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Mobilizing the Human SpiritTM

The Role of Human Services and Civic Engagementin the United States 1900–2000

Jane AddamsThe Founding of Hull House 1889–1920

Telling the Story and Showing the Way

The Human Spirit InitiativeOrdinary People Doing Extraordinary Things

19 S. First Street, B2506Minneapolis, MN 55401

The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway1400 I Street, NW Suite 800

Washington, DC 20005

Change began with them; change begins with each of us!

Throughout history, noble individuals have looked out on their world and seen that more could be done to help those in need. Over the last century in America, these like-minded individuals found each other, put pen to paper and became the voice of a nation, manifesting that deeply human impulse to care enough to act. Their zeal, discipline and hard work forever changed this nation’s collective capacity to care.

In telling the stories of their lives and work, the legacy and impact of their actions, we begin to see the extent to which voluntary association – the building of healthy, diverse, inclusive community – lies at the heart of our national character.

The Human Spirit Initiative is a nonprofit organization committed to building greater understanding of the impact of health and human services on American society. Presented in this monograph and others in this series are stories that inspire one to action – to recognize we are all part of a community and accept responsibility for the health of that community. These stories celebrate the contributions of ordinary people who dedicated their lives to found or shape

significant human services organizations and, in the process, transformed the fabric of 20th century American society. Blending biography with history, we will trace the legacy of their actions: the growth, impact and promise of civil society in America.

The public (government), private (corporate), and social (non-profit) sectors in America all impact our quality of life and our relationships with the rest of the world. The non-profit sector consists of more than 1.4 million organizations, employing 12 million individuals. Operating within this fast-growing sector are health and human services organizations – ranging from community groups to national associations – focused on alleviating need, and preventing suffering such as Volunteers of America, The Salvation Army, National Urban League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The individuals whose lives we celebrate have been memorialized in our nation’s newest monument in Washington, D.C., The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway. Dedicated in 2005 to the spirit of service in America, the Extra Mile comprises a series of bronze medallions forming a one-mile walking path just blocks from the White House. In 2007,

Foreword“We need to re-mythologize our heroes. Of course, they were only human beings like the rest of us……But they had great gifts and, due to fate or chance or perhaps providence, great currents of human and social energy passed through them”

Jacob Needleman, The American Soul

Jane Addams, a founder of the U.S. Settlement House movement and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was honored with a marker on the pathway. Other honorees include founders of major service organizations and civil rights leaders, individuals who selflessly championed causes to help others realize a better America. Their legacies are enduring social movements that continue to engage and inspire us today.

These ordinary people combined a sense of history and responsibility with altruism and independence of spirit. They used their skills as writers, organizers, speakers, agitators and advisors to spotlight social needs, change public opinion, rally forces for positive change and advance legislation. None of them knew at the beginning of their work the ultimate legacy and impact of their actions. They did not act for self-serving reasons, but many did gain prominence and influence and lived to see their dreams flourish.

The initial seven monographs in this series will collectively capture the growth of health and human services in the United States over the past century, with a focus on social welfare, health services and youth development.

The monographs will spotlight the life and work of:

• Jane Addams, Hull House, 1889-1920

• Clifford Beers, Mental Health America, 1908-1935

• Maud and Ballington Booth, Volunteers of America, 1890-1935

• William Edwin Hall, Boys and Girls Clubs, 1935-1950

• Robert Smith and William Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous, 1950-1965

• Eunice Shriver, Special Olympics, 1965-1985

• Millard and Linda Fuller, Habitat for Humanity, 1985-2000These monographs offer a snapshot

of the demographics, economic conditions and politics of the 20th century. Each highlights the particular events and conditions that gave rise to the need and enabled the response, while presenting common themes and approaches that each of us can follow in our own journey to make a difference.We will seek to discover parallels in today’s world, the legacy of these individuals’ work and, through the discussion guide, how each reader can take action to benefit the common good and strengthen civil society.

Jane Addams and her seminal work were honored with a marker on the Extra Mile-Points of Light Pathway, a program of the Points of Light Foundation, in Washington, DC, in 2007.

ii Mobilizing the Human Spirit

As you read – and marvel – at the generosity, courage, creativity and tenacity of our “ordinary” heroes, seek to discover the heroes in the communities of your life. Applaud yourself for the role you play in enabling civil society to flourish. Ask how and when you can enhance that role. Start Today.

Kay HorschChairman, The Human Spirit Initiative

  

Mobilizing the Human Spirit iii

This monograph was made possible by a generous gift from Mutual of America and its President, Tom Moran, which gave wings to the effort. We are most grateful!

We are most proud of our partnership with the Points of Light Foundation. They have played a key role in the formation of the concept of engendering greater public awareness of and commitment to building healthy, diverse, inclusive community.

Anne Nixon authored the narrative, a significant feat in turning historical data into an inspirational tool for our reader. The American Cancer Society, under the leadership of John Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer, and Greg Donaldson, National Vice President, Corporate Communications, provided technical expertise and the initial print copies.

Lou Burdick, Frances Hesselbein, and Mike Heron, members of the Human Spirit Initiative Board of Directors, and John Johansen, Founder, Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway, served as our Editorial Review Team. Their valued insights and counsel helped to shape both form and context for the entire series, as well as creating the balance between inspiration and education within the content. Mike served as the Champion of the project; his Associate, Gigi Marion, assisted in the selection of the author(s).

Ian Bautista, President, United Neighborhood Centers of America, provided insights and knowledge about the legacy of Jane Addams’ work, as well as a glimpse of current and future potential in reaching those in need.

Special recognition goes to Sue Hamilton, who designed our corporate logo, and Erik Horsch and Matt Olsen, who generously designed the graphics, pro bono.

Finally, a very sincere expression of gratitude to the members of the Board of Directors of the Human Spirit Initiative, whose leadership and vision has shaped the health and human services sub-sector within the United States. Their belief in the importance of joining history and biography to assist all of us understand the importance of civil society and the role each of us can play in keeping it alive – is a gift to the human spirit:

• Lou Burdick, Community Volunteer, Mpls., MN

• Robert K. Goodwin, Immediate Past President & CEO, Points of Light Foundation, Wash., D.C.

• Michael Heron, President, HerCo LTD, Atlanta, GA

• Iain Somerville, President & CEO, Somerville & Assoc., Los Angeles, CA.

• Frances Hesselbein, Founder and Chairman, Leader to Leader Institute, New York, NY

AcknowledgementsJane Addams: Hull House

iv Mobilizing the Human Spirit

• Irv Katz, President and CEO, National Human Services Assembly, Wash., D.C.

• Seymour H. Levitt, M.D., Professor, Radiation Oncology, UofMn Medical School, Mpls., MN

• John R. Seffrin, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA

• Kay Horsch, Founder and Chairman, The Human Spirit Initiative, Mpls., MN

Mobilizing the Human Spirit v

The Life and Work of Jane Addams: Historical Narrative Jane Addams The Settlement House Hull House Is Born Social Consciousness More Buildings and More Activities Residents and Volunteers The Panic of 1893 Streets Full of GarbageThe World of Women Children and Child Labor Labor and Labor Unions The Widening World The Power of the Word War and Peace Jane Addams Legacy The Nonprofit Sector Health and Human Services Problems of Today The World Ahead

Chronology of Jane Addams Life

Showing the Way:Getting Started: Change Begins With MeAccess Numbers to National Organizations

Gathering Insights and Understanding:How It All HappenedEchoes of the Past: Parallels in Today’s WorldConclusions, Major Themes and Guiding PrinciplesLegacy and Impact DataAppendix A: Economic Conditions/Political ReformDevelopment of Human Service Sector in the United States

Resources Cited: Learn More About Jane Addams

For More Information: The Human Spirit Initiative The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway

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Mobilizing the Human Spirit vii

Hull House Founders surrounding Jane Addams, standing at center.

There is an instinct among people to help one another. It is part of the human spirit. It is a natural reaction to bring a casserole to a mourning family or drive a sick friend to a doctor – to help build a neighbor’s barn or rescue a drowning child. It is our heritage to care for each other.

Since the founding of America, neighbor has reached out to neighbor in times of trouble. These traditional gestures of friendliness and concern began in a largely rural setting. But by the mid-1800s, this country changed. With western expansion, increased urbanization, and waves of immigrants, society was immersed in social complexity. The new and varied needs could no longer be casually handled.

