Jane addams sociologist biography of williams
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Proximity is once again crucial as she has direct experience with individuals, providing the resources for a caring response. My Friend, Julia Lathrop, 1935; Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Peace and Bread in Time of War, 1922; Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
Addams found Tolstoy’s pacifism inspiring.
1907. In 1915, she presided at the first meeting of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in Zurich, Switzerland, which she served as president. 1917. Later when she and Ellen Gates Starr visited Toynbee Hall in the East End of London, she saw a settlement house in action and decided that she would fulfill her dream from long ago.
Hull House has been described in many different ways, reflecting the complexity and diversity of its functions. Addams consistently took and eloquently supported inclusive positions that sought the benefit of society. When Addams wrote or spoke about single women laborers, child laborers, prostitutes, or first and second-generation immigrants, she employed first-hand knowledge gained from her social interactions.
Addams actively worked to grasp their subject position.
Although Addams dismissed the “gawkers” who came to see the Devil Baby as a sensationalist-seeking mob, she wanted to understand the older women who had perpetuated the myth: “Whenever I heard the high eager voices of old women, I was irresistibly interested and left anything I might be doing in order to listen to them” (LRW 9).
Addams was not satisfied with narrow social development and redefined progress according to the common person’s experience. For Carlyle, everyone has a public duty and needs to find themselves or realize their place in the world and what their work on behalf of society should be. Beloved Lady: A History of Jane Addams’ Ideas on Reform and Peace, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press.
The list of projects created at Hull House is astounding, including the first little theatre and juvenile court in the United States and the first playground, gymnasium, public swimming pool, and public kitchen in Chicago. The meeting began with Tolstoy questioning Addams’ fashion choice because the sleeves of her arms, consistent with the style of the time, had “enough stuff on one arm to make a frock for the girl” (TYH 192).
Addams was in the minority among her peers in philosophy or feminism to believe that working-class immigrant women not only should be given a voice but also had something important to contribute to the community of ideas.
An example of Addams’ application of feminist standpoint theory (or at least a forerunner of it) can be seen in the “Devil Baby,” which recounts what transpired after three Italian women came to Hull House to see a possessed infant.
She continually gave voice to women’s experiences, addressed women’s issues, and saw a vibrant social democracy as only possible if there was full participation by both men and women. Oxford Handbook of Jane Addams, New York: Oxford University Press.
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- Brown, Victoria Bissell, 2004.