Woman Nobel Peace Prize Winner - Jane Addams. (1860-1935)
Second woman to receive the award, first American woman.
"Addams was born into a middle-class family in 1860 in Northern Illinois. She was one of eight children, but only four reached adulthood. Sadly, her mother died just two years after her birth, but Addams developed a strong bond with her father. John H. Addams and Abraham Lincoln were her heroes and moral exemplars. Her father and Lincoln were, in fact, friends—her father was a Civil War veteran and local politician who advocated for abolition.
Certainly, these two inspired her, along with the historical context, to be a radical progressive social reformer. These efforts toward reform focused on women’s rights, aiding immigrants and the poor, and pacifism. This all came together in one of her biggest projects: the Hull House. The Hull House brought Addams to prominence for her involvement in public projects, something that was a rarity for women at the time. In 1889 Addams, along with some others (especially her close companion Ellen Gates Starr), leased this mansion in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Chicago to improve living conditions. In some ways, it was always a work in progress; she focused on listening to the needs of others and made changes where needed. It quickly grew into a massive enterprise—eventually comprising thirteen buildings—where the poor could thrive, especially immigrants and women.
Hull House in early 1900s.
In 1895, Addams published some results of what had been learned in and around the area in Hull House Maps and Surveys, where she put forward the argument for how the causes of poverty are environmental and social—not personal. Poverty, she argued, was not about laziness (certainly this is not the only reason), a pervasive position that is still widespread today as an unjustified and hasty generalization. When the conditions are ripe for poor housing, the easy spread of disease, and insufficient opportunities for work, these are the kinds of obstacles that prevent people from thriving and lead to economic hardship. The causes are plural and complex, so we need to stop rashly rushing to blame the poor for being poor, she urged.
In some cases, Addams maintained a very stern position, such as with her pacifism. In others, she attempted to find a middle ground, such as in between the industrialized world’s conflict between militant unions and unregulated corporations. She supported unions, but she was staunchly against any kind of violence, arguing that there could be no justification for it. Her focus was on cooperation. Her goal was solidarity—unions, for example, are comprised of diverse people who all share the same goal to improve working conditions. Broadly, she aimed to balance kindness with regulation.
Addams was also involved in several organizations, as generally, her project was one of social justice. She was part of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She worked assiduously. Her committed pacifism resulted from her contention that violent conflict is a direct obstacle to all these efforts. Unfortunately, it would be only a few years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize that she succumbed to cancer in 1935.Her efforts had a pragmatic purpose: the improvement of society. Ethics are social, she argued; we are always existing with others, so we must learn to work better together. Each of our own needs is always somehow tied up with those of others. As we learn more about others and their needs, we generally gain a greater sense of sympathy for others, which, concisely stated, makes the world a better place. This is part of what she discusses in her important work Newer Ideals of Peace.
Despite this interdependency between humans, relations are highly inequitable—this, she urged, must be fixed. This seems so intuitive, yet all too often forgotten—we care about the well-being of our friends and family; why does it seem so hard to extend this compassion broadly? She believed that her Hull House project could be a roadmap and model for a more successful democracy not only in the United States but internationally as well—again, the goal is cooperation over unbridled competition. The resulting increasing sense of solidarity makes the world a more peaceful place.
This idealism brought her the Nobel Peace Prize—the first woman from the United States to win, and the second ever in history—but it also brought her conflict. She was not without some very staunch opponents, including her close friend and colleague, John Dewey.
President Wilson had tried to keep the United States out of the First World War, but between growing sentiment in favor of the war, and a final straw with the sinking of Lusitania with over one hundred Americans on board, Addams’s hopes for peace were dashed. But even during the war, she still endeavored with her efforts, going as far as establishing a program to send food to the needy in war-torn enemy countries. This, she argued, fulfilled ideal pragmatist ends to increase sympathy and solidarity internationally.
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These are excerpts from a article originally Published: Nov 9, 2023
written by Marnie Binder, PhD Humankind and Thought in History
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Wikipedia information on Hull House and Jane Addams:
Addams and Starr were the first two occupants of the house, which would later become the residence of about 25 women. At its height, Hull House was visited each week by some 2,000 people. Hull House was a center for research, empirical analysis, study, and debate, as well as a pragmatic center for living in and establishing good relations with the neighborhood. Among the aims of Hull House was to give privileged, educated young people contact with the real life of the majority of the population.
Its facilities included a night school for adults, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a gym, a girls' club, a bathhouse, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group and a theater, apartments, a library, meeting rooms for discussion, clubs, an employment bureau, and a lunchroom. Her adult night school was a forerunner of the continuing education classes offered by many universities today. In addition to making available social services and cultural events for the largely immigrant population of the neighborhood, Hull House afforded an opportunity for young social workers to acquire training.
Wikipedia gives us this:
An advocate for world peace, and recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States, in 1931 Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; she shared the win with Nicholas Murray Butler. Earlier, Addams was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale University in 1910, becoming the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the school. In 1920, she was a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
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But wait a minute...
Who was this man who shared the Peace Prize with her, Nicolas Murray Butler?
Wikipedia says he was the president of Columbia University "for 43 years, the longest tenure in the university's history."
As well as this:
"In 1919, Butler amended the admissions process to Columbia in order to limit the number of Jewish students; it became the first American institution of higher learning to establish a quota on the number of Jews admitted."
And this:
"September 1931, Butler told the freshman class at Columbia that totalitarian systems produced "men of far greater intelligence, far stronger character, and far more courage than the system of elections."
"In 1941, the Pulitzer Prize fiction jury selected Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. The Pulitzer Board initially agreed with that judgment, but Butler, ex officio head of the Pulitzer board, found the novel offensive and persuaded the board to reverse its determination, so that no novel received the prize that year.
"According to historian Stephen H. Norwood, Butler failed to "grasp the nature and implications of Nazism... influenced both by his antisemitism, privately expressed, and his economic conservatism and hostility to trade unionism." Butler was a longtime admirer of Benito Mussolini. He compared the Italian Fascist leader to Oliver Cromwell and, in the 1920s, he noted "the stupendous improvement which Fascism has brought"
So why was he co-winner of the Peace Prize?
Butler became head of international education and communication, founded the European branch of the Endowment headquartered in Paris, and was President of the Endowment from 1925 to 1945. For his work in this field, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1931 (shared with Jane Addams) "[For his promotion] of the Kellogg-Briand pact" and for his work as the "leader of the more establishment-oriented part of the American peace movement".
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Note: The Kellogg-Briand pact (1928) was a peace pact between various countries to not wage war. It didn't keep WW II from happening, but was the "legal basis for the concept of a crime against peace, for which the Nuremberg Tribunal and Tokyo Tribunal tried and executed the top leaders responsible for starting World War II." It is also echoed in the UN Charter.
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Last week I heard on the local news that people were canvassing Asheville neighborhoods, to obtain a count of the homeless.
The sweets at the bakery in my local grocery store, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026
It’s in that convergence of spiritual people becoming active and active people becoming spiritual that the hope of humanity now rests. -- Van Jones
