Blog 51: Jane Addams

I’m not sure how many have heard of Jane Addams, but if she were still alive, I would love to meet her because I think she was a magnificent human being. When I was in elementary, maybe second grade, we had to read a biography and I read Jane Addams’ biography. It was a lot for my second grade brain to handle, but it was some good stuff. I actually did another report on Jane Addams in my American History class in high school.

In case you have no idea who I’m talking about, let me just get you up to speed. Jane was born in Cedarville, Illinois in 1860. She got tuberculosis of the spine as a child, and it left her spine curved. She was very ashamed of her deformity; however, it didn’t stop her from achieving great things. Jane attended college at a time when there were very few colleges for women. She went on to open Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago. Hull House started off small and ended up as 13 buildings. They offered many things: continuing education for adults, kindergarten classes, a library, a gym, a kitchen, a bathhouse, etc. She was also national chairman of the Women’s Peace Party and President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She supported women’s suffrage, immigrants, and was a member of the NAACP. As you can see, Jane Addams was part of so much American history. She was even the first American woman awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.

I would love to meet Jane Addams because she had such an interesting life and accomplished so much. It would make my day to sit down with her and discuss her life and hear the stories straight from her; a true American.