Jane Addams

Jane Addams (1860–1935) cofounded the Hull House—one of the first settlement houses in the United States—in Chicago, Illinois, in 1889. She served as the first female president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections and the first president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1911, Addams helped establish the National Federation of Settlements. For her valiant activism on behalf of mothers, families, and the working class, Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, becoming the first American woman to win the prize. Addams’s memoir Twenty Years at Hull House chronicles her life devoted to activism and the betterment of mankind.