As kids, many of us grow up with stories of super heroes and people of greater power that help the helpless. We grow up thinking that only bad things happen in stories where heroic mutants can fix it. As adults, we start to see how messy the world is and wish those super heroes in stories were real. Just like Marvel has their Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the real world has social workers, who act as agents of change. An agent of change in the field of Social Work seeks to improve or restructure parts of the system that could be flawed or in some way harming people’s well-being. An agent of change advocates for others and promotes social and economic justice; change is initiated on behalf of individual people or groups of people to provide services or resources and to change or encourage change for policies (Kirst-Ashman, 2016). Two people that are great examples of being agents of change are Florence Kelley and Jane Addams. Known for doing more than any other average American in the 20th century, Florence Kelley is the “Pioneer of Labor Reform” (Dreier, 2012). Florence was concerned …show more content…
Jane Addams is a widely known social worker, who founded Hull House in Chicago. (Moyer, 2003). She is also known as a sociologist, feminist, pacifist, and criminologist (Moyer, 2003). Just like Florence Kelley, Jane Addams interest for helping those in need started when she was young. Her father took her to see his mill, and the mill was located where people were in utmost poverty and living in small houses. The day her father took her to the mill was the day that she swore to have a large house built where a lot of small, unpleasant houses were, and she did fulfil her promise when she created the Hull House (Moyer, 2003). The Hull House was the first settlement house in the United States, and its purpose was to serve the needs of the poor and restore communications between the classes. (Moyer,
We have not wrecked, nor corrupted legislature, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance. ’- Jane Addams.” (weebly.com). This quote showed how much she believed in equality for all, even for the smallest things. Addams also fought for the improvement of education and so everyone could get free education.
The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to social reformer Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and her colleagues whose work changed the lives of their immigrant neighbors as well as national and international public policy. The Museum preserves and develops the original Hull-House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social
Florence Kelley (1859-1932), daughter of William and Caroline Kelley, was a successful women. She lived during the time of the Orphan Train Movement which lasted from 1854 to 1929. The Orphan Train Movement relocated homeless and abandoned children living on the streets of New York City to new homes in the United States. Some children were put into homes where they prospered but unfortunately some children were put into homes where they were treated like slaves and abused. Although Florence was alive at the time the orphan train ran there is no know information about how she actually responded to the movement.
Jane Addams was a significant person in history. First, she was a big part of Progressive Reform. She created the famous, "Hull House," which was a settlement house that opened its doors to European immigrants. The Hull House was made by Jane Addams and friend, Ellen Starr. The Hull House was used to give immigrants important lessons on hygiene, English, and sanitation.
His discoveries also helped spur the creation of reforms for housing and sewage. Florence Kelley was a woman who believed that businesses were undermining the welfare of the worker. Hours were long and pay was little. Children were working in dangerous situations and many died. She helped to form labor unions.
Jane Addams was a remarkable woman in American history. She was born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1860 and died on May 21, 1935. She is an extraordinary woman in history because she established one of the very first settlements in the United States known as the Hull House in Chicago, Illinois in 1889 and was recognized worldwide in the first part of the twentieth century for being a pioneer social worker, and internationalist, as well as a feminist. Jane’s full name is Laura Jane Addams and she was born as the eighth sibling out of nine children. Her father was an affluent miller, businessman, and a prosperous state senator; he had several important friends.
Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker family, with the hope that everyone would one day be treated equal. She denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because she was a woman(Susan B. Anthony). From this point on, she knew that she needed to make a change. Susan B. Anthony, because of her intense work involving women 's’ rights, highly influenced all of the societies and beliefs that were yet to come. She employed a huge role in our history because of the fact that she advocated for women’s rights, for the integration of women in the workforce, and for the abolition of slavery.
Welcome to the Hull House! We have just opened our services to Chicago’s West Side community. Our founders, Jane Addams and Elaine Gates Starr are working hard to provide the best for the community. Housing Conditions Currently, many of us live in tenements with multiple families living in tiny, cramped apartments together, that are in buildings that are generally five to six stories high.
During the late 1800’s, the Social Gospel Movement was brining several social reforms upon American society. One of the most active participants of the movement was American reformer, Jane Addams. She visited the first settlement house to be built, Toynbee Hall, in 1886 while on a trip to England. It was this experience that made her see the good these houses could bring to many poor communities. Since then, she always spoke in favor of social reforms, and proposed many solutions to the issues urbanization brought.
Throughout her life time, Jane Addams helped change the Progressive Era for the better. Jane Adams committed her entire life to helping the poor. She did this, however, in a unique way. She created a program in order to help immigrate the poor into a regular American society. She also was an active advocate for women’s suffrage.
Drehle, D. V. (2003). Triangle: The Fire That Changed America (1st ed.) New York, NY. Grove Press David Von Drehle’s Triangle:
Carnegie’s ostentatious vanity indicates that he reaps pride from his attempt at improving society, which serves the explicit goal of “dignify[ing] his own life” (“Wealth”). Although Addams stresses the importance of unity and the interdependency of the classes (226), it is important to point out that she opened the Hull House in response to the uselessness she felt following a
The document of “The Railway Army of 1894”, focuses on management of industries. Subordination allows managers to observe how well employees follow instruction. It is comparable to the saying “when I say jump, you say how high”. If the employees pursue this method, they would be the strongest industry. In fact, Marshall M. Kirkman writes “labor, to exist at all, must act in harmony with those who give it employment, and in due subordination to the interest of society as a whole” (Johnson, 43), meaning, employees and employers must work respectfully amongst each other, in order to create a harmonious environment.
She seperated herself from what society belived a women should do and created many radical changes for that time period. Many of her fellow friends, characterized as going crazy and too hopeful. But in the years later to come, Jane Addams would redefine what a women can and should do. She once said, “Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions are a snare in which the feet of women have always become readily entangled” (JaneAddams). With this, Jane Addams shaped the progressive era by limiting/abolishing the amount of work hours people
Modern social workers are frequently tasked with certain objectives by their agencies, which leave little room for any work beyond specific treatments and timeframes (Gitterman & Knight, 2016). Although social workers are bound to the set of ethics put forth by the NASW, practitioners are often limited to focusing on the issues of the individual rather than the larger societal issues that may be behind those concerns. Additionally, many social work students end up working in direct practice, rather than macro work. There is a need for social workers to engage at the macro level in order to facilitate community organization and empowerment. Critics suggest this theory may not take into account the unique experiences of each individual and perhaps key characteristics of the individual or group are not taken into consideration (Sadan, 1997).