Jane Addams

1860-1935

With Ellen Gates Starr, she opened Hull House in Chicago in 1889, a settlement house for immigrants and workers, on the model of Toynbee Hall in London, with the aim of attacking urban poverty. One of the leading activists of the Progressive movement, she was a pioneer in the new discipline of sociology, advocating better labor and housing conditions, and campaigning for child labor regulation by law. She later had considerable influence over the planning of neighborhood welfare institutions throughout the USA. As part of her commitment to social reform, Addams was a prohibitionist and fought against gambling and prostitution. She became a leading figure in the women's suffrage movement and promoted the influence of women in high political circles. Addams pursued her goal of political equality also by becoming a leading member of the NAACP in 1909. During World War I, her activism for pacifism grew, and in 1919 she helped to found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1931, she became the first American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Although her intimate relationship with Ellen Starr ended sometime in the 1880s, they continued to work closely together. In 1890, Addams met Mary Rozet Smith when the then-young woman first volunteered at Hull House. They remained a devoted couple until 1934 when Mary died.

Source: Biographies Plus; Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History