Americans began to realize that a new kind of action was required—one that would help their fellow citizens. In the battle against overcrowding, child labor, poverty and disease, the usual spirit of neighborliness was not enough. Improved health and human services were called for.

What was to be done? How was the challenge to be met? And who would do it? Our history shows us that certain men and women always appear when leadership is called for. These individuals may seem ordinary on the surface--but they are gifted with a dedication that reaches out and meets the challenge head on. What guides them? Perhaps it

is a flash of anger at injustice, a moment of pity, or a sense of their own power to solve a problem. They take action and change American life for the better. They volunteer their lives to create or shape human services organizations. They are our inspiration.

Who are these people? The Honorees whose lives and work have been memorialized in the Extra Mile Points of Light Volunteer Pathway.

As we examine the lives of these special Americans and the society in which they lived, we will see how the innovations made in their own time have lasted into the world of today. These ordinary people who did extraordinary things dreamed of bold actions to improve society. They sparked change and joined in collective endeavor. With their leadership, the areas of social welfare, service to youth, and health and human services were developed and enriched.

The Life and Work of Jane AddamsHistorical Narrative

The Life and Work of Jane Addams 1

Jane Addams is one of those amazing individuals who see a need and meet it. She brought strength, comfort, and a meaningful life to thousands of people. She acted to develop a structure of civic justice. She became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The press called her Saint Jane. To the people she served that title must have seemed appropriate.

Born in 1860, her life began in a time of upheaval. Between the Civil War and World War I, America was in the midst of monumental change from a rural community to an urban-industrial society.

In the early 1800s, there were only 26 states.1 By 1900 there were 44. Urban manufacturing and the corporate monopolies supplanted the rural farming culture.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the Reconstruction Act, not only freed the former slaves, but also allowed them to leave the South to find jobs in the industrial North. But for the newly emancipated black population, the “Promised Land” was still only an illusion. Jim Crow meant that black citizens were not welcome at “white” schools, streetcars, restaurants, restrooms or swimming pools, Waves of European immigrants arrived, also seeking a better life but discovering that the streets were not “paved with gold.” Instead they were overwhelmed with culture shock, and feelings of dislocation and fear. As the population of the United States increased by two and a third times between 1870 and 1910,2 many new arrivals faced long hours and low pay.

Born In the small town of Cedarville, Illinois, on September 6, 1860, Jane Addams was in the right time, in the right place, with the right instincts to meet the needs of this changing society. She was the daughter of a well-to-do businessman, a friend and admirer of Abraham Lincoln.

Jane Addams“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.”

Jane Addams

1 Lamb, Brian. Booknotes: Stories From American History. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. p. 572 Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. p. 229

2 The Life and Work of Jane Addams

John Addams had helped African Americans escape from slavery as a conductor on the Underground Railroad and Jane remembered her father as “the uncompromising enemy of wrong and wrong doing.” He and his family lived a comfortable middle-class life. Jane’s only contact with the underprivileged came when she went with her father to visit a nearby mill town and was upset by the “horrid little houses” in which the millworkers lived. She declared that she would live in a big house but it would be in the middle of horrid little houses like those. Perhaps it was no accident that more than 20 years later; she would establish Hull House – her “big house”– in the midst of the dismal Chicago slums.

John Addams’ high principles and his Quaker morality were an early and lasting influence on his daughter. Education was valued in the Addams household and Jane attended the Rockford Seminary, in Rockford, Illinois, where she received a classical education. At this school for young ladies, in addition to Latin, Greek, Science and Literature, she honed her skills in writing and public speaking—both of which would serve her in good stead in her Hull House days. Although the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848,3 it would be more than 70 years before women would be able to vote. For a young woman in the 1880s, marriage and motherhood was the traditional life style, but Jane yearned

for a life of service to humanity. The early suffragettes had begun to influence her generation. She and her friend from Rockford Seminary, Ellen Gates Starr, looked for “a way to live in a really living world”.

On a cultural tour of Europe, Jane Addams experienced, first hand, the true wretchedness of slum life. In London, she observed crowds of pathetic men and women, dressed in rags, desperately bidding their few pennies for some discarded and decaying vegetables and fruit. This experience pointed her beyond the usual “grand tour”. She moved toward more than visiting Europe’s cultural sights. After explorations of the London slums, she observed the poverty-stricken beggars of southern Italy and the salt miners of Austria. She later declared that the sight of extreme human need “began to form itself into my mind” into the beginnings of “the very simple plan which afterward developed into the Settlement.”


3 Fraser, James W. A History of Hope: When Americans Have Dared to Dream of a Better Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. p. 121

In London, she found an inspiration for her future occupation. She visited Toynbee House4– a unique settlement house--that in many ways would serve as a model for Hull House. Located in the Whitechapel District, near the London docks, Toynbee House served the eight thousand people who lived in this crowded working class neighborhood. College men from Oxford and Cambridge would come to live there or “settle” for a few months or years. They would socialize with the working class men and women and join them in clubs and classes, introducing them to the “higher life.” One element of Toynbee House that Jane did not want to follow was the aura of elitism and the separateness of classes. This attitude, common in British society, went against the American egalitarian point of view.

Jane’s planned settlement house would be a model of equal rights.

It was decided. The settlement house was to be Jane Addams’s project and, ultimately, her life work. The next question was where this settlement house was to be. Jane’s hometown of Cedarville had no need for such an extensive social experiment. The greatest change and greatest needs were in the rapidly enlarging urban centers. Urbanization was everywhere. New York would have its subways, Boston the electric trolley cars, and Chicago was a city of streetcars.

Chicago was not far from Jane’s town of Cedarville. This city had grown from the ashes of the great Chicago Fire in 1871 into a community of stone and steel structures—the beginning of the skyscraper culture.

The Settlement House“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads...”

Herman Melville

4 Ibid. p. 186-1915 Jennings, Peter and Todd Brewster. The Century. New York: Doubleday, 1998. p. 68

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As the rural populations moved to the cities, they created new problems from overcrowding. The rapidly growing cities needed greater public facilities such as sanitation, transportation, light and gas. The population growth also brought with it a collection of social ills – slums, sweat shops, child labor, and a large immigrant population.

Chicago, the second largest city in the United States typified these problems and was a fine setting for Jane Addams settlement house. This “Second City” was home to manufacturing, meatpacking, steel and iron industries, made viable by the Port of Chicago and twenty-one railway lines. With all this industry, Chicago was a destination for Americans from farms and small towns, former slaves seeking a new life,5 and, more especially, European immigrants. In 1888, 78 percent of the one million Chicagoans were foreign-born or the children of foreign born. Their needs were especially great. They had to learn English and find their way in a new, bewildering, and, often unfriendly, society. For Chicago had a darker side. Writer Lincoln Steffens described it as a “teeming tough among cities.”

Chicago already had a number of existing organizations sponsored by

missions and churches that reached out to the poor. They offered classes, vocational training, boys’ clubs, medical dispensaries, and, always, religious instruction. At Jane’s planned settlement house, specific religious doctrine would not be followed, and religious training or services of any kind would not be provided. This settlement house was not to be for any one religious or ethnic group. The plan was to present studies in literature and arts and appreciation of the American way of life to a heavily immigrant population. Jane Addams aimed at raising the population to a higher intellectual level and guiding them to the finer things of life rather than simply teaching them a trade.

Jane Addams was a young woman of means. Her father died on August 17, 1881, and left her a comfortable legacy that provided the means to rent a house that would make her plans come true. This house would serve as a settlement house as well as Jane’s home. In addition, there would be room for a group of, at least, six young women who might stay for “a season” paying for their own room and board. These “residents” would assist in the running of the settlement house, teaching classes, organizing, and doing whatever chores needed doing.


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The next question was the choice of a suitable location. After visiting all the slum neighborhoods, Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Gates Starr chose the Nineteenth Ward, on the West Side of Chicago. It was a working class area housing some 44,380 people—nearly all immigrants: There were Italians, Germans, Irish, Polish, Russian Jews, Bohemians, French Canadians, English—eighteen nationalities in all. The population also included what the Census Bureau termed “colored”–which meant “Negroes, Chinese, Japanese, and civilized Indians.”

