Jane Addams: Chicago's first Peace Prize winner

Once upon a time, we called them “immigrants”. Of course we hated them by that name as much as we do under the current moniker of “aliens”. Hatred and fear of those who’ve not yet been assimilated is a part of American culture that has remained constant through other changes. Thankfully, not all Americans fall prey to this dominant attitude towards immigrants/aliens. Yesterday’s shocking Nobel Peace Prize announcement brings back to mind the first Chicagoan to win that prize, a woman who defied cultural and political norms in the cause of justice and was lauded by the world for doing so: Jane Addams.

Like most American schoolkids of my generation, I learned of Jane Addams and Hull House, how she helped immigrants, worked for women’s suffrage, opposed World War I and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize. Addams was reviled for opposing World War I, and her work among immigrants at a time when they were feared even more than today — today, we do not fear aliens as much as despise them— earned her the opposition and enmity of many in the ruling elite of the country.

Sound familiar?

Addams never married, using instead the wealth of her inheritance — her father died when she was in her early 20s — to purchase the liberty to pursue her own path in life. That path took her to London where she visited Toynbee Hall, which inspired her to found Hull House (and yes, I am cribbing from Wikipedia, among other online sources, including the Jane Addams Hull House Assn website). In time Hull House grew to a multi-site social service program for Chicago’s poor and immigrant population, bringing them childcare, education and other necessary services long before those were provided by government. 46 years after Hull House proper closed down, the Association that carries on that work provides social and educational services for Chicago’s poor and immigrant community because governments are once again failing to provide these absolutely necessary services.

Addams was a political activist, fighting for child labor laws, women’s suffrage and peace; she was a supporter of Roosevelt’s 1912 Progressive Party candidacy and a charter member of the NAACP. Despite the harsh criticism she endured, especially during WWI when she refused to back down from her outspoken belief in pacifism, she never relented in speaking out and remaining active. In 1931, in reward for a lifetime of work for peace and justice, the Nobel Committee awarded her the Peace Prize.

Because so few Americans remember much of the history they learned in school, and because not every history or civics teacher is as conscientious as I was fortunate to enjoy at Billings Senior High School, the terrible conditions faced by immigrants to this nation is often forgotten, including by their descendants. Long before any social safety net existed, immigrants were dumped into slums of the worst sort and left to fend for themselves. They organized, gained political and economic power, and then moved on to better lives — and, in their turn, subjected the later generations of immigrants to the same horrific treatment.

This is a not-so-proud American tradition. But at least it serves to remind us that we’ve had the Lou Dobbs among us for many years. Thankfully, we have also had people like Jane Addams, who, though fewer in number, were able to effects a tremendous positive changes on their communities and the nation by the power of their compassion and courage. For all the hate and fear aimed at immigrants over the two centuries of America’s nationhood, not only do people continue to come here, they continue to find a way to become a part of the nation. One of the reasons so many millions have done so is because of the people we now call “social workers” and “community organizers”.

People like Jane Addams and Barack Obama. Chicagoans who made a purposeful decision when young not to pursue the socially expected norms for their lives — in her case, marriage; in his, Wall Street or corporate law — and, instead, struggled to help make the American Dream come true for those our country seemed to be casting aside. As Americans with a different vision, a vision based in compassion and shared humanity, Addams and Obama refused to allow those in need to be left behind and forgotten. They toiled in fields that, to many, seemed barren, but both found ways to bring rich results to those whom they served.

As we continue to ponder the ramifications of President Obama’s Peace Prize, we need to revisit both past winners and our own national heritage. We have much to bring us shame in this country in regards to our treatment of immigrants/aliens; decades of fear and hatred have proven ill-founded and foolish, but nonetheless, we still allow the Dobbs and his ilk to foment that ugly negativity. But we can, as Americans, take great pride in those who represent our better angels. Jane Addams, of whom many of us learned in school and then forgot, can serve as a role model for how we face the difficulties of our day: not with fear, not by retreating to the safety of the advantages into which we were born, but by working our entire lives to make justice and prosperity available for everyone, regardless of where they were born or how they arrived in our country.