Historical Figure in Social Work: Jane Addams

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Biography of Jane Addams
Social Welfare Policy That the Jane Adams Influenced
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Just like any other field in social sciences, Social Work has been marked by the influence of various personalities. People like Achmat Zackie, Alexander the Great, Altman Dennis, Anne (Queen of England), Anthony Susan B. Apuzzo, Virginia, Arden Elizabeth, Atherton John, and Baden Powel have left great impacts in the field of social work. However, this paper focuses on the life of Jane Addams, the daughter of John Adams, a former politician of the United States.

Biography of Jane Addams

Jane Adams was born in Cedarville in the State of Illinois into a successful and large family in the north. By the time she was eight years, four of her siblings had died. She was not brought up by her mother because she passed away when Jane was two years old.

Like most children, she had most of her childhood spent reading indoors, playing outdoors, and attending church service and Sunday school. At age four, she was attacked by Potts’s disease (tuberculosis of the spine). This made her back curve and she also had other health complications. The curvature made her have lower self-esteem because she thought of herself as being ugly.

As a child, she loved her father greatly. This is portrayed in the stories she wrote in her (1910) memoir; Twenty years at hull house. It was her father’s wish that she pursues higher education near home. He, therefore, enrolled her at Rockford Female Seminary currently called Rockford College in Illinois. In 1881 she completed her studies at the college earning herself a college certificate. Her father died the same year and her family members moved to Philadelphia where she joined Woman’s College to satisfy her medical career dreams. However, this dream was not fulfilled because she dropped out along the way due to health problems originating from the curvature in her back.

She passed away on 12th May 1935.

Brown (2003) says that at a very early age, Jane Adams had wanted to do great things in the world. Her dreams were big right away from her teenage years. She had a great interest in the poor and this was motivated by her mother’s generosity in Cedarville. Thinking of democracy as a social principle inspired her greatly. However, being a woman, she was not sure of her role in enhancing the same. Nevertheless, she felt that it was not right for women to be put under pressure to marry and focus their attention on their children and husband. Looking at her surroundings, she realized that as a result of social problems like immigration, urbanization, and industrialization, there was a need to come up with a solution for settlement. Jane Addams initiated the formation of the Hull-House Reform Movement to look into residential problems around Hull-House. The group created settlement houses for densely populated urban centers for immigrants from Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany, Mexico, etc. The group also provided daycare facilities and kindergartens for mothers who were working. The complex extended to also provide employment bureaus, libraries, art galleries, classes for English and citizenry, museums, art and music classes among another extended array of events of culture.

The settlement house strategy as a solution to the housing problem was adopted throughout America and Europe. It was seen as an internal solution to settlement problems for urban residents because it allowed the government to serve the public through the people who lived within the community.

Furthermore, the people got skills through the strategy, which empowered them to help themselves, and this increased sustainability of the program.

Murrin, Johnson, and McPherson (2008) say that the group further initiated projects like the Juvenile Protective Association, Immigrants’ Protective League, Juvenile Court, and Juvenile Psychopathic Clinic. The group also put pressure on legislators to create laws that protected children and women and this took place in 1893. Through the group’s efforts, the Federal Children Bureau and the Passing of the Federal Child Labor Laws had taken place by 1916.

Jane Addams also wrote a lot of books and articles on the activities connected to Hull-House. She also spoke actively, locally, and internationally on various topics related to social welfare.

In the years around the beginning of the First World War, she greatly campaigned against the war and lobbied other women to support her cause. Her peace movements across nations were channeled towards attempting to prevent the war. Jane Addams’s peace campaigns were carried out through the Women’s Peace Party which converted to Women International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) formed in 1919 with her as the first president.

Her influence in society was marked by legislation on child and women protection which she campaigned for in writing and speech, the settlement solution to poor urban dwellers as well as her peace movements, she was the first American woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Price in 1931.

Conclusion

Jane Addams is celebrated for living a life directed towards society development, children and women protection, and empowerment of the poor. Her ideas continue to dominate economic, social, and political reforms not only in America but also across the world over.

References

Brown, V.B. (2003). The Education of Jane Addams. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Printing Press.

Murrin, J.M., P.E. Johnson, & J.M. McPherson (2008). Liberty, Equality, Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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Introduction

Biography of Jane Addams

Social Welfare Policy That the Jane Adams Influenced

Conclusion

References

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