Jane Addams (1860-1935)
The first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (1931), Jane Addams is more widely known for her role in the establishment of Hull House in Chicago in 1889 and the Settlement House movement in the United States. Motivated by a visit to Toynbee Hall, a settlement begun by Oxford men on London's East End, Addams and her friend Ellen Gates Starr returned to open Hull House. By 1893 it offered medical care, legal aid, language classes, music, and drama to more than two thousand needy each week. Their activism in support of the poor, immigrants, and women involved Addams in politics. She became the first vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1911 and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party in 1912. To ensure peace and freedom she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920 and served as the first president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919, a role she continued until her death.
Additional Information Can Be Found At...
National Historic Landmarks Database