Progressivism was a movement that started around the late 1800s. It was a social, political and economic reform that responded to the problems that arise from urbanization, immigration and industrialization and some of the goals was to promote moral improvement and protect social welfare. Leaders who took part in the movement felt that the dishonesty and corruption going on threatened the reforms and changes that were needed. To solve the problems faced by mainly the lower class, Jane Addams’ “Twenty Years at Hull House” and Lincoln Steffens’ “Tweed Days in St. Louis” wrote two articles that tried to bring about poverty and change what little rights the working class had. Progressivism began when people wanted to change the brutal system to one that was more efficient.
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Among the men and women who tried to improve the living conditions of residents was a woman named Jane Addams. She co-founded the Hull House in 1889 with Ellen Starr. The location of it was a run-down mansion at the center of an inner-city ward thick with sweatshops, factories and crowded tenements. The settlement house was founded three years after Stanton Coit established the first on New York’s Lower East Side and it provided things like kindergarten for children and clinics for the sick.
Jane Addams was one woman who took part in trying to make a difference. Her article “Twenty Years at Hull House” describes her efforts of the settlement houses and how they were an aid to people who were affected by the industrial and social problems that arise from the changes in the city. The poor and suffering were some of the people that she also came across and wanted to find a way to help them. They began to rely on the Hull House as a way of surviving and it provided many things to people who weren’t able to afford them. Things like housing, education and childcare were a big step in improving their lives and women in particular benefited excessively. Their children were taught things like manners and how to behave properly and it helped women find work. Addams talks about how after industrialization things like disease were just the poor’s problem, it was everyone else’s too. “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.” Although it looked like the whole city prospered, in reality it was just a few. For the people who struggled to have a roof over their head or wanted to escape a bad situation it was a place to turn to. One woman, Florence Kelly, is just an example of how the settlement house benefited women. She was from a lower middle class family and was married to a man who constantly abused her. She fled her husband with her children and went to the Hull House in search of a fresh start. Like Jane Addams tried to improve the lives of the poor sides, there was also people who tried to expose the government for what it truly was. Leaders such
Among the men and women who tried to improve the living conditions of residents was a woman named Jane Addams. She co-founded the Hull House in 1889 with Ellen Starr. The location of it was a run-down mansion at the center of an inner-city ward thick with sweatshops, factories and crowded tenements. The settlement house was founded three years after Stanton Coit established the first on New York’s Lower East Side and it provided things like kindergarten for children and clinics for the sick.
Jane Addams was one woman who took part in trying to make a difference. Her article “Twenty Years at Hull House” describes her efforts of the settlement houses and how they were an aid to people who were affected by the industrial and social problems that arise from the changes in the city. The poor and suffering were some of the people that she also came across and wanted to find a way to help them. They began to rely on the Hull House as a way of surviving and it provided many things to people who weren’t able to afford them. Things like housing, education and childcare were a big step in improving their lives and women in particular benefited excessively. Their children were taught things like manners and how to behave properly and it helped women find work. Addams talks about how after industrialization things like disease were just the poor’s problem, it was everyone else’s too. “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.” Although it looked like the whole city prospered, in reality it was just a few. For the people who struggled to have a roof over their head or wanted to escape a bad situation it was a place to turn to. One woman, Florence Kelly, is just an example of how the settlement house benefited women. She was from a lower middle class family and was married to a man who constantly abused her. She fled her husband with her children and went to the Hull House in search of a fresh start. Like Jane Addams tried to improve the lives of the poor sides, there was also people who tried to expose the government for what it truly was. Leaders such