Jane Addams: A Brief Biography

Jane Addams was another leader in her community trying to help the lower classes immigrants assimilate to America. Addams was born the 6 of September of 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her father, John H. Addams, was a Quaker owning a flour and sawmill factory. Addams was born into a good family where most of her childhood she spent comfort. Since a child, she always had an intuition to help and live among the less fortunate. “On that day I had my first sight of the poverty which implies squalor, and felt the curious distinction between the ruddy poverty of the country and that which even a small city presents in its shabbiest streets […..] I declared with much firmness when I grew up I should, of course, have a large house, but it would not
Addams felt ashamed of her appearance. She would often walk with her uncle on Sunday to avoid be connected to her father. According to Addams, she felt like she was the ugly duckling and an outsider. Her father and stepmother got married when she was about eight years old. Mr. Addams political life had an important impact on Jane. Jane met president Abraham Lincoln who was very influential person towards the lives of the immigrants and as well as Jane. Addams attended Rockford Female Seminary, where she took course in the liberal arts and science. Her stepmother “set high standards for intellectual achievements.” (Janeaddamsproject.org) Addams graduated from Rockford Female Seminary on 22nd of June of 1881. She enrolled into Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Addams didn’t finish her medical career due to her illness. Instead she decides take a tour of Europe, she is not amused and becomes bored. When she returns for her second tour of Europe, she found her meaning to life in