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 | | Jane Addams | | | Inducted 2008 [Posthumous] | | | Photo: GERHARD SISTERS | | Jane Addams (1860–1935), 1931 Nobel Prize winner, for her pioneering work in founding Hull House in 1890, which created a lasting model for social change and diverse thought. | |
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| Jane Addams is a Chicago icon. Her
accomplishments in founding one of the nation’s first settlement houses, Hull-
House (now spelled Hull House), in 1890 and
creating a model for social change and
democracy—addressing such issues as child
labor, public health reform, garbage
collection, labor laws, and race
relations—have qualified her for inclusion in
any pantheon of Chicagoans. | |
| She was also the first American woman to be awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize, in 1931, in recognition of her tireless (and often
thankless) activism against war and other forms of violence. In 2007, she was
again commemorated when part of Interstate Highway 90 was named in her
honor. Although she was born in 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, and died in
Chicago in 1935, her memory remains powerful in Chicago, the nation, and
the world.
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| Biographer Louise Knight has noted the “long silence about the historical
significance of Addams’s intimate love life.” Current historical research and
insight demonstrate that it is time for Chicago’s LGBT communities to
claim Addams as one of our own. Historian Lillian Faderman notes that
Addams “spent her adult years, almost until her death, with other women, in
long-term relationships that we would describe as lesbian today.” | |
| Addams had at least two long-term same-sex relationships—one of which,
with Mary Rozet Smith, lasted 40 years. Addams and Smith traveled
together, shared the same room and bed, and owned property together.
Addams consistently addressed Smith as “dearest” and used phrases such as
“I am yours ’til death.” Their relationship to each other was recognized by
their close associates as intimate. Historian John D’Emilio points out, “No
matter how you cut it, these are all marks that we use to understand women
and men as lesbian or gay.” | |
| During her lifetime, Jane Addams fought ceaselessly for the rights of the
disenfranchised in Chicago and around the world. For her tireless and
passionate work on behalf of peace, justice, and equality for all oppressed
and exploited people and her exemplary status as a role model both
historically and in the present, she is inducted into the Chicago Gay and
Lesbian Hall of Fame. | |
| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
| Additional information is available for items referenced in the biography of Jane Addams at the following sites: |
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