A Study On The "Hull House" Between The End Of The Nineteenth Century And The Early Twentieth Century

In the late19th century and early20th century, the United States was in a periodof social transformation. Due to industrialization and urbanization, America waschanged from an agricultural country into a industrial country, from the laissez-fairecapitalism into monopoly capitalism, from a colony into a world power. However,along with the tremendous development of the United States, American society wasfaced with many serious problems, such as the raged Social Darwinism, the increasingwealth gap and the corruption and missing of municipal administration. Many socialproblems seriously eroded the foundations of American society to develop healthily.The American middle class launched a Progressive Movement to solve theproblems of American society and uphold the fairness and justice. The SocialSettlement Movement, which was represented by “Hull House”, was one part of theProgressive Movement.“Hull House”, located in the slums of Chicago, was established to help the poorby Jane Adams in1889.“Hull House” provided many community-oriented services toimprove the living environment of the community, such as to succor migrants, topromote municipal health and to fight against City Boss.“Hull House” also promotedthe change of the systems to protect social marginal groups, namely, facilitating thechild labor legislation, fighting for women’s right to vote and supporting the labormovement. In the early20th century, the Social Settlement Movement came to itsclimax and “Hull House” achieved a huge development due to the strong support ofsociety.The outbreak of World War I made the American internal contradictions becovered up by the national conflict. Nevertheless,“Hull House” advocated pacifismand ran counter to the mainstream of society, resulting in the loss of social support.After the war, the American government strengthened the social governance, causingthe decline of Social Settlement Movement, including the “Hull House”.It can be seen from the rise and down of the "Hull House" that a socialorganization must fit with the development of social trend; Governance and socialself-regulation both are important to a society and that’s why American society candevelop healthily.