Jane Addams, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Rachel Carson were four American women who advocated for social change. Their courage, intelligence, strength and leadership made a positive difference in the lives of many people. These women were pioneers in their times. They either helped to found, or lent their voices to, various social movements, policies, and causes that evolved during their lifetimes and proved successful in helping many oppressed people.
Jane Addams is most famous for her work in two major movements, the first of which is the Settlement House movement of the 1800s. Settlement houses, which first originated in England. These facilities were created in response to problems arising from immigration, urbanization, and industrialization. In America, the settlement houses were typically available for medical assistance, housing, and education to immigrants in the areas surrounding them (Izzo, 2010). Later, with the help of advocates like Addams, they began to take on new roles and more issues related to social and economic policies and conditions.
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded Hull House on the West side of Chicago, IL, in 1889. It was a secular house, as opposed to those run by religious organizations. As a more progressive settlement house, along with all the other things offered, Hull House provided more than just basic needs for its attendants. It made available many services such as daycare for single working mothers, an employment bureau, and access to art and other forms of cultural education (Izzo, 2010). As an activist, and one of the earliest social workers, Addams knew it was important for the people she served to have well-rounded experiences; these helped them to ...
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Blau, J, & Abramovitz, M. (Ed. 3). (2010). The dynamics of social welfare policy: third edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Carson, R. (1962). Silent spring. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Izzo, Amanda. (2001). Biographical note, the jane addams papers, sophia smith collection, smith college, northampton, mass.. Retrieved from http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmithmnsss141 bioghist.html
Mission statement, women’s international league for peace and freedom. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://trianglewilpf.org/
Sicker, T, et. Al.. (n.d.). People & events: harriet tubman. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html
Women of the hall: elizabeth cady stanton. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// www.greatwomen.orgwomen.phpaction=viewone&id=149
They all fought and still fight for women’s rights. Some wanted to vote, like Susan and Elizabeth, some wanted to race, like Shirley, they all changed the country like Hillary Clinton and Rose. But they all cared about was to not be judged or told they can’t do something. Their similarities all meet because they all made differences in little and big ways. We can all benefit from their actions and make change for the
Lillian Wald: A Biography is the gripping and inspiring story of an American who left her mark on the history of the United States. Wald dedicated herself to bettering the lives of those around her. She was the founder of The Henry Street Settlement along with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. She worked with politics around the world and tried to bring healthcare and reform to people around the world. Using the lessons she learned in her childhood she worked closely with people from all backgrounds to fight for “universal brotherhood”. Wald was a progressive reformer, a social worker, a nurse, a teacher, and an author. Notably Lillian Wald, unlike many of the other women involved in the progressive movement such as Jane Adams, never received the same acknowledgement in the academic world.
Addams, whose father was an Illinois state senator and friend of Abraham Lincoln, graduated in 1881 from Rockford College (then called Rockford Women’s Seminary). She returned the following year to receive one of the school’s first bachelor’s degrees. With limited career opportunities for women, she began searching for ways to help others and solve the country’s growing social problems. In 1888, Addams and her college friend, Ellen Gates Starr, visited Toynbee Hall, the two women observed college-educated Englishmen “settling” in desperately poor East London slum where they helped the people. This gave her the idea for Hull House.
Jane Addams is recognized as a social and political pioneer for women in America. In her biography, which later revealed her experiences in Hull House, she demonstrates her altruistic personality, which nurtured the poor and pushed for social reforms. Although many of Addams ideas were considered radical for her time, she provided women with a socially acceptable way to participate in both political and social change. She defied the prototypical middle class women by integrating the line that separated private and political life. Within these walls of the settlement house, Addams redefined the idea of ?separate spheres,? and with relentless determination, she separated herself from the domestic chores that woman were confined to during the later half of the nineteenth century which led to the twentieth one.
During the course of the History, it does not take long to realize that people who fight for they believe in or attempt to change the opinion of others, have a very difficult life. Women during the 1800s were no an exception to this. However, women like Lucy Stone, Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton were willing to make that sacrifice. The sacrifice made by these women led to many rights that women have today.
Starr began to teach at the Hull House. The showed girls how to cook and sew. Starr also created art classes and other painting exhibits. She also thought of a way to let people borrow some paintings to hang in their own house. Among the years, Starr became locally known. She was called "the principal coordinator for cultural activities at Hull House". In her later years, Starr attempted to reform child labor laws and help poor immigrant factory workers earn more money and make labor much easier for them. She was close to all the women and took the time to learn about their ethnic background, their cultures, and their customs.
