During the late 1880’s, many Americans began to call for changes in factory working conditions, wages, poverty stricken cities, and the amount of organizations that supported newly arrived immigrants with making their shift to American society. One person who answered this call was Jane Addams, a woman born in Illinois who had been saddened by the living conditions that she witnessed in Chicago. In an effort to put an end to this disorder, Jane Addams established Hull House in 1889. Hull House was aimed at “aiding in the solutions of life in a great city, helping our neighbors build responsible, self-sufficient lives for themselves and their families”). Considering immigrants, Jane Addams detested the common American ideas that immigrants were often poor illiterate, ignorant, inferior. She acted with hospitality, welcoming immigrants socially and culturally into Hull House with the use of entertainment and traditions that were familiar to their cultures. An article by Melvin G. Holli says, “Italians might be invited to the settlement house on Saturday for readings from Mazzini's works or to celebrate a folk holiday; Germans might be treated to folk lieder or Schiller on Tuesday night”). Addams actively embraced the new foreigners along with their cultures, ideas, and attitudes. In addition, Jane Addams helped to launch the Immigrants Protective League, an organization looking to aid immigrants arriving in Chicago and to reduce their exploitation from surrounding Americans. Today Hull House (now called the Jane Addams Hull House Association) continues to thrive in America. Its great success is due to its founder’s warm generosity and purpose. In 1931, Jane Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
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