Addams, Jane Laura

Addams, Jane Laura (b. 6 Sept. 1860, d. 21 May 1935). US social reformer Born in Mayesville, South Carolina, she graduated from Rockford College in 1881. With her friend Ellen Gates Starr, she opened Hull House in Chicago in 1889, a settlement house for immigrants and workers, on the model of Toynbee Hall in London, with the aim of attacking urban poverty. One of the leading activists of the Progressive movement, she was a pioneer in the new discipline of sociology, advocating better labour and housing conditions, and campaigning for child labour regulation by law. She later had considerable influence over the planning of neighbourhood welfare institutions throughout the USA. As part of her commitment to social reform, Addams was a prohibitionist and fought against gambling and prostitution. She became a leading figure in the women's suffrage movement, and promoted the influence of women in high political circles. Addams pursued her goal of political equality also by becoming a leading member of the NAACP in 1909. During World War I, her activism for pacifism grew, and in 1919 she helped to found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1931, she became the first American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.