Jane Addams (1860 – 1935)

Social worker and feminist, Jane Addams not only co-founded the Hull House in Chicago, Illinois in 1889, but also went on to be a founding member of the National Child Labor Law in 1916.

Addams was born on September 6th, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, to Sarah Weber and John H. Addams, a successful mill owner and local politician who fought in the Civil War and considered Abraham Lincoln as a friend. Raised with liberal Christian values, Addams had a deep sense of social mission. In 1881, Addams graduated at the top of her class from Rockford Female Seminary.

While visiting a settlement house in Europe with her close friend, Ellen G. Starr, Addams realized her idea of founding a similar settlement house, but in Chicago, Illinois. In 1889, Addams and Starr leased a large house and began raising money and delivering speeches on the needs of the neighborhood. By the Hull House’s second year, the house was hosting two thousand people per week. The house eventually included many different facilities, ranging from a gymnasium to a music school.

 After the founding of the Hull House, Addams was appointed to Chicago’s Board of Education and was made chairman of the School Management Committee in 1905. In 1908, Addams participated in the founding of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and a year later became the first woman to be president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. Addams also became the first woman to receive an honorary degree by Yale University in 1910. Six years later in 1916, Addams became a founding member of the National Child Labor Law.