They searched the neighborhood for the right building to meet their needs. Finally they found a large handsome red brick building, set

between a saloon and an undertaker on Halsted Street. This elegant structure did not match its surroundings. Charles Hull, a philanthropist and real estate businessman, had built it in 1856 as his country estate, but the city grew up around it. The present owner, Mr. Hull’s cousin, Helen Culver, offered Jane a four-year lease, rent-free, for the project of helping to establish a settlement house. This offer was gratefully received, and Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr moved into the restored mansion, bringing with them their own furniture, paintings and photographs. They immediately set out to meet their neighbors and explore their new neighborhood. They sat on the front stoop of the house, smiling and visiting with passersby.

Hull House Is Born“America is God’s Crucible, the great melting pot where all the races of Europe are reforming.”

Israel Zangwell, 1864-1926


In September 1889, Hull House (named in honor of the former owner) was open for business. It was one of the first American settlement houses. In 1891, there were six settlements in the United States. By 1900, there were over one hundred and by 1910, more than four hundred. South End House in Boston and the Henry Street Settlement in New York are examples of the hundreds that served early twentieth-century America.

The activities at Hull House were determined by the needs of the local population. When a young mother came by and begged Jane to mind her baby and her three-year-old so she could go to work, Jane said yes. Soon Hull House was filled with children of all ages. One month after the opening, twenty-four children, ages six and older, were in a weekday morning kindergarten. And there was a waiting list of seventy more children. There was a Young Heroes Club to keep boys off the street.

For the adult population, classes were offered in a wide range of literature subjects. There were classes in French, Latin and Greek. And at Hull House, one could learn the art of painting or act in plays. Although Hull House offered an introduction to life in America, immigrant groups were offered an opportunity to take pride in their own national heritages. Weekly meetings were held by different ethnicities. The group leaders were middle class volunteers who shared the same ethnic background. These leaders led conversations, and offered refreshments, socializing, singing and dancing, to help new arrivals remember where they came from.

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From the beginning, the residents of Hull House, the women and men who lived and worked with Jane Addams, demonstrated that they were ready to perform the most basic neighborhood services. They washed newborn babies, prepared the dead for burial, and nursed the sick. When necessary, they delivered babies. A teenage girl who was giving birth out of wedlock depended on the help of the Hull House residents in her delivery. The local women would not help because she was a “bad” girl.

One particular program, the Working People’s Social Science Club, was an amazing undertaking for the well-bred upper middle class Jane Addams and her associates. A weekly series of talks gave Hull House its “early reputation for radicalism.” It consisted of lectures and discussions of strikes, socialism, trade unions, taxation and unemployment.These topics offered the population in the slums around Hull House a glimpse of society’s social problems. They were shown ways to raise themselves and their families out of their lowly life style. And for Jane and her friends, the topics under discussion gave them an education in the reality of social problems that affected the poor working class.

By the spring of 1891, Hull House had become a vital force in the neighborhood. About 900 men, women, and children came weekly to participate in the clubs and classes. The drawing room was renovated to include a stage that could be used for lectures, concerts, and union meetings. Seventy-five volunteers helped to lead activities and teach classes. And the classes now included Roman history, music, German, Shakespeare, rhetoric, drawing, and mathematics.

Literary and cultural studies were originally the focus of the settlement house, as envisioned by Jane and her friends. However, the practical needs of the neighborhood were quickly apparent. Women who worked long hours in the sweatshops had no time to cook for their children. Since proper nutrition and physical exercise were vital to the wellbeing of the neighborhood, a kitchen and a gymnasium became necessary. All this activity could not be housed in the original red brick building, so additional buildings were needed.

Social Consciousness“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”

Theodore Roosevelt


First to be added was a combination art gallery, reading room, and art studio built on land adjoining the main house. A rented cottage housed the crèche and a kitchen. Then, in July of 1893, the gymnasium was opened. This building was connected to the main building and included a coffee house that served the public from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a special diet kitchen to prepare food for the sick. The gym was provided with twelve public showers and a clubroom for the Men’s Club. A stage was included that could turn the space into a three-hundred-seat theater. The expansion went on for many years. By 1907, thirteen buildings surrounded the original Hull House mansion.

With the increasing interest in women’s labor issues, the next major project was a “working girls” cooperative boarding club to provide women workers with secure housing. Initially, Hull House rented two apartments and furnished them. Afterwards, the young working women who were members of the club took over both the finances and the running of Jane’s House (as it was called).

More Buildings and More Activities“Societies are renewed...by people who believe in something, care about something, and stand for something.”

John W. Gardner


Basic to the success of the Hull House programs were the volunteers. First came the residents who lived and worked in Hull House and paid fees for their room and board. In her autobiography, “Twenty Years at Hull House,” Jane Addams spoke with pride that “…a growing group of residents was gathering at Hull House, held together by the soundest of all social bonds, the companionship of mutual interests. …they were genuinely interested in the social situation and believed that the Settlement was valuable as an approach to it.” The residents lived like a warm and loving family. They went hiking and took bicycle trips. Evenings after dinner the residents would linger around the dining table, visiting until late at night.

Some residents lived at Hull House for their entire lives. Some stayed for a year or two until they married or moved on to other careers. In addition to the residents, other volunteers flocked in to lend a hand wherever needed. Both groups discovered that by helping others, they learned important lessons of life. By the third year of Hull House ninety volunteers gave their time each week and a thousand visitors benefited from the programs.

“One volunteer is better than ten forced men.” African Proverb

Residents and Volunteers


The Panic of 1893“An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent.”

Edmund Burke

There was a constant need for funds to expand and enlarge Hull House. But the Panic of 18936 increased the fund-raising difficulties. Nationwide, six hundred banks and fifteen thousand businesses had failed. Bankruptcy and unemployment were rampant. In Chicago, one third of the factories closed down. The others still open laid off most of their employees. Workers lucky enough to be employed suffered wage cuts. A monumental financial crisis, one of the greatest in America’s history, had begun.

Jane saw the utter misery and desolation of poverty. The Panic of 1893 affected Hull House in many different ways. Ellen Starr wrote a friend “We are sunk under a mass of the unemployed, morning, noon and night,” Formerly Jane had believed that poverty did not harm the human spirit; but she changed her mind. The epidemic of hunger, shame, and despair filled the Hull House infirmary with people in need, including those who had lost their minds. The lesson she learned was that the material needs of the people—jobs, housing, and a sense of security—must guide her actions.

Jane started a series of projects to meet these enormous needs. She organized a cooperative to buy large coal supplies at wholesale prices early in the winter which would provide its

members with bargain priced coal during the coldest times. The desperate citizens of the Nineteenth Ward begged for money to buy food and pay rent. The result was The Hull House Bureau of Labor and Charity Registration, which screened relief applicants for benefits and worked with the CRA (Central Relief Association) to coordinate emergency relief work by the private relief agencies.

These activities gave Jane an informal education in economic theory. She learned about the necessity for political involvement. She discovered that nothing got done without political pressure, and she became aware of Chicago’s municipal political corruption. This awareness gave her a new area of involvement. In 1895, the state of Illinois required a “mission statement” as part of the incorporation process. While writing it, she realized that her original aims had been expanded to include political action. This document read, in part, that the purpose of Hull House was “to provide a center for higher civic and social life, to initiate and maintain education and philanthropic enterprises; and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts in Chicago.”


6 Lamb, Brian. Booknotes. p.153

One appalling condition of slum living was the unsanitary, garbage-filled streets in the poorer neighborhoods. In the area around Hull House, the smells of rotting food, beer, and dead animal carcasses mingled with animal and human wastes. Chamber pots were dumped in the streets every morning because plumbing systems were either not working or non-existent. The waste material was gradually pressed down into the streets.

Garbage collection was in the control of the political bosses, who awarded these jobs to their cronies and supporters. The so-called garbage collectors were more interested in collecting their salaries than collecting garbage. For several years Hull House residents had been filing complaints about the garbage situation. But it was obvious that nothing would happen without political action. Jane joined a group named the Civic Federation and she was appointed to the Sanitation Committee. She even submitted her own bid for the garbage removal contract for the Nineteenth Ward. The government rejected the bid on a technicality, but this did not stop the reform movement.