The Hull House was a center for research, empirical analysis, study, and debate, as well as a pragmatic center for living in and establishing good relations with the neighborhood. Residents of Hull-house conducted investigations on housing, midwifery, fatigue, tuberculosis, typhoid, garbage collection, cocaine, and truancy. Its facilities included a night school for adults, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a gym , a girls club , a bathhouse , a book bindery , a music school , a drama group and a theater, apartments, a library, meeting rooms for discussion, clubs, an employment bureau, and a lunchroom. The Hull House neighborhood was a mix of European ethnic groups that had immigrated to Chicago around the start of the 20th century. That mix was the ground where Hull House's inner social and philanthropic elitists tested their theories and challenged the establishment. The ethnic mix is recorded by the Bethlehem-Howard Neighborhood Center: "Germans and Jews resided south of that inner core. Hull House became America's best known settlement house. Addams used it to generate system-directed change, on the principle that to keep families safe, community and societal conditions had to be improved. Starr and Addams developed three "ethical principles" for social settlements: "to teach by example, to practice cooperation, and to practice social democracy, that is, egalitarian, or democratic, social relations across class lines. Generally, Addams was close to a wide set of other women and was very good at eliciting their involvement from different classes in Hull House's programs. Nevertheless, throughout her life Addams did have significant romantic relationships with a few of these women, including Mary Rozet Smith and Ellen Starr. Her relationships offered her the time and energy to pursue her social work while
Democracy stresses the equality of all individuals and insists that all men are created equal. Democracy does not persist on an equality of condition for all people or argue that all persons have a right to an equal share of worldly goods. Rather, its concept of equality insists that all are entitled to equality of opportunity and equality before the law. The democratic concept of equality holds that no person should be held back for any such arbitrary reasons as those based on race, color, religion, or gender. This concept of equality holds that each person must be free to develop himself or herself as fully as he or she can or cares to and that each person should be treated as the equal of all other persons by the law. We have come a great distance toward reaching the goal of equality for all in this country, but however close we are we are still at a considerable distance from a genuine universally recognized and respected equality for all. I will go into more details giving more information and making it clear to understand equality and civil rights for all and it affects everyone.
During the Progressive Era, Jane Addams was the most prominent female reformer. She was born in 1860, and had a college degree. She was never married but she grew to the idea that women must follow what she called the “family claim”. Addams claimed that a woman’s life must be devoted to parents, husband, and their children. With that in mind, in September of 1889, Addams founded Hull House in Chicago. Hull House was a settlement home for improving the lives of poor immigrants. Her goal was to introduce democracy to the newly arriving immigrants. The rich and poor were greatly divided within cities all over the country and Addams’ view was to unite society regardless of their differences. The Hull House Mansion soon became a large establishment
Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women lived at the turn of the century, and fought vehemently for a cause they believed in. They knew that they were being discriminated against because of their gender, and they refused to take it. These pioneers of feminism paved the road for further reform, and changed the very fabric of our society.
“Women’s empowerment results from a process where women can freely analyze, develop, and voice their needs and interests without them being predefined or unwillingly imposed by religion, government, or social norms and where their influence and control extends women’s familial/kinship circles” (Haghighat, par.6). There is an ongoing fight for women’s rights everywhere around the world. Men have been getting more power than women such as economic and political power and their rights are not limited as women rights are. There are not any limits with men whereas women are limited to many things. “When voting rights were given to women in the late 1800’s to 1920 it was a decisive moment in the women’s right movement in western Europe and North American democracies” (“Women’s rights”).”Women’s rights groups in the second half of the twentieth century focused on greater legal equality in terms of wages and credit, reproductive rights, family law, and education” (“Women’s rights”). Women’s rights are limited to them and it’s time to give women more rights to have equality because women should have equality in every aspect of their lives. They are unable to have self empowerment due to the rights not given to them. Empowerment is increasing spiritual, political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of individuals or communities. It is about achieving your goals to the best of your ability with your potential.
Knowing about the segregation with blacks and immigrants amongst the settlement houses, almost completely implies that there was sexism that existed as well. The middle-class reformers that worked in these settlement houses were mostly women who stayed at the settlement house and worked to help those less fortunate. These women became the care givers, teachers, and health service providers for their community. There were many settlement houses founded by women but some of the most popular are the Hull House founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr and the Henry Street Settlement 1893 in New York by Lillian Wald (Women in the Progressive Era).
...ing to survive. Their militant demeanor and strong willed nature foreshadowed the coming modern civil rights movement. They realized the importance of education and utilized it to change the climate of their time. I think these to women defined the term "ordinary to extraordinary". They had both broke through color and gender barriers and earned the respect and admiration of colleagues, politicians the African American people. Who knows what would have happened if these two brave women did not stand up and accomplish what they had done. Would "White Supremacy" prevail in a post WWII society. It is hard to quantify the contribution of these women to the civil rights movement but I think it is safe to say that we were fortunate as a nation to have these great crusaders, as well as many other notable figures, to educate us and force us to see change in the United States.
Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.