A Tale of Today: Up From the Ashes – A Visit with Jane Addams

Monday, March 8, 2021

In celebration of Women’s History Month, on International Women’s Day, March 8, we are hosting a very special engagement with Jane Addams herself! Actress Betsey Means will perform Democracy in America: A Social Gathering with Jane Addams based on Addams’ life and writings.

From the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, the city was newly shaped by the vision of great architects, civic leaders, immigrants, and workers. As the Driehaus Museum continues to look at those who rebuilt Chicago, it is important to examine the community structures that enabled them to thrive and seize the opportunity as we continue to explore our A Tale of Today.

The Nickersons were among Gilded Age Chicago’s leading philanthropists, providing the means for culture and art to flourish by sharing their home and private art collection with students and later through a donation of their significant collection to the Art Institute of Chicago. At the same time, Jane Addams (1860-1935) transformed another Chicago house into a center for civic unity. Hull-House, founded in 1889 by Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, provided social and educational opportunities for recently arrived immigrant workers in a poor industrial community within the emerging Midwestern metropolis. Hull-House also recognized the importance of exposing the community to arts and culture and installed an art gallery on its property, held theatre, music and art classes, and hosted an array of cultural events.

Addams worked at Hull-House from its founding to her death as a crusader for social justice, dedicating her life to advocating for the underprivileged and oppressed, fighting for the rights of workers, women, and children. Considered a pioneer in the field of modern social work, Addams was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 and at the time of her death in 1935 she was the most well-known female public figure in the United States.

Betsey Means is a professional actress with twenty years of experience who is dedicated to inspiring audiences through the language of the past. She has performed with the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare on the Green, Blue Rider Theatre, and the Chicago Children’s Theatre, among other groups. She is the artistic director of WomanLore which brings to life women in history who have made significant historical contributions. The scripts from WomenLore are adapted directly from the women’s own writings.

Top Left: Jane Addams, c. 1912. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Top Right: Hull House has 40th birthday, 1930. Photograph by Underwood & Underwood. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.