The answer was to elect city aldermen who would reform the system. The Civic Federation campaigned to end the patronage system and institute laws establishing standards for city jobs. In

1895, out of the thirty-four aldermen up for election, twelve, who were openly corrupt, lost their seats. A reform mayor, George Swift, appointed a new commissioner of public works. The result: new garbage inspectors in seven wards. One of the new inspectors was Jane Addams. Her salary was one thousand a year. It was the only paid position she ever held.

Three times a week, Jane Addams and a deputy inspector--another Hull House resident--woke at 5 a.m. and set out at 6 a.m. to follow nine garbage wagons on their rounds. They dressed themselves in ankle-length blue serge outfits short enough to avoid the garbage on the ground. For more than four hours they watched the garbage collectors until they took the garbage to the city dump. The citizens of Chicago were astounded and a bit shocked to see a woman, even Jane Addams, doing this kind of “man’s work”. This was only the beginning. Nine wagons were not enough to clean up this area. With Jane’s efforts, soon there were seventeen wagons. In addition, she arranged that the city would pay for eight emergency teams to remove material such as ashes and manure that were not classified as garbage. And she saw to it that six negligent landlords were taken to court.

“Die when I may, I want it said that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

Abraham Lincoln

Streets Full of Garbage


In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition—one of the greatest world’s fairs, opened in Chicago. Jane Addams realized that this offered a chance for Hull House to be showcased to the twenty-seven million people who would attend. In spite of the fact that she was speaking almost nightly on sweatshop legislation in addition to overseeing the expanding Hull House buildings and activities, she plunged into participation with the educational events of the fair. She organized a Congress on Social Settlements and chaired the local committee of the Peace Congress.

A major event during the fair was The World’s Congress of Representative Women, an unprecedented gathering of more than 150,000 people—most of them women. Major activists in the women’s suffrage movement participated, including Jane Addams, who chose the topic of domestic service for her speech. She urged women who complained about their domestic servants to understand them and look at the world from their point of view. She was speaking to women of her own class, but she questioned their selfish attitude toward less fortunate women. One of Jane’s greatest gifts was the ability

to understand “two standards of morals, both honestly held and believed in.” In spite of the fact that her own background was middle class, she could fully appreciate the morality and standards of the poor.

Her concern for women of all stations naturally expanded into the political area. In 1906, Jane Addams attended her first gathering of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), meeting Susan B. Anthony and other leaders for the women’s right to vote. By 1911, Jane was vice president of NAWSA. The following year, she spoke to the US Congress about the need for women’s suffrage. Her political involvements were now on a national level. In 1912 she gave one of the seconding speeches for Theodore Roosevelt’s nomination for President at the Progressive Party convention.

It was not only for women’s rights that she campaigned. In 1909, she was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP);7 and in 1920 she help to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).8

“The daughters of lions are lions, too.”

Swahili Proverb

The World of Women

7 Blank, Carla. Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1990-2000. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003. p. 518 Fraser, James W. A History of Hope. p. 212



While political actions were affecting the world outside the doors of Hull House, inside the learning, caring and loving atmosphere grew and blossomed—especially for children. Jane decided that there were not enough schools for the children of the Nineteenth Ward. In order to get supporting data, she and the other residents went out into the community and counted the number of school children. The answer: 6,976. Then they counted the number of seats in the school. The answer: 2,957. Armed with this information, the Hull House residents and local parents went to every important city official. And by 1893 the new Andrew Jackson school was under construction.

The immigrant families that made up the dominant population of the Nineteenth Ward were often dependent on their children in many ways. Boys and girls as young as four or five were translators for their non-English-speaking parents. The wages earned by children, in factories or sweatshops, helped provide for the poverty-stricken families.

Some little girls attending a Hull House Christmas party refused a helping of candy. They worked all day long in a candy factory so the sweets were no treat to them. Little fingers pulled out basting threads or put labels on boxes. They worked in dusty surroundings for as long as fourteen-hour-days. Hot in summer,

cold in winter, without time for school or play, the children needed the classes and clubs of Hull House for learning, self-improvement, and enjoyment. Jane Addams learned that the Hull House offerings were not enough. Laws were also needed to protect the children.

In order to initiate legislation governing child labor, statistics were required. Florence Kelley, an early Hull House resident, made an investigation of sweatshops and child labor in Chicago for the Illinois State Bureau of Labor.After studying this report, the Illinois legislature enacted the first factory law of the state. This legislation governed sanitary conditions in the workplace and set fourteen as the minimum age for child employment. The support for this legislation came from the labor unions and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs—two of the many public and private institutions that worked together with Jane Addams.

“What greater or better gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth.”

Cicero

Children and Child Labor


Jane Addams was first introduced to the trade union movement during her visits to Toynbee House in London. She was sympathetic toward the striking “match girls” when she heard their tales of low pay, miserable working conditions, and the physical deformities that came from working with phosphorous materials. But she still had a middle-class distrust of the labor movement.

Her first personal contact with a labor professional came when she invited Mary Kenney – a trade union organizer and a representative of the American Federation of Labor – to visit Hull House., Mary Kenney was suspicious of this society woman. She changed her mind when Jane offered her space in Hull House for her union activities. She organized several small unions in the next two years from her Hull House quarters. They were the Women Book Binders Union I, the Shirt Makers Unions, and the Cab Drivers Union.

Unionization gathered strength after the turn-of-the-century with two million union members (one out of every 14 workers). New York City was the center of many historic labor disputes. In 1909, 20,000 workers struck in protest against conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company,9 bringing many new members to The International Ladies Garment Workers. Sadly, unionization had not

brought enough protection to the Triangle workers. Only two years later, 146 Triangle workers were burned or crushed to death in an historic fire because of locked doors and lack of fire escapes.

But an event that occurred close to home—the historic strike at the Pullman Car Works in 1894—put Jane Addams in the middle of a labor dispute. George Pullman’s company was considered a model of enlightened paternalistic management. The workers lived in company-owned housing that won Pullman international praise for his treatment of workers. However, after the Panic of 1893, the workers’ wages were cut and the rents for their company-owned housing were raised. This led to a strike against Pullman which was filled with bad feelings on all sides. Jane had worked with the Civic Federation in encouraging conciliation but both sides were suspicious and unwilling to trust to the process. A workers boycott reached twenty-seven states and involved more than two hundred thousand workers in transportation industries. The government brought in fourteen thousand armed troops, police and guardsmen and the strike ended.

Many of the well-to-do supporters of Hull House regarded Jane’s efforts at conciliation and her sympathy for the workers as a betrayal of her class. Some even stopped their financial support of Hull House.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

Labor and Labor Unions

9 Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United Stated: 1492–Present. New York: Perennial Classics, 2003. p. 324-329

Financial support for Hull House and all its varied programs was a constant problem. Some of her fellow residents were well-to-do. They made meaningful contributions. All those who lived inside the settlement house contributed toward their room and board.

Well-to-do donors rallied to help this worthy cause. Occasionally contributions caused moral dilemmas. One potential contributor offered twenty thousand dollars to build a new and more comfortable Jane’s House—a sum that would have fully paid for the new building. When Jane learned that this would-be donor was a man who was notorious for underpaying and taking advantage of the girls who worked for him, she refused the money.

Originally Jane Addams had used her own money but the legacy from her father was soon depleted. Now Jane herself set out to raise money for the support and expansion of Hull House. She had some marketable skills. She wrote magazine articles and books. She was in demand as a lecturer for colleges and civic organizations. The money earned from these activities became part of the Hull House operating funds.

But there was another benefit. Her lectures were popular events. Her books were widely read. Major magazine articles

written by Jane Addams made both her and Hull House famous. Not only did she earn money to support the many programs at Hull House, but she inspired people everywhere to help those in need. Jane Addams was not alone in her social activism. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the civil society as a whole was inspired to meet the country’s needs by giving and sharing. Andrew Carnegie had already founded the Carnegie Foundation in 1905. Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, who founded the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913, were among the first multimillionaires to use their fortunes to benefit the civil society.10

The Widening World“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

Gandhi


10 Halberstam, David, General Editor. Defining A Nation: Our America and the Sources of Its Strength. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2003. p. 213-217


Jane was not the only person writing about society’s needs. In the early years of the 20th Century, a group of socially conscious journalists11 (dubbed by Theodore Roosevelt as “muckrakers”) wrote magazine articles, books and novels exposing the ills of society.Muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and the novelist Upton Sinclair informed the public of the evils of child labor, migrant workers, corrupt politicians and management, The facts were appalling. In 1904, 27,000 workers were killed while working long hours in manufacturing, transport, and agriculture. In one year, 50,000 accidents took place in New York alone. And black workers, in 1910, earned only one third the wages of white workers.

