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Jane AddamsBorn in 1860 to become one of America's most active women, Jane Addams was involved in numerous organizations working for many different causes.
In a speech delivered in 1899, Jane Addams said, "Let us not make the mistake of confusing moral issues sometimes involved in warfare with warfare itself. Let us not glorify the brutality. The same strenuous endeavor...heroic self-sacrifice...fine courage and readiness to meet death, may be displayed without the accompaniment of killing our fellow men." During her life, Addams certainly showed this "strenuous endeavor" and "courage" in her humanitarian work. Born in 1860 to become one of America's most active women, Jane Addams was involved in numerous organizations working for many different causes. She was most famous for her establishment of Hull House in Chicago, which provided housing, schooling, social activities, union and political centers and much more for the surrounding community. However her work at Hull House is only the tip of the iceberg. Addams helped to establish many prominent organizations dealing with racism, workers rights, peace, civil liberties, social work and women's suffrage. She served as president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom from 1919 until her death in 1935. She wrote seven books and numerous articles. In 1931 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Women's Peace Party traveled to Holland for the 1915 International Congress of Women at the Hague. The woman were most concerned with bringing a direct and peaceful ending to World War I. Jane Addams was the chair of this congress and was described as having "a radiating wisdom and power of judgement." The effects of this congress of women were fairly widespread. Their major accomplishment was adopting a list of Resolutions and distributing them to leaders throughout Europe and in the U.S. Later, Addams and several other women traveled through Europe, meeting with leaders to talk about options for peace. They tried to organize a conference of neutral nations which never occurred, due to the unwillingness of U.S. President Wilson. However, when Wilson drafted his " 14 Points" to ensure peace, he included ideas from a few of the resolutions that the Congress of Women had written, three years earlier. Examples of these are the call for "freedom of navigation upon the seas," the abolition of "secret treaties," and a reduction of arms. In all of her work she not only aimed to abolish war and human suffering, but she worked for a greater ideal where "..peace has come to mean a larger thing. It is no longer merely absence of war, but the unfolding of life processes which are making for a common development." For more information, visit the following Web sites:
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