Coming to Consensus

One hundred and twenty-eight years ago, Jane Addams opened the famous Hull House in Chicago influencing many other settlement houses to establish across the country. As a result, impacting the lives of many immigrants, people with unfortunate circumstances, and several other parties in ways such as providing them with critical aspects they would need for their survival and overall convenience. The extent of that impact can be seen in “Hilda Satt Polacheck, I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl” in which a girl describes the hospitality she encountered the first time she attended a party at the famous settlement house; Phrases such as ‘All feelings of religious intolerance and bigotry faded’ and ‘I could not connect this beautiful party with any hatred or superstition’ help us capture the essence of the amiable environment Jane Addams help set for the people. Even though Jane Addams and many other social reformers, Louise de Koven Bowen, do in fact seem quite critical and judgmental, when placed in situations that do not correlate with their moral code per say. It evidently comes from a cautious perspective that in truth wants the population as a whole to thrive and not be occupied in seemingly trivial things. In many cases; however, people felt that the ‘urbanization’ of the people lead to a loss in their culture and its intention was to solely be beneficial to the reformers for their personal and overall quality of life. The embracement of a certain culture does not present a direct association with the loss of another culture and even so it is quite clear that knowledge should be embraced regardless of the provider. The bigger picture was by starting to educate one student; it would end up causing a ripple effect, benefitting not just them but their families and communities as a whole. Social reformers and the settlement houses did benefit many people and helped make their transitions into a new society and culture significantly easier;