America was indeed a land of opportunity, but not for everyone. This inventive culture with startling modern devices such as the light bulb, phonograph, telephone, automobile, and airplane left too many of its citizens in poverty and want. Ellis Island, the East Coast immigration station, admitted more than a total of nine million immigrants by 1910.12 These newcomers were greeted by inadequate housing, sweatshop employment, and an intensely different world from the one they left behind.

Immigration reached its peak in 1907 when 1,285,000 entries were recorded. By 1910, 13,345,000 foreign-born individuals were living in the United States—one seventh of the total population. Many of them faced hostility from their native-born neighbors.

The African-American population (a different category of immigrant) had always been targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. In September 1906, Atlanta was the stage for one of the most devastating race riots. After inflammatory reports of a black crime wave, black homes were looted and burned, requiring martial law to end the riots. But the power of the Klan grew.13 Jews, Catholics, and immigrants were also added to their list of undesirables. In response, Progressive writers, as well as social activists like Jane Addams, raised public consciousness against bigotry and violence.

The Power of the Word“There is nothing as powerful as truth—and often nothing so strange.”

Daniel Webster

11 Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform. p. 18712 Blank, Carla. Rediscovering America. p. 1813 Blank, Carla. Rediscovering America. p. 82

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A belief in peace had always governed Jane Addams’s actions. She trusted in negotiation instead of argument and followed this principle in her personal life. When World War I began in 1914 she joined the International Women’s Peace Conference in the effort to found a court to settle international disputes between nations. She was not alone in her strivings toward world peace. In 1913, with a gift of ten million dollars, Andrew Carnegie established the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

When the United States entered the war, Jane Addams’s dedication to peace brought her widespread criticism. It took many years for her to regain her former popularity. But, at last, a major international honor recognized Jane Addams’s steadfast devotion to peace. In 1931, she was the first American woman to ever be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A Norwegian professor, speaking at the award ceremony, praised her, saying in part, “She is the foremost woman of her nation, not far from being its greatest citizen…”

Her health prevented her attending the Nobel ceremonies, but she was delighted by the honor. She gave her $16,000 prize money to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

War and Peace“..nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Old Testament (Micah iv, 3)



Jane Addams’s Legacy“Civilization is a method of living and an attitude of equal respect for all people.”

Jane Addams

On May 21, 1935, Jane Addams died. She was seventy-four years old. Her little six-year-old grandniece looked around at the thousands of people gathered for her Hull House funeral and said, “Are we all Aunt Jane’s children?”

Jane Addams legacy was to “all her children.” Her activism covered an astonishing range of social outreach areas. She welcomed immigrants and poor people, black and white, and took action to make their lives better. She recognized the needs of children and strove to give them a loving and productive childhood. She knew that an exclusive system of male leadership neglected half of the population and deprived the country of women’s skill and dedication. She recognized the need for education—not

merely to learn a trade, but to elevate the spirit and the soul. She knew that the health of an individual was the basis for the health of the nation, and indeed the health of the world. As Jane Addams traveled the globe speaking with men and women of other countries she learned that human needs, problems and wishes were universal.

Jane Addams was a generalist. She worked hard in all these areas. But today we live in a world of specialization. In 1890, the U.S. population was 64 million, but today’s population is 300 million. More people, more needs, but luckily for us, more organizations to zero in on the twenty-first century problems and provide twenty-first century solutions.

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The Nonprofit Sector: Health and Human Services“...all mankind’s concern is charity”

Alexander Pope

The settlement house was only one kind of social welfare organization. After the turn-of-the-century, numerous social services organizations were formed—and many are still active today. A few of these are the United Way of America, Lions Clubs International, Catholic Charities, National Urban League, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Anti-Defamation League, and Volunteers of America.

These are organizations with national headquarters, but they serve their target populations from local offices. Here the professional staff members work together with an army of volunteers to meet the needs of their communities. They may have as an objective families or children in need, the homeless or poverty issues, or a variety of health and social problems.


Problems of Today“The key to life is service to others.”

Jesse Jackson

The areas of concern from a hundred years ago still exist. As some problems are solved, new ones arise. The once powerful manufacturing industry has seen jobs relocate to lower-paying companies overseas. Japanese cars are outselling U.S. models. Even computer services are being done long distance with voices from India responding to phone calls from America. The result: loss of jobs and labor unrest.

This country, built by immigrants, is still a beacon to newcomers who hope to enjoy the American dream. They come from Africa, Mexico, Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. In many parts of the country, people with Hispanic heritages are more than half the population. New arrivals still find themselves in a strange world with a strange language. Culture shock is a commonplace reaction. And ethnic minorities, the poor, and disabled are subject to discrimination in many forms.

Children, the most powerless in any community, are at the mercy of the grown-up world. Child welfare is a universal problem. Children in America are also living in poverty—in city slums or rural backwaters. More mothers are working outside the home. So the traditional family pattern is altered. Kids with keys hung on a string around their necks are left to their own devices. If

they are lucky enough to afford the new technology, they can keep in touch with mom and dad by cell phone

Many children are without heath insurance, and so are many adults. Without insurance, the poor can’t afford treatment or medication. When severe medical problems cause them to end up in emergency rooms, their treatment is paid for out of the taxpayers’ pockets.

The public education system in many communities is lacking in funds to offer children athletic, musical, and cultural opportunities to broaden their horizons. In fact, overcrowded classrooms and aging facilities are outdistancing efforts to improve and expand the education system.


The World Ahead“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”

William Allen White

By 2004, the nonprofit sector was a $665 billion industry. These estimated 1.4 million organizations, employing nearly 12 million people, has grown at double the rate of its for-profit counterpart.14

The so-called “Me Generation” is losing its reputation for self-indulgence. These mid-40s to early-60s individuals are now volunteering at higher rates than previous generations ever did. A study released by the Corporation for National and Community Service, “Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering,” found that 32% of boomers are now volunteering.

Major sources of support for the nonprofit sector are foundations. Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie are foundation pioneers. They have set the bar for responsible philanthropy. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Ted Turner are examples of today’s philanthropic giants. Each of them uses their vast fortunes to support causes that they believe in.

Foundation giving reached a new high in 2006. The Foundation Center estimates that the year’s total for 2006 is more than $40 billion—breaking the 2005 record of $36.4 billion. How do we account for this? A new group of foundations plays a major part. The number of foundations grew to 71,000 by 2005, an increase of more than 77

percent over a decade. Many of these foundations are controlled by living donors who believe in giving larger amounts than do the older foundations.

Giving can be done in many different ways. Some with millions, some with dollar bills in the collection plate. But giving can be a gift of oneself. There are doctors who travel to Central America to remove cataracts from the eyes of hundreds of people. There are mothers who meet week after week with ten little Cub Scouts. Hundreds of thousands of American find a way to make meaningful contributions to their communities or their country. And their volunteer services are welcomed by the l.4 million nonprofit organizations that offer support and help to their fellow citizens.

