George Washington to New Hampshire, 29 December 1777 (Detail, GLC03706) Immigration in America, 1840-1940: Jane Addams and Hull House by Cindy Alexander Lake Forest High School, Lake Forest, IL Addams, Jane. "The Subjective Need for Social Settlements." Published as part of Addams' book, Twenty Years at Hull House. Jane Addams was the public face, founder, and fundraiser for the nation’s first settlement house, Hull House, in Chicago. Hull House opened in 1889 and attracted a number of middle and upper class residents to live in the settlement among the diverse immigrant populations on the south side of Chicago. The mission of the settlement was to provide educational and social services to the community. Addams was a national figure who gave many lectures and published her book Twenty Years at Hull House in 1910. As part of this book, she reprinted an earlier publication titled “The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements” in which she defined her vision of the purpose and function of a settlement house and its workers. After reading the excerpt from this publication, answer the following questions. Jane Addams “The Subjective Necessity For Social Settlements” as part of Twenty Years at Hull House In a thousand voices singing the Hallelujah Chorus in Handel's "Messiah," it is possible to distinguish the leading voices, but the differences of training and cultivation between them and the voices in the chorus, are lost in the unity of purpose and in the fact that they are all human voices lifted by a high motive. This is a weak illustration of what a Settlement attempts to do. It aims, in a measure, to develop whatever of social life its neighborhood may afford, to focus and give form to that life, to bring to bear upon it the results of cultivation and training; but it receives in exchange for the music of isolated voices the volume and strength of the chorus. It is quite impossible for me to say in what proportion or degree the subjective necessity which led to the opening of Hull-House combined the three trends: first, the desire to interpret democracy in social terms; secondly, the impulse beating at the very source of our lives, urging us to aid in the race progress; and, thirdly, the Christian movement toward humanitarianism… The Settlement then, is an experimental effort to aid in the solution of the social and industrial problems which are engendered by the modern conditions of life in a great city. It insists that these problems are not confined to any one portion of a city. It is an attempt to relieve, at the same time, the overaccumulation at one end of society and the destitution at the other; but it assumes that this overaccumulation and destitution is most sorely felt in the things that pertain to social and educational privileges. From its very nature it can stand for no political or social propaganda. It must, in a sense, give the warm welcome of an inn to all such propaganda, if perchance one of them be found an angel. The only thing to be dreaded in the Settlement is that it lose its flexibility, its power of quick adaptation, its readiness to change its methods as its environment may demand. It must be open to conviction and must have a deep and abiding sense of tolerance. It must be hospitable and ready for experiment… It must be grounded in a philosophy whose foundation is on the solidarity of the human race, a philosophy which will not waver when the race happens to be represented by a drunken woman or an idiot boy. Its residents must be emptied of all conceit of opinion and all self-assertion, and ready to arouse and interpret the public opinion of their neighborhood. They must be content to live quietly side by side with their neighbors, until they grow into a sense of relationship and mutual interests. Their neighbors are held apart by differences of race and language which the residents can more easily overcome. They are bound to see the needs of their neighborhood as a whole, to furnish data for legislation, and to use their influence to secure it. In short, residents are pledged to devote themselves to the duties of good citizenship and to the arousing of the social energies which too largely lie dormant in every neighborhood given over to industrialism. 1. According to Addams’ analogy, how is Hull House comparable to a choir? 2. In your own words, what were Addams’ three motives that led to the establishment of Hull House? 3. Does Addams see the settlement house as a revolutionary or radical institution? Explain. 4. According to Addams, what are required characteristics of Hull House residents (workers)? Explain why these characteristics were necessary. 5. Based on this excerpt, what are some possible activities you think would have taken place at Hull House? Explain.