Jane Addams
American Sociologist
1860 – 1935 A.D.

Jane Addams, an American sociologist. She graduated at Rockford Female Seminary in 1880, and after two years of study in Europe, and a year at the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia, she decided to devote her life to social work among the city poor.

Together with Miss Ellen G. Starr, she established (in 1889, at Chicago), the Hull House, the leading social settlement in the United States, of which she became the head worker and guiding spirit. Her practical common sense, great executive ability, and fine unselfish spirit have made her the natural leader of the settlement movement in this country. She has taken an active interest in city administrative problems and served for three years as inspector of streets and alleys in the district around Hull House. She took a prominent part in the formation of the National Progressive Party in 1912.

Her writings include: Democracy and Social Ethics (1902), Twenty Years at Hull House (1910), A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil (1910). Among living American women who have nobly worked for the cause of peace and human progress, Jane Addams holds the most distinguished place.

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Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.