Agents of Progressivism: Jane Addams and the Settlement House Movement

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Agents of Progressivism Jane Addams and the
Settlement House Movement
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Crime of the Cities

• Crowded conditions were unsafe and unhealthy
• A center for crime
• Danger of fast-moving fires
• Diseases spread quickly

decency and morality which society erects, the
saloon projects its colossal shadow, omen of evil
wherever it falls into the lives of the poor.
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Jacob Riis Photos

• Riis called these tenements Dens of Death.

decency and morality which society erects, the
saloon projects its colossal shadow, omen of evil
wherever it falls into the lives of the poor.
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19th Century Immigration

• Immigrants crowded the city.
• Many spoke no English
• Unprepared for city life
• Had few job skills
• No understanding of hygiene or healthy food

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Nativist Sentiment

• Writers such as Josiah Strong spoke out against
  immigration
• Strong criticized immigrants for condition of the
  cities
• The city has become a serious menace to our
  civilization. . . . It has a peculiar attraction
  for the immigrant.

• Childrens Playground

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Jane Addams and Hull House
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19th Century Reform

• Many Middle class women were educated
• few opportunities in business or clergy
• Some involved in reform efforts

• Jane Addams

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Founding of Hull House

• Inspired by Toynbee Hall in London
• Provided services to residents in East End
• Offered aid to poor, invalid, elderly and
  children
• Jane Addams and Ellen Starr began Hull House in
  Chicago in 1889.
• Provided aid to poor in citys slums

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Hull House Complex, 1902
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Hull Houses Social Services

• Hull House offered classes to adult immigrants
• English and job skills
• cooking and hygiene
• rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
• Services to families and children
• child care
• kindergarten
• Built first playground in Chicago.

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Hull House Kindergarten Class, 1902
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Hull House and Settlement House Movement

• Inspired growth of more than 400 houses around
  the country
• Gathered poverty data in big cities
• Provided services to immigrants and poor
• Lobbied for reform and housing and political
  reform in state and national government.

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Hull House Labor Museum, 1902
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Jane Addams as Advocate

• Proposed ban on sweat shops and child labor
• Urged U. of Chicago professors to gather data
• Advocated 8-hour work day
• Protections for immigrants
• Urged measures to clean up corrupt politics.

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Jane Addams, founder of the Hull House
Addams, right, was a peace activist during WWI