"FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN NOBEL PRIZE"

JANE ADDAMS WINS PEACE PRIZE  

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) On December 10, 1931, Jane Addams* was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first American woman** to win the coveted award.  Miss Adams was president of the Women's International League For Peace and Freedom.

According to the Nobel Prize website, Jane Addams "worked for many years to get the great powers to disarm and conclude peace agreements." She also worked to help the poor and was co-founder of Chicago's Hull House.

As national chair of the Woman's Peace Party, Miss Adams spoke out against the entry of the United States into the First World War.

*Jane Addams (1860-1935) was born in Cedarville, IL & educated at Rockford Female Seminary.  

**Marie Curie became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in 1903.
   
SOURCES

"Jane Addams-Facts," The Official Site of the Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/

"Nobel Prize Awarded Women," The Official Site of the Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/

Jane Addams

Bain News Service (1920s)

Library of Congress Photo

WAR IS THE LAST STAGE OF SAVAGERY!

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2398

WOMEN'S PEACE PARTY WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH GREAT WAR

New York City (JFK+50) The Women's Peace Party of New York implores American women "to oppose the government's war plans."  The organization, a branch of the National Women's Peace Party* led by Jane Addams, stands opposed to compulsory military service, food control, military supervision, war bond issues and continuation of the war.

The NWPP's "propaganda" was distributed in "Four Lights," edited by Margaret Lane. 

Clara Clemens**, daughter of Mark Twain, was quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune as follows...

"Every intelligent man in this nation knows that to kill his neighbor, whether German or fellow American, is a crime.  War is the last stage of savagery."


*The National Women's Peace Party was founded in January 1915 in Washington, D.C.  It was the first peace organization to employ public demonstrations for peace.  

**Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud (1874-1962) was born in Elmira, NY & studied voice & piano.  She became an accomplished contralto concert singer. She was the last known descendant of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

SOURCE

"End This War, Addams Party Plea To Women ," The Chicago Daily Tribune, August 13, 1917.

Delegates to Women's Peace Conference

M.S. Noordam (1815)

Library of Congress Photo

PACIFIST CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENT

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2336

JANE ADDAMS FAVORS INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENT WITH U.S. AS LEADER

Evanston, Illinois (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, June 10, 1917, Miss Jane Addams, speaking to a current events class at the First Congregational Church here in Evanston, called for an international government to make "necessary changes" in the world situation.

Although a pacifist, Miss Addams agreed "substantially as to the causes of the...war."  Far from advocating American isolation, she spoke of the United States assuming the role as a leader in a world with a "wider life of coordinated political activity."

Justice Orrin N. Carter** of the Illinois Supreme Court, a self-described life-long friend of Miss Addams, did not agree with her views.  He said...

"We are in war and it is our business to get behind the government.  No pacifist measures should be taken until the war is over."


*Jane Addams (1860-1935) was born in Cedarville, IL & graduated from Rockford University in 1881.  She co-founded Hull House in Chicago, the first settlement house in the U.S.  & was a leader in the women's suffrage movement.  JA was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

**Orrin N. Carter (1854-1928) was born in Jefferson County, NY & graduated from Wheaton College in 1877.  ONC served as a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court from 1906 to 1924.

SOURCE

"Carter Dissents To Jane Addams' Views on War", The Chicago Daily Tribune, June 11, 1917.

Jane Addams (1906)
by George de Forest Brush
National Portrait Gallery Image

FAITH IN NEW POSSIBILITIES & COURAGE TO ADVOCATE THEM

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2155

JANE ADDAMS: FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) Eighty-five years ago today, December 10, 1931, Jane Addams* became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  Miss Adams was president of the Women's International League For Peace and Freedom.  She was the second woman to win the Nobel Prize, the first was Marie Curie in 1903.

The Nobel Prize website says that Jane Addams "worked for many years to get the great powers to disarm and conclude peace agreements."  She also worked to help the poor and in 1889 co-founded Hull House here in Chicago. 

As National Chairman of the Woman's Peace Party, Miss Addams spoke out strongly against U.S. entry into World War I.

One of Jane Addams' memorable quotes is...

"What after all has maintained the human race (is) faith in new possibilities and courage to advocate them."

*Jane Addams (1860-1935) was born in Cedarville, IL & educated at Rockford Female Seminary.  She is best known as co-founder of a settlement house for immigrants located in Chicago, Il. called Hull House. 

SOURCE

"Jane Addams-Facts," The Official Site of the Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/

"Nobel Prize Awarded Women," The Official Site of the Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/

Jane Addams

Bain News Service (1920s)

Library of Congress Photo