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Jane Addams Receives Nobel Peace Prize

1931

For her many accomplishments and advocacy efforts on behalf of peace, Jane Addams is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Addams holds a long record of activism on many fronts: In 1889, she helped found Hull House, part of the Settlement House Movement, in a poor Chicago neighborhood. Hull House offered medical care, child care and legal aid as well as classes for immigrants to learn English, vocational skills, music, art and drama. Later, she campaigned for women’s right to vote and worked to change state laws on child labor, the factory inspection system and the juvenile justice system. She also fought for laws to protect immigrants from exploitation, limit the work hours of women, require education for children and recognize labor unions. In 1915, in an effort to avert war, she organized the Women’s Peace Party and the International Congress of Women, which met at The Hague and made serious diplomatic attempts to thwart the war. She was the first president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.