14 Aviv, Diana. The Nonprofit Quarterly, Special Section: Accountability, “Earning the Public Trust,” Summer 2004. pp. 53-56

1860 Born in Cedarville, Illinois

1877-1881 Attends Rockford Seminary

1888 Visits Toynbee Hall in London, England

1889 Founds Hull House, a social settlement in Chicago

1894 Helps found Chicago Federation of settlements

1895 Becomes garbage inspector for the Nineteenth Ward

1903 Becomes vice president of National Women’s Trade Union League

1905-1909 Serves as member of the Chicago Board of Education

1907 Joins woman suffrage committee

1909 Helps to found National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Elected first woman president of National Conference of Charities and Corrections (National Conference of Social Work)

1910 Mediator in Chicago Garment Workers’ strike Publishes “Twenty Years at Hull House” Receives honorary degree from Yale

1911-1914 First Vice President of National American Woman Suffrage Association First head of National Federation of Settlement and Neighborhood Centers

1912 Seconds Theodore Roosevelt’s nomination for President of the United States at Progressive Party convention

1913 Speaks at the Seventh Congress at the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. Budapest, Hungary

1915 Helps organize and serves as first chairman of Women’s Peace Party Presides at International Congress of Women, The Hague, Netherlands

1919 Founds Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) serves as president until 1929

1920 Helps found American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

1928 Presides over conference of Pan-Pacific Women’s Association, in Hawaii

1931 First American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize

1935 Dies in Chicago and is buried in Cedarville, Illinois

Chronology of Jane Addams’s Life

Chronology of Jane Addam’s Life 23

Jane Addams activism provided an astonishing list of “firsts” which included:

• First social settlement in Chicago

• First social settlement in the United States with both men and women residents

• First public playground in Chicago

• First public gymnasium in Chicago

• First little theater in the United States

• First citizenship preparatory classes in the United States

• First college extension course in Chicago

• First free art exhibits in Chicago

• First public swimming pool in Chicago

• First Boy Scout troop in Chicago

• First sociological investigations and programs in Chicago regarding sanitation, truancy, typhoid fever, children’s reading, cocaine use, tuberculosis, infant mortality, and the social/recreational value of saloons.

• Played a significant part in the first factory laws in Illinois—the model for the Federal regulations which were to follow.

24 Chronology of Jane Addam’s Life

Showing the WayGetting Started: Change Begins With Me

These monographs have been written as a means of informing, educating, and inspiring people in today’s world to build healthy, diverse, inclusive communities. To recognize a need that touches their spirit, and determine how they, within their own vocation or avocation, can play a role in meeting that need. We hope to spark new awareness and purposeful action in the minds and hearts of our readers which will remedy and/or creatively address these changes and problems in a multitude of ways.

Change Begins With Me!Awareness

1. Conceptualize: Discover your passion and the place where your passion intersects with the needs of the world.

2. Explore: Seek to know more about the need(s) you have identified. Search for more knowledge about what is currently being done to meet the need and what more might be done with appropriate support and/or talent.

Belief3. Understand: Seek to comprehend

causes, effects, and creative solutions. Recognize the significance of the need and how your involvement might assist in meeting the need; as a career choice or an educator, legislator, volunteer, journalist, author, etc. Search to find others of like minds and hearts to join with you.

Conviction4. Begin: Take action to right a wrong

or expand human endeavor in a given area of need. Seek to find the most satisfying manner in which you might be a part of creating positive change. Remain open to innovation and opportunity while assessing risk and barriers to success. Be a model of integrity and public trust

Commitment5. Pledge: Promise to dedicate your

individual resources to being a change agent. Dedicate your time, talent, intellect, and treasure to making a difference

6. Collaborate: Discover how working with others can enhance the strengths of the effort, as well as adding significance to your own life.

7. Evaluate: Monitor both process and results for continuous improvement. Expand the influence and impact of your response

Prepare to enjoy the accompanying sense of growth, fulfillment and accomplishment

Showing the Way 25

Access Numbers to National Organizations

United Neighborhood Centers of America

Committed to improving quality of life at the neighborhood level11700 West Lake Park DriveMilwaukee, WI 53224Phone: (414) 359-1040 x3697www.UNCA.org

International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres

Working together to strengthen communities in our society1201 37th Avenue N.Minneapolis, MN 55412Phone: (612) 302-3432www.ifsnetwork.org

Volunteers of America Providing local human service programs & the opportunity for individual and community involvement1160 Duke StreetAlexandria, VA 22314Toll Free: (800) 899-0089Phone: (703) 341-5000www.voa.org

Alliance for Children and FamiliesProviding services to nonprofit child and family-serving & economic empowerment organizations11700 W. Lake Park DriveMilwaukee, WI 53224-3099Toll Free: (800) 221-3726Phone: (414) 359-1040www.alliance1.org

Points of Light FoundationEngaging more volunteers and resources to help solve serious community problems1400 I (Eye) Street, NWSuite 800Washington, D.C. 20005Phone: (202) 729-8000www.pointsoflight.org

United Way of AmericaNational system of volunteers, donors, & local charities helping people in their own communities701 N. Fairfax StreetAlexandria, VA 22314www.national.unitedway.org

National Urban LeagueCommunity-based movement empowering African-Americans120 Wall Street, 8th FloorNew York, N.Y. 10005Phone: (212) 558-5300www.nul.org

Communities in SchoolsHelping kids stay in school & prepare for life277 S. Washington Street, Suite 210Alexandria, VA 22314www.cisnet.org

The Salvation Army National HqtrsFood and shelter for the hungry and homeless615 Slater LaneP.O. Box 269Alexandria, VA 22313www.salvationarmyusa.org

See websites for contact information and local access numbers:

26 Showing the Way

Gathering Insights and Understanding:How It All Happened

Dimensions in Approach: A Discussion GuideFounder_____________________________________Issue/Need___________________________________Response to Need _____________________________Date Organized__________________________

I. What was the primary driver for the Founder Describe the background, experience, or impulses that ultimately served to move the founder to

take action.

II. How did the Founder initiate the response: Describe whether the core idea was about helping people (a Helper) or people helping themselves

(a Social Entrepreneur). Describe how and why this might have changed over time.

III. How did the idea for the response originate: Describe whether the idea for the response was original or if it was an adaptation or evolution of

ideas in practice. Describe the extent to which it was built on accumulated knowledge.

IV. How did the Founder work with and through others: Describe how the Founder began his/her work; as a soloist, or as the lead drummer of a band of

change agents. Describe how the interaction with others changed over time.

Gathering Insights and Understanding 27

V. How did the Founder use his/her position to influence others: Describe the extent to which the individual used his/her position to bring others in positions of

influence to participate in addressing the need(s). Was the approach collaborative or confrontational?

VI. How did the Founder design the model: Describe how the model served as a style for others to replicate and how. Describe whether the

Founder intended the model to be replicated, or was it accidental.

VII. How would you describe the style of the Founder: Describe the style of leadership that prevailed; i.e., lone wolf, coalition builder, social

entrepreneur, other…

28 Gathering Insights and Understanding

Echoes of Past: Parallels in Today’s World

Condition: Then• Urbanization: Growth of the City

• Political and Corporate Corruption

• Industrialization: Beckoned workers

• Superficial human relationships created by migration and immigration

• Homelessness: A breeding ground for crime, hopelessness and ill health

• Poverty – enormous economic spread between corporate leaders and urban workers

• Business, deprived of the regular flow of immigrants from Europe fell short of workers during the First World War

Immigration:• Demographics – the great change in population took place through immigration

• Immigrants, found themselves in a new urban world, along with those migrating from farms and the deep south. They suffered exploitation of labor, hostility left them marginalized, working for long hours and low pay, dislocation, fear, loss, and sacrifice, lack of civic skills

National Character Trait – Distrust of Authority

Condition: Now• Resurgence within urban centers

throughout the world

• Numerous elected officials in prison. Sarbanes-Oxley Accounting Reform & Investor Protection Act passed in 2002 to address corporate accounting scandals

• Superficial human relationships created by technology

• Number of homeless appears to be at its highest in at least a decade in a wide range of places across the U.S….. (Time 2003)

• The spread between “have and have-nots” is growing today, which is widely documented

• We are experiencing much of the same today as we fail to reform immigration policy

• Immigration continues to swell the population

• Today’s immigrants, legal and illegal, still suffer much of the same: Fear of loss of jobs and reduced wages on the part of the citizenry


• Immigrants offered creative nourishment

• Political Reform – A time of significant political reform movements: Populism merged with Progressive thought as the growth of the middle class professional mind grappled with the need for reform

• Innovation: US Parcel Post – journals, radio, television, newspapers

Communication:• Muckrakers – the business of exposure –

socially responsible reporter reformers – crusading journalists, seeking to establish social justice proceeding from a public consciousness.

