How Did Jane Addams Impact Society

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Jane Addams, born in Cedarville, IL in 1860, was a very independent woman who was looked up to by many people and seen as the most prominent woman of her time. She shared the common culture of Social Christianity although, she was not trying to do her efforts for religious practice. Growing up without a father, because he killed himself, and a having a husband who was an abusive alcoholic taught her a way to be humble. She was not like others who were racist and looked down on the poor she saw an equal in everyone and just wanted to help. In a time period of poverty and discrimination, with the help of Jane Addams, the Hull House was an escape route for immigrants, and an uprising for Social Christianity. Social Christianity is a type of religious …show more content…

Jane was perceived as a reformer and pacifist. “Addams’s cosmopolitanism incorporated both strong national affiliation and commitment to all of the humanity”(The Pluralist, Page 44). She was the leader, president, vice-president, chairman, and executive member of many organizations because of her impact on society. Addams was one of the few people who valued others’ cultures and wanted to help keep the tradition going. “Immigrants’ cultural patterns provided materials with which Americans could reconstruct the meanings of patriotism, nationalism, and internationalism“(The Pluralist, Page 44). The African-Americans had been confiscated of their cultural patterns due to slavery, and Jane wanted to bring it back to the freed persons or re-invent their culture. Jane assisted in the establishment of the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers in 1911 due to the aid of the Hull House. Addams claimed in order to accept the immigrants, people needed to be open-minded and inquire into openness. Jane was also involved in civil right movements, women’s labor and the first vice president of National American Woman Suffrage Association. As well as the head of the National Federation of Settlement and Neighborhood Centers and chairman of the Woman’s Peace Party. Not only was Jane involved in so many organizations, but also was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Before the Hull-House was founded, Jane and her friend Ellen Gates Starr had goals for it including ideas like art and literary education for the less fortunate neighbors they would have. Clearly now, those ideas expanded into something greater. More was to come, including the help of evolving needs for the immigrants. Addams helped with cooking, sewing, technical skills, government education, English language, nursery, and daycare. She was a hero of her time to the less fortunate. The Hull-House portrayed as a religious organization, but Jane, in fact, was