the Devil Baby. According to this urban legend, a mother who was a regular at the Hull House, gave birth to a child who looked like a monster. The mother was a good catholic woman, but the father of the child was an atheist. It was rumored that the baby had the resemblance of the Devil. Speculations varied from horns to scaly skin, Jane had to lock the baby away and he eventually died. Although the Devil Baby never caused any casualties, it created widespread rumor that the Hull House had to deal with all throughout the years as visitors poured in to speculate the baby. In her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House, she also made remarks about the ghost of Mrs. Charles Hull who haunted the second floor. Nevertheless, as time goes by, these speculations died out and Hull House continues to be a historic landmark.
Ever since she was a child she had always have bad health; nevertheless, it didn’t stop her from striving for social reform up until the last days of her life. Jane Addams is also the first women to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She worked on numerous social reforms: from establishing juvenile courts to participating in the movement for women suffrage and right to vote, she continued her legacy as an activist even after the operation of Hull House. She was one of the greatest women that ever lived during her time. Today, the Hull House has become a historic landmark that is part of the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Work Cited:
Ghosts of the Prairie: The Hull House: http://www.prairieghosts.com/hull.html
History’s Women: http://www.historyswomen.com/socialreformer/JaneAddams.html
Just the Arti-Facts: Women History, Jane Addams: http://www.chicagohs.org/aotm/Mar98/mar98artifact.html
The Hull House Museum, University of Illinois at Chicago: http://wall.aa.uic.edu:62730/artifact/HullHouse.asp
Women in History: Jane Addams: http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/adda-jan.htm
University of Oregon, Department of Political Science: U.S. Political Thoughts: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jboland/addams_h.html
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 10:45 PM
9 Comments:
Interesting post. I'm curious about the phrase, "victims of degeneration." What exactly does this mean? Degeneration into what or of what? Also, how did this belief in "ghosts" and the discussion of monstrosity (a medical term to discuss the "devil baby") play into eugenics of the day? In turn, how did this, perhaps, contradict the social reform goals of Adams and Hull House?
I have read about the hull house before and find it a noble thing to create. In today's world it would be extrememly difficult to have a house like the one Jane Adams created due to the fact that there are so many safety precautions and regulations within the law. However it is good to see that a person who does contribute to society is recognized and embraced.
Jane is an interesting person, I'm curious about locking the devil baby away. If she was so into reform why wasn't the baby one of her most prized projects to reform? In other articles I have read about Jane she was a big influence in the motion picture industry in regards to sensorship. She felt all movies depicting crime and violence had a direct effect on children because they did not know the difference between real and fake actions. So therefore the children would imitate what they saw in the movie theaters which would ruin society.
The Hull House seems to be a place where women can support eachother and better the community through a group effort of improving the everyday life of America as a whole. I was wondering where black and immigrant women fit into the picture. I know many black women came together to establish their own institutions but did Adams embrace these women into the Hull House? Were immigrant women set on equal ground as well?
The post seems to fit in really well with our discussions in class about different places that were funded by the wealthy that provided a safe place for the poor to get help with food and shelter etc but also provided opportunities to better oneself. One question I have is was anyone excluded? What about those who were not immigrants but instead poor Americans and minorities. Was the Hull House only for those who fit into Addams picture of those who wanted to better themselves and be more Americanized?
I find this post to be extremely interesting as well, but I actually was wondering if anyone out there could answer a more specific question for me.
Was the purpose of Hull House more of a benevolent service provided to immigrant families, or was it more of a teaching tool. I ask this because things like alms houses were used mainly as socialization tools to teach immigrant families how to behave in a new country. I think that the post of very informative, but I would like to know more about the specific functions of the Hull House.
I enjoyed the post. Jane Addams seems like an ideal humanitarian. While the myth about the Hull House were a little disturbing, I don't think it will tarnish the hardwork and the legacy that Addams achieved by aiding so many immigrants of here native land. Today, i can't really think of any humanitarians who are the equivalent of this young lady. Most simply write checks towards charities but the money doesn't always get to those who really need it. I appreciate Jane Addams hands on approach in assisting those in need.
I feel the importance of the Hull House establishment not only gave immigrants a place to settle, but offered education, medical care, child care, and legal aid. I also wonder what Jane Addams means by the term victims of degeneration...Is she implying that without the Hull House, the immigrants will become the social problem?
Was the Hull house the first settlement primarly for women? As well, were southern European women welcome, or was it solely for Eastern Europeans?
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