• Citizens were knit together via print – then, photography, radio and television, film

• Philanthropy – Carnegie and Rockefeller set the bar for responsible philanthropy, encouraging others to give back to their communities

• We have begun to document their vitality, ingenuity. Significant contribution to society

• Today, there is clearly a need for creative reform in the areas of education, health care, leadership and government

• Federal Express – overnight delivery Instant communication via technology weaves people together and allows for creative exchange of ideas

• Investigative Reporters: continue to shine a light on injustice, corruption, greed & deception. Technology speeds the transmission of fact and opinion

• Citizens throughout the world knit together via technology – Documentaries & television continue to educate and inform

• Gates, Buffett, and Turner have re-set the bar for responsible philanthropy


Founder: Jane AddamsModel: Hull HouseDate Organized: 1889

Conclusions:1. Ordinary people dreamed of bold

actions to improve society, and in the dreaming they sparked change and joined in collective endeavor.

2. Childhood experiences helped to inculcate a sense of social consciousness and a desire/will to bring about social change

3. Each of our honorees experienced a “call to action” a moment when they knew they must act

4. Clients and volunteer staff discovered that by helping others, they learned important lessons of life

5. Economic conditions exerted great influence on resource availability

6. Evidence-based data are required to effect positive reform

7. The health of an individual was the basis for the health of the nation, and the health of the world.

8. Human needs are universal9. Voluntary association, the zeal of

people getting together and forming a society, determined American’s national character-social integration

Major Themes:1. Raising both pen and voice in

defense and support of other societal needs brings about awareness and social consciousness

2. All professions and skills were required and utilized; including the crusading journalist, social and political scientists, businessmen, philanthropists, legislators, educators, artists, authors ; everyone has a role to play

3. Successful social action must include political action

4. Influence deepens and widens as programs grow

5. The success of the work of our individual honorees often resulted from the work of the others; i.e., those working in social welfare movements found their cause enhanced by the work of others seeking civil rights reform; labor reform, and justice

Guiding Principles1. Hope for social progress can only

be discovered by tapping into the wisdom of those most in need

2. Activities and services evolve over time – strategic thinking must remain flexible and resilient

3. Resources must be gathered in an innovative and creative manner, both dollars and manpower

4. Align your work with others who have similar values, integrity and sense of social consciousness

Conclusions, Major Themes, and Guiding Principles


Legacy and Impact Data

In the field of social welfare and legal, the Encyclopedia of Associations1 lists organizations focused on:

Child Care Employee RightsChild Development EmploymentChild Welfare FamiliesCitizenship FundraisingCivil Rights and Liberties HomelessCommunity ImmigrationCommunity Action Legal ServicesCommunity Development PhilanthropyCommunity Organization PovertyCommunity Service Service ClubsCounseling Social IssuesCrime Social WelfareCriminal Justice

These organizations work to alleviate social need through education, advocacy, support systems, research, and professional development and alliances. Memberships range from 100 to 800,000, staffing is generally accomplished with under 50 employees, and budgets range from $27,000 to $900 million.

While many of these organizations provide services and enable continuing research, their local affiliates work across the public and private sectors, partnering with educational, religious, and arts communities to raise awareness, promote social integration, and serve as advocates for social justice and civil rights in communities all across America. Neighborhood centers continue to work toward understanding, respect, and

acceptance – showing the way to build healthy, diverse, inclusive community.

Organizations founded early in the 20th Century include, but are not limited to:

• The Salvation Army, Alexandria, VA, 1865

• Union Settlement Assoc, NY, 1895• Volunteers of America, Alexandria,

VA, 1896,• Rotary International, Evanston, IL,

1905• Boys and Girls Clubs of America,

1906• National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People, Baltimore, MD, 1909

• Catholic Charities USA, Alexandria VA., 1910

• Camp Fire USA, Kansas City, MO, 1910

• National Urban League, NY, 1910• United Neighborhood Centers of

America, Cleveland, OH, 1911• Alliance for Children and Families,

Milwaukee, WI, 1911• TelecomPioneers, Denver, CO, 1911• Sertoma International, Kansas City,

MO, 1912• Association of Gospel Rescue

Missions, N. Kansas City, MO, 1913• Anti-Defamation League, NY, 1913• Kiwanis International, Indianapolis,

IN, 1915• Lions Clubs International, Oak

Brook, IL, 19171 Encyclopedia pf Associations: An Associations Unlimited Reference. 42nd Edition. 2005, Volume 1, National Organization of the United States, Part 2 (Section 7-18)


• American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, PA, 1917

• United Way of America, Alexandria, VA., 1918

• Optimist International, St. Louis, MO, 1919

• Southern Regional Council, Atlanta, GA, 1919

• American Civil Liberties Union, NY, 1920

• Kresge Foundation, Troy, MI, 1924• LaSertoma International, Spring

Hill, KS, 1929

Neighborhood Centers United Neighborhood Centers of America, Inc. is a voluntary, nonprofit, national organization with neighborhood-based member agencies throughout the United States. Formerly known as the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, it was founded in 1911 by Jane Addams and other pioneers of the settlement movement.

UNCA continues to believe that the neighborhood is the essential component in the life of a city. The neighborhood is where children are born and reared, where family life is nurtured. UNCA members believe it takes a community to raise a child and to support a family.  Neighborhood conditions have a direct bearing on the values and behavior patterns of neighborhood residents; residents and workers at neighborhood centers seek to improve these conditions.

 UNCA’s administrative offices are located in Milwaukee, WI and it has member agencies in four regions across America-Western, Southern, Central and Eastern. These agencies are located in

low-income communities where problems are most severe and where help is most needed. UNCA’s programs are structured to strengthen the national network and draw attention to common problems

To Get Started: Contactwww.UNCA.org 11700 West Lake Park DriveMilwaukee, Wisconsin 53224Phone: (414) 359-1040

The International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres is an association of national, regional and local organizations working to strengthen communities in our society. Its membership includes multi-purpose community based organizations all over the globe, from North America and Europe to South America, the near and Far East.

Its members represent thousands of local organizations in more than 30 countries, ranging from small self-help groups to large agencies with over 30 staff. They are active across the full range of social, economic, cultural, educational and environmental needs in their communities, from children’s day care centres to activity groups for senior citizens, from health projects to literacy classes, and to providing shelter for the homeless. This great diversity of practical skills is a key strength in tackling the complex problems facing communities and individuals today.

To Get Started: [email protected] 37th Avenue N.Minneapolis, MN 55412Phone: (612) 302 -3432



Appendix A: Economic Conditions/Political Reform: 1900 –1920

Economic Conditions: By 1900, capitalists were well on the way to structuring an economy shaped like a pyramid, with a few very wealthy multimillionaires at the top. In 1904, 1000+ railroad lines consolidated into six great corporate combinations – it was an era of the growth of monopolies. “American industrial power was becoming as great as that of all the industrial nations combined.”1

A constant flow of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Latin America helped to make all of this fortune-building possible. The rise of capitalism was creating a new enslavement for working men, women, and children

Farmers were 42 percent of the workforce. The United States manufactured 1/3 of the world’s goods, and were first in the world in total productivity, as well as iron and steel production

1907: The economic boom ended in October, with the Panic of 1907

Working conditions at many factories remained uncivilized-1/3-1/2 of all employees were still required to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week, and many workers and their families had no choice, other than to live in factory town shanties

1909-1913: Reform movements included organized strikes, which rocked the nation: 6,000 workers in

Pennsylvania, 20,000 in New York City, and 7000 Japanese in Hawaii in 1909. 10,000 mill workers went on strike in Massachusetts in 1912 – all of which helped to bring about the nation’s first minimum wage law.

1913: “….the United States, which had emerged as the world’s most prosperous nation. …..its manufacturing output exceeded that of France, Britain, and Germany combined.”2

1913-1914: Henry Ford introduced mass-production methods and began to give all 26,000 employees a living wage and better hours. He was seeking to improve productivity by increasing efficiency through a more rested, committed labor force – and avoid labor trouble.

1915: AT&T began a transcontinental hook-up of phone lines

1916: Standard Oil controlled 85 percent of domestic oil production in US and Rockefeller became our first billionaire

1920: The wealth of the country had become available to people in a broader sense through the expansion of the stock market and prosperity seemed possible in a broad social context, even while unions and bosses occasionally battled in disruptive ways.

1 Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century. New York: Perennial, 2002. p. 72 Ibid p. 68

Political Reform – 1900-19203

19th Century Legislation:Morrill Land Grant Act 1862 – Public education to promote liberal and practical education of the industrial classes – to discover, teach, and disseminate knowledge useful to a growing nation, furthering its economic well-being and the well-being of its people

The Homestead Act 1866 – Offered 160 acres of land free to any person who was the head of a family, 21 years of age, a citizen of the U.S., or having declared intent to become a citizen.

