Jane Addams: A Trailblazing Social Reformer

Everyone appreciates a design personality. For some, it could be a fictitious hero like Superman, Spiderman, or Wonder Lady. For others, it might be an effective business owner like Bill Gates or the extremely young Google creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Still, others appreciate excellent leaders like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. These people with exceptional character serve as our function designs for they have set the standards for success and self-fulfillment.

Nevertheless, succeeding is not just determined by the positions we hold in the government, or the quantity of cash we make each year.

Superiority and success are similarly found in the ability to help others live decently, and empower them to recognize their goals. While others tread their ways to success in comfy living, some pick the thorny course where the clingy, the poor, and the defenseless awaited resurrection. Among those who selected the second course was Jane Addams, the co-founder of the Hull House, and the first American female who received the Nobel Peace Reward in 1931.

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In this paper, we shall examine the superiority in the character of Jane Addams-- her characteristics as a leader and the reasons that she stood above the rest-- in relation to the theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, Gordon Allport, John Watson, and Otto Rank. Brief Bio Jane Addams (1860-1935) was born in Cedarville, Illinois to a household of six kids. Her mom passed away when she was two years old, leaving them with their dad who was a regional miller, politician, and later on a senator.

Her father served as a strong influence in Addams' life until she matured. After Addams participated in Rockford Female Academy where she finished as valedictorian, she desired to take up medication but her father feared that this relocation will lead her not to wed and have her own household. Therefore, to deter her ideas from attending school, he organized a household tour to Europe, thinking that this would make Addams change her mind. However, John Addams died of acute appendicitis while on getaway.

This affected the whole family, and in particular, Jane, who after the tour, enrolled in the medical school. She did not find the same vigor that she had before about medical school, and she was hospitalized often when they went back to the U. S. Finally, after her recovery from spine surgery, she was advised to return to Europe where she discovered what she was longing for. Seeing the Toynbee Hall in London’s slum area, Addams started heading towards the direction of fulfilling her life-long mission.

After her second visit to Europe, Addams got the inspiration to establish the Hull House in 1889. By 1893, the foundation already served 2,000 persons, offering intervention in the form of schooling, medical care, legal aid, childcare, and the arts. After founding the Hull House, she launched different projects to help the less fortunate and the weak, among them were Immigrants’ Protective League, and the Juvenile Protective Association, among others. Also in 1893, she served as the first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections.

In 1894, she founded the Chicago Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers. Later, she also served as chairwoman of the Labor Committee of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, and took part in the executive board of the National Labor Commission. Just like anyone, Addams had critics who attacked her for her unyielding support of workers. As such, the Hull House suffered in terms of donations, forcing Addams to render lectures on tour, and write articles to support the foundation.

This eventually led to the publication of Twenty Years at Hull House, a book which received great public attention. Afterward, despite her criticized efforts to stop war or America’s participation to it, Hull House was still successful. In 1928, Addams suffered from heart attack, which marked the decline of her health. In 1931, she was hospitalized in Baltimore, the same day she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1931, she died of cancer in her own hometown.