Ch. 2
Pg. 5
Reform

nstead of treating the poor individually, settlement workers concentrated on changing the general situations they uncovered in their surveys. Public education, juvenile courts, public playgrounds, citizenship, daycare, and cultural awareness programs are just a few examples of the reform activities adopted by settlement workers.
Many settlements inevitably found themselves pulled into union organizing and local politics as they searched for strategies to improve the lives of their neighbors. Hull House became involved in organizing women's unions almost from the day it opened its doors. Led by young Hull House resident, Mary Kenny O'Sullivan, the settlement served as a hub for organizing shirtwaist workers and pushed for the passage of the Illinois Factory Act, a bill that provided protective policies for working women and children. Their crusade expanded to include child labor and eventually, under the adept leadership of Florence Kelly, led to the establishment of The Women's Trade Union League.

An anti-child labor poster
In 1896 Hull House became a staunch supporter of the textile workers union. When the union struck, residents held mass meetings and organized demonstrations of sympathy. When the strike was unsuccessful, they raised funds to help the union members find employment in other areas. During the Pullman Strike, when prominent union leader Eugene Debs was arrested, Hull House resident Florence Kelley organized protest rallies.

 

Florence Kelly

 

Dirty streets and inadequate refuse services propelled some Hull House residents into local politics. The Hull House neighborhood was run by a local ward boss who provided many neighbors with employment but was more interested in collecting graft than garbage. As a result, in 1893, a political campaign took place against the ward boss. This crusade was successful but also taught Jane Addams an important lesson in local politics: Hull House's reform candidate quickly succumbed to the temptations of graft