Hatch Act 1887 – federal support to agricultural experiment stations linked to land grant colleges

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 – Regulate, limit, or suspend immigration of Chinese “laborers”

Sherman-Anti-Trust Act 1890 – Prohibited monopolizing or trying to monopolize any market

Second Morrill Act 1890 – Expanded the Land Grant Act to include African-American colleges

1900 – Political Climate at the Turn of the Century

“Industrial society was to be humanized through law, a task that was largely undertaken in the state legislatures. In the years following 1900 an impressive body of legislation

was passed dealing with workmen’s compensation, the labor of women and children, hours of work, minimum wages for women, and old age pensions”4

“Populism was the first modern political movement of practical importance in the United States to insist that the federal government has some responsibility for the common weal.” 5

“Populism had been overwhelmingly rural and provincial. The ferment of the Progressive era was urban, middle-class and nationwide. …..Progressivism differed from Populism in the fact that the middle classes of the cities not only joined the trend toward protest, they took over its leadership.”6

The Industrial Workers of the World was founded in 1905 in Chicago7

“Socialism is a growing idea; an expanding philosophy.” Eugene Debs8

Constitutional Amendments:• 16th Amendment: Graduated

Federal Income Tax• 17th Amendment: Senate Election

by Popular Vote• 18th Amendment – National

Prohibition Act• 19th Constitutional Amendment

– Woman’s Suffrage

1900: Wm McKinley was elected President.

3 Dictionary of American History. Third Edition, 2003 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. The Yale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning Inc., 300 Park Avenue S., New York, NY., 10010 Stanley I Kutler, Editor.4 Hofstandter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Vinage Books, 1995. p. 2425 Ibid p. 616 Ibid p. 1317 Fraser, James W. A History of Hope: When Americans Have Dared to Dream of a Better Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2004. p. 1748 Ibid p. 209



The Organic Act gave Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese plantation workers the right to strike and triggered a wave of twenty strikes in its first year

1904: Theodore Roosevelt was elected President during a time of Progressive reform – driven by urban professionals seeking to forestall citizen unrest and bring about significant social change focused on increased efficiencies in business, decreased monopolies, assistance for immigrants, and a sincere interest in the welfare of employees.

President Theodore Roosevelt instituted reforms such as consumer protection through the Food and Drug Act in 1906, conservation of land and natural resources, and trust-busting The Interstate Commerce Commission was formed to provide regulation of telephone/telegraph systems. The Chinese Exclusion Laws were extended and a Workers Compensation Bill, creating federal and states’ rights for workers was passed.

1907: Immigration Act of 1907 – limit entry with quota and background requirements

1908: William Howard Taft became President.

1911: The Smith-Hughes Act provided federal grants to support vocational training classes in public high schools

1912: Woodrow Wilson was elected President, and saw the creation of Federal Reserve Banks with the passage of the Federal Reserve

Act. In 1913 the Webb Alien Land-Holding Bill: barring Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian aliens from owning land, leasing agricultural land for more than 3 yrs., or willing any land they own was passed. In 1914, the Clayton Act gave labor organizations the legislative protection required to bargain with corporations-right to strike, boycott, and picket and the Federal Trade Commission was created to oversee regulations on interstate commerce.

1916: Woodrow Wilson promised and Congress passed a bill introducing an 8 hour workday

1917: U.S. entered World War I • The Espionage Act enforced

imprisonment for those who spoke against the war

• Smith-Hughes Act created the Federal Board for Vocational Education

1918 : Wilson’s 14 Points proposed the removal of economic barriers and equality in trade;

• Sedition Act of 1918 prohibited speech or press activities disloyal to government a first step toward our First Amendment theory

• Every state now has a compulsory education requirement

Feminist Pacifists: (Jane Addams), object to wartime work by either men or women; – strengthens women’s movement for equality in workplace, leading to issues of greater equality, including citizenship

1918: World War I ends

Development of Human Service Sector in the United States

1800 – Constitutional/Moral Order• Freedom and responsibility• Individual action• Religious base• Community activities

1900 – Social Enterprise: Movements for Change

• Lift voices• Activist activities• Share knowledge• Form communities

1910 – Informal Organizational Growth• Social/Health/Children and

Families/Humanitarian Relief• Educational• Philanthropic• Volunteer – driven

1930 – Formal Organizational Growth• Community/regional/national• Dedicated staff• Program development

1950 – Revenue enhancement• Staff domination• Legal and regulatory

requirements• Interaction with private and

public sectors• Formation of many new

501©(3) organizations

1970 – Third Sector Development• Human resource development:

staff and volunteer partnership• Management and leadership

development• Strategic Planning• National Organizational

Development w/ affiliates, centralized focus, priorities, impact

1985 – Trans-Organizational Development

• Academic programs• Trade associations• Sector interaction• Economic contributions and

impact• Partnerships and

collaborations: leveraging strengths

1990 – Global Exportation

2000 – Cross-Sector Partnerships


Resources CitedLearn More About Jane Addams

Books for adults: Addams, Jane: Twenty Years at Hull House. Signet ClassicsAddams, Jane: The Second Twenty Years at Hull House. The Macmillan Company, 1930Addams, Jane: Democracy and Social Ethics. H.E. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1964Jackson, Shannon: Lines of Activity: Performance, Historiography, Hull-House Domesticity. The University of Michigan Press, 2000Knight, Louise W.: Citizen. University of Chicago Press. 2005

Books for ChildrenHarvey, Bonnie Carman: Jane Addams. Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1999Kent, Deborah: Jane Addams and Hull House. Children’s PressPeterson, Helen Stone: Jane Addams, Pioneer of Hull House. Discovery Book, Gerrard Publishing Company

Visit Jane Addams Hull-House Museum800 South Halsted Street on the University of Illinois Chicago CampusHull House, both the museum and the organization, is a fine resource. They have a 20-minute DVD that tells the inspirational story of Jane Addams and Hull House.Call 312-413-5353 for information

Historical Conditions and EventsAviv, Diana. The Nonprofit quarterly, Special Section: Accountability, “Earning the Public Trust,” summer 2004, 53-56.Blank, Carla. Rediscovering America: The Making of Multicultural America, 1900-2000. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003. Dictionary of American History, Third Edition, 2003 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. The Yale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc., 300 Park Avenue S., New York, NY., 10010 Stanley I. Kutler, Editor Encyclopedia of Associations: An Associations Unlimited Reference. 42nd Edition. 2005, Volume 1, National Organizations of the United States, Part 2 (Sections 7-18) Fraser, James W. A History of Hope: When Americans Have Dared to Dream of a Better Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Halberstam, David, General Editor. Defining A Nation: Our America and the Sources of Its Strength. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2003 Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Vintage Books, 1955. Jennings, Peter and Todd Brewster. The Century. New York: Doubleday, 1998. Lamb, Brian. Booknotes: Stories From American History. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. Needleman, Jacob. The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2003. Zinn, Howard. The Twentieth Century. New York: Perennial, 2003. A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present. New York: Perennial Classics, 2003.

38 Resources Cited

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Mission: to inspire people to build healthy, diverse, and inclusive community

Purpose: Record the history of the human service sector in this country and share it in a manner which will inspire individual initiative, as well as collective endeavors in building community, with a focus on youth, older Americans, and emerging leaders.

The Human Spirit Initiative, a 501©3 nonprofit corporation, seeks to foster collaborations and partnerships with the public and private sectors, as well as social entrepreneurs and academic institutions to further its vision of universal understanding of and commitment to building civil society.

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The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway

The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway is a new national monument dedicated to the spirit of service in America. Honoring heroes of our Nation’s service movement, the Extra Mile comprises a series of bronze medallions forming a one-mile walking path just blocks from the White House.

From the founders of major service organizations to civil rights leaders, the 20 initial honorees selflessly championed causes to help others realize a better America. Their legacies are enduring social movements that continue to engage and inspire us today.

The Extra Mile is an initiative of the Points of Light Foundation and was approved by Congress and the District of Columbia.

Point of Light Foundation1400 I Street, NW Suite 800Washington, DC 20005Phone: 202-729-8165Fax: 202-729-8181Email: [email protected]

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