Life Story: Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Jane Addams was born on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her mother died when she was just two years old. Her father was a prominent businessman, banker, Civil War veteran, and Republican politician who claimed Abraham Lincoln as one of his many friends. His commitment to social reform and women’s education significantly shaped Jane’s view of the world.

With her father’s encouragement, Jane enrolled at the prestigious Rockford Female Seminary at the age of seventeen. The school’s curriculum was rooted in Christianity and encouraged women to pursue religious and missionary work. Jane was not particularly interested in religion, but she was drawn to the idea of doing work that served those in need. Jane flourished at Rockford Seminary. She earned excellent grades and participated in extracurricular activities such as the debate team and the literary society. She fully embraced the autonomy and freedom college life afforded her. In her first year at Rockford, she grew close to fellow student Ellen Gates Starr. Like most women couples in the late 1800s, Jane and Ellen never publicly defined the nature of their relationship, but some historians today believe that it was a romantic partnership.

Jane graduated in 1881. For most Rockford women, post-graduate life meant marriage and family. Jane, however, wanted something else. A quiet life at home seemed to be a waste of the knowledge and skills she had gained at Rockford. She believed there was a world of possibility beyond marriage. She considered traveling, continuing her education, and starting a career before deciding to become a doctor.

Tragically, a few weeks after graduation, her beloved father died of a ruptured appendix while on a family vacation. Knowing her father supported her education, Jane attended the Philadelphia Women’s Medical College that fall. But less than a month into the school year she became severely ill. Doctors told her that a childhood spinal problem had returned. She left school, underwent surgery, and began a long-term bed rest regimen.

The combination of her father’s death and her failing health sent Jane into a deep depression that lasted almost six years. She felt she was a “failure in every sense” and struggled to find a purpose. She worried that her education was wasted, but her health was too fragile to return to school or take on work. Although her stepmother and siblings were grateful to have her at home, Jane resented her role as the spinster aunt of the family. She frequently shared her anxieties in letters to Ellen.

As Jane’s health improved, Ellen proposed they travel to Europe together in 1887. This trip marked a new beginning. In London, the women visited a settlement house called Toynbee Hall. Located in the poor East End neighborhood, Toynbee Hall offered medical services, classes, and other charitable services to the local community. The services appeared to make a difference for the residents of the East End. It reminded Jane of the missionary work her teachers at Rockford often promoted.

Jane and Ellen returned to the United States with the intention to establish a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois. At the time, Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. Between 1860 and the 1890s the population of the city exploded from 100,000 to one million residents. Immigrants and their children made up nearly eighty percent of the city’s population, and many needed help coping with the effects of overcrowding and industrialization.

In 1889 Jane and Ellen moved into the second floor of an old mansion in a poor immigrant Chicago neighborhood. They persuaded wealthy families to donate the money needed to transform the space into a settlement house. They named it Hull House after Charles Hull, the building’s original owner.

Hull House became a center of social work services for poor and immigrant communities. It offered recreational activities, English language classes, hygiene classes, job training, clubs for young men and women, social activities, an art gallery, space for political and labor organizing, job placement services, nursing services, and much more. By the end of the 1890s Hull House served over 1,000 people every week.

Hull House did not just help poor immigrants. It also provided a much-needed alternative to marriage for young women who had recently graduated college. By the early 1900s nearly seventy well-educated young women lived and worked at Hull House. Hull House workers were able to put their education to use, something Jane had struggled to do in the years after her own college graduation. The settlement became an informal training ground for social workers, health care providers, and other reformers.

After starting Hull House, Jane and Ellen grew apart. Jane remained committed to leading Hull House and replicating its model in other cities. Ellen continued to live at Hull House, but she shifted her attention to labor activism. In 1890 Ellen introduced Jane to a volunteer kindergarten teacher named Mary Rozet. Jane and Mary fell in love, and Mary was Jane’s partner and primary support for the rest of her life. 

Beyond the walls of Hull House, Jane emerged as a prominent leader in the social reform movement. She was an ardent supporter of labor unions and rallied for women’s suffrage. She joined Chicago’s Board of Education in 1905 and was an early member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also traveled across the country lecturing on the deplorable living and working conditions in the US’ rapidly growing and overcrowded cities. Mary often stayed home during these trips to care for her aging parents, so Jane wrote her many letters that stand as a testament to their love and commitment to one another. 

Although Jane was an important and successful advocate for immigrants, she was not free from bias. She sometimes presented immigrants as people who needed help because they were naturally susceptible to drug and alcohol addiction, poor financial decision-making, and loose morals. Like many reformers of this era, she was occasionally guilty of stereotyping the very people she served.

By 1910 Hull House included nearly a dozen buildings that provided a wealth of services to the local community. It was also a model for hundreds of settlement houses across the US. As the head of Hull House, Jane was the mother of the settlement house movement and an inspiration for the next generation of women reformers.

Jane’s popularity declined during World War I. She was a vehement pacifist who believed there was no such thing as a just war. She joined the Women’s Peace Party and publicly opposed the US’ entry into World War I. She led a peace parade in 1914 and traveled to New York City and Washington, D.C., to organize pacifist meetings. Jane knew her position was unpopular, but she refused to be swayed by public opinion and continued to speak out against the war. In 1931 her commitment to peace was officially recognized on the world stage when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mary passed away from pneumonia in 1934 and Jane never fully recovered from her grief. But she continued to work until her death from cancer on May 21, 1935. Her funeral was held at Hull House.

• hygiene: Cleanliness and healthy behaviors.
• industrialization: A period of social and economic change that occurs when the economy moves from one of agriculture to one of manufacturing.
• missionary work: Religious work intended to serve those in need and convert them to a particular religion.
• Nobel Peace Prize: A respected international award that recognizes men and women who advocate for peace.
• pacifist: A person who believes in peace and opposes war, regardless of the situation.
• prestigious: Well-respected.
• Rockford Female Seminary: A women’s college in Rockford, Illinois.
• settlement house: An organization that provided a range of social services to the local community; typically found in poor, urban areas.
• social work: Work aimed at improving the lives of people.
• social worker: A person who provides a range of social services, including basic medical care, mental health support, education, training, and more.
• stereotype: An oversimplified and often offensive assumption or description of a person or group of people.

• Explore higher education opportunities for women by connecting Jane’s life story to those of Ellen Swallow Richards and Mary Church Terrell, who also attended college. How did their education shape their careers and personal lives? What challenges did women face after graduation?
• Settlement houses were just one way progressive reformers helped poor immigrant communities. Learn more about social reform for immigrants by studying Margaret Sanger’s clinic poster and Clara Lemlich’s life story.
• Learn about the challenges pacifists faced during World War I by reading Jane’s life story in conjunction with those of Emma Goldman and Jeannette Rankin.
• To learn more about social work inspired by Jane Addams, see Atlanta Neighborhood Union: Women Helping Women.

ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE