The following biography will focus on the life of Jane Addams. An introduction will discuss her significant place in American history as a contributor to society and peace. The following section will discuss her formative years. This will be followed by an analysis of her contribution to social life. A discussion of AddamsÆ mature years will be given before providing a summary of her contributions to society in the conclusion.
Jane Addams, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, holds a significant place in American history. Her sense of duty to the less fortunate stemmed from her Victorian background, a culture wherein the elite took it upon itself to help the less fortunate. AddamsÆ contribution to the poor immigrants of Chicago and her social pursuits symbolize her significance as a ôbridgeö in American culture, between the private donation, Social Security, State-administered relief measures she championed and the modern welfare state.
Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois in September of 1860. By 1881 she counted herself among the graduates of the Rockford Female Seminary, from where she received a degree the following year when it became Rockford College. Her fatherÆs death and a lingering personal illness in the wake of a miserable year at the WomanÆs Medical College of Pennsylvania left her aimless and depressed for some time. Nevertheless, political greats like Abraham Lincoln, who Addams visited as a child, had a profound impact on AddamsÆ development and lifelong vocation, ôThirty-five years later, as I stood on the hill campus of the University of Wisconsin...I saw again the dome which had so uplifted my childish spiritö (186). Addams traveled in Europe and America but found little solace.
In 1888 her life took a dramatic turn when she visited LondonÆs Toynbee Hall settlement house. It was here she discovered her pleasure and affinity for social work
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