|
|
Article: Jane Addams and the social claim.
- Article from:
- The Public Interest
- Article date:
- September 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The National Affairs, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
MOST Americans of middle age or older have heard of Jane Addams. Didn't she have something to do with immigrants and social work? "She was a socialist, right?" queried an academic friend when I told her I was at long last writing my "Jane Addams book." This vague sense of familiarity, absent any specific knowledge of who she was or what she did, is understandable. Not only do Americans study far less history now than they once did, but Jane Addams fell from public consciousness rather quickly following her death on May 21, 1935, at the age of 74. Statues of her never quite got off the ground. Planned memorials faltered.
That this is so is remarkable. She was at ...