Settlement House Movement Research Articles

Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945.

Professing a policy of cultural and social integration, the American settlement house movement made early progress in helping immigrants adjust to life in American cities. However, when African Americans migrating from the rural South in the early twentieth century began to replace white immigrants in settlement environs, most houses failed to redirect their efforts toward their new neighbors. Nationally, the movement did not take a concerted stand on the issue of race until after World War II. In Black Neighbors , Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn analyzes this reluctance of the mainstream settlement house movement to extend its programs to African American communities, which, she argues, were assisted instead by a variety of alternative organizations. Lasch-Quinn recasts the traditional definitions, periods, and regional divisions of settlement work and uncovers a vast settlement movement among African Americans. By placing community work conducted by the YWCA, black women's clubs, religious missions, southern industrial schools, and other organizations within the settlement tradition, she highlights their significance as well as the mainstream movement's failure to recognize the enormous potential in alliances with these groups. Her analysis fundamentally revises our understanding of the role that race has played in American social reform.

Nobel Peace Laureates, Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch: Two Women of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

Nobel Peace Laureates, Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch: Two Women of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Harriet Hyman Alonso In November, 1895, Alfred Nobel, wealthy inventor and entrepreneur, signed his last will and testament. In it, he stipulated that the major part of his estate be converted into a fund and invested, the interest to be used for prizes in five areas he wished to promote, one of which was peace.1 Nobel's interest in the peace cause centered around his passionate friendship with Baroness Bertha von Suttner, the founder of the Austrian Peace Society.2 Nobel envisioned the prize as a tribute to the woman or man who did the most for obtaining peace in Europe. Little did he imagine that it would become one of the most pretigious and lucrative awards in the world.3 In the spring of 1992, eighteen peace historians gathered at the Nobel Institute in Norway to probe the question, "How has the Nobel Peace Prize been accepted in the laureates' own nations?" My assignment was to enlighten the group on the two women from the United States who won the prize: Jane Addams (1931) and Emily Greene Balch (1946).4 Each received the honor for her work with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Addams was already a well-known Progressive Era reformer when she was named a Nobel laureate and is well placed in U.S. history. Emily Greene Balch, however, was and still is virtually unknown in the land of her birth. Why, I wondered, was this so? Both women came from similar backgrounds, lived through the same eras, and embraced many of the same causes. They worked together in WILPF and other organizations to ward off U.S. participation in World War I, faced similar harassment during the Red Scare of the 1920s, and worked together in the international search for world peace during the interwar years. After Addams died in 1935, Balch continued working with WILPF until her death in 1961. Three factors may explain the inconsistency in the two women's reputations: 1) Addams is best known for her work in the settlement house movement, an extension of the domestic sphere and traditionally occupied by women, whereas Balch chose peace activism as a career, thereby entering the world of international affairs, a sphere traditionally closed to women. Addams's social work, in other words, did not generally threaten © 1995 Journal of Women's History, Vol. 7 No. 2 (Summer) 1995 Harriet Hyman Alonso 7 the status quo, whereas Batch's peace work did. 2) Addams did not criticize the nation's capitalist ideology while Balch openly declared herself a socialist, allying with political groups which U.S. policy makers disfavored. Throughout her career, Balch challenged the basic economic principles of capitalism. 3) Addams received the prize during a time of relative peace while Balch received it during the early Cold War years. The public's view at the time was that Addams's work mirrored government policy, whereas Balch's reflected clearcut opposition. A comparison of these women's lives and careers offers more insight into the matter. The Early Years Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch had much in common during their early years. Their upbringing and education led to a similar desire to end poverty and war. The two women were born just six years apart to upper middle-class parents—Addams on September 6,1860, and Balch on January 8,1867.5 Both women had industrious, politically Uberal fathers and traditional Victorian-era mothers. Addams's father, John Huy Addams, a prosperous Illinois miller and banker, was heavily involved in community affairs. An opponent of slavery, he met and befriended many influential figures, among them, Abraham Lincoln. Balch's father, Francis Vergnies Balch, a graduate of Harvard University, volunteered to fight in the Civil War, and served as secretary to the abolitionist U.S. senator, Charles Sumner. Returning to Boston, he devoted the remainder of his life to practicing law. Addams's mother, Sarah Weber Addams, concentrated on her role as wife and mother, and died when Jane was only two years old. Five years...

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn. <italic>Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890–1945</italic>. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1993. Pp. xii, 225. Cloth $39.95, paper $14.95

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn. <italic>Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890–1945</italic>. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1993. Pp. xii, 225. Cloth $39.95, paper $14.95

Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945.

Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:The Last Cacique: Leadership and Politics in a Puerto Rican City, by Jorge HeineBreakthroughs: Re-creating the American City, by Neal R. Peirce and Robert GuskindBlack Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890–1945, by Elizabeth Lasch-QuinnThird World Cities: Problems, Policies, and Prospects, edited by John D. Kasarda and Alan M. ParnellManaging Fast Growing Cities: New Approaches to Urban Planning and Management in the Developing World, edited by Nick Devas and Carole Rakodi

Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945

Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945

Black neighbors: race and the limits of reform in the American settlement house movement, 1890-1945

Black neighbors: race and the limits of reform in the American settlement house movement, 1890-1945

Social Work's Legacy of Peace: Echoes from the Early 20th Century

In the early 20th century, women took courageous stands in working for peace. Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch, both active in the settlement house movement, played instrumental roles in opposing World War I. Their fierce commitment to mediation in settling international conflicts despite negative public opinion holds lessons for social workers today. Both women formed organizations, some of which continue to play central roles in the social work profession today. This article describes their activities in the Women's Peace Party, as well as their accomplishments at the 1915 Women's International Peace Conference at The Hague.

Pluralism and Progressives: Hull House and the New Immigrants, 1890-1919.

The settlement house movement, launched at the end of the nineteenth century by men and women of the upper middle class, began as an attempt to understand and improve the social conditions of the working class. It gradually came to focus on the mainly Italians, Slavs, Greeks, and Jews who figured so prominently in this changing working class. Hull House, one of the first and best-known settlement houses in the United States, was founded in September 1889 on Chicago's West Side by Jane Addams and Ellen G. Starr. In a major new study of this famous institution and its place in the movement, Rivka Shpak Lissak reassesses the impact of Hull House on the nationwide debate over the place of immigrants in American society.

Hull-House and the Settlement House Movement

Hull-House and the Settlement House Movement

Professionalism and Social Change: From Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present. Judith Ann Trolander

<i>Professionalism and Social Change: From Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present</i>. Judith Ann Trolander

UPDATING THE SETTLEMENT HOUSE: A MODEL FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS

The settlement house movement had its origins in the 19th century as members of the upper class in England and the United States sought to develop an institution under private auspices that would serve disadvantaged populations in urban settings. A new set of circumstances exists in the 20th century as developing nations accept this responsibility and seek means to serve their populations in both urban and rural settings.

&lt;bold&gt;Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present&lt;/bold&gt;. By Judith Ann Trolander. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1987. 300 pp. $37.50 hardback

&lt;bold&gt;Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present&lt;/bold&gt;. By Judith Ann Trolander. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1987. 300 pp. $37.50 hardback

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present.

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present.

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present.Judith Ann Trolander

<i>Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present.</i>Judith Ann Trolander

The Sentinels of Order: A Study of Social Control and the Minnepolis Settlement House Movement, 1915-1950

Contrary to popular misconceptions, not all settlement house communities were bastions of progressive reform or populated with personalities such as Jane Addams, Robert Hunter, Raymond Robbins, or Mary Simkhovitch. Most settlement houses were in moderate to large cities and existed outside of the national limelight. This book examines the emergence and maturation of Minneapolis settlement houses from 1915-1950, their controversial nature, the role that social control played within that movement, and the conflict that existed between the socialization function of the settlements and the often altruistic motives of the settlement leaders. Of interest to students and scholars of social welfare policy and American history.

Howard Jacob Karger. &lt;italic&gt;The Sentinels of Order: A Study of Social Control and the Minneapolis Settlement House Movement, 1915–1950&lt;/italic&gt;. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America. 1987. Pp. xviii, 183. $22.75

Journal Article Howard Jacob Karger. The Sentinels of Order: A Study of Social Control and the Minneapolis Settlement House Movement, 1915–1950. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America. 1987. Pp. xviii, 183. $22.75 Get access Karger Howard Jacob. The Sentinels of Order: A Study of Social Control and the Minneapolis Settlement House Movement, 1915–1950. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America. 1987. Pp. xviii, 183. $22.75. Louise C. Wade Louise C. Wade University of Oregon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 94, Issue 2, April 1989, Pages 537, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/94.2.537 Published: 01 April 1989

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present

Professionalism and Social Change: From the Settlement House Movement to Neighborhood Centers, 1886 to the Present

Reviews: Rural Development: A Geographical Perspective, Strategic Perspectives on Planning Practice, Elections and Voters: A Comparative Introduction, the Changing Face of Cities: A Study of Development Cycles and Urban Form, Industralization and Growth: A Comparative Study, Impact Assessment Today, the Economics and Sociology of Rural Communities: East—West Perspectives, Mobility and Employment in Urban Southeast Asia: Examples from Indonesia and the

Reviews: Rural Development: A Geographical Perspective, Strategic Perspectives on Planning Practice, Elections and Voters: A Comparative Introduction, the Changing Face of Cities: A Study of Development Cycles and Urban Form, Industralization and Growth: A Comparative Study, Impact Assessment Today, the Economics and Sociology of Rural Communities: East—West Perspectives, Mobility and Employment in Urban Southeast Asia: Examples from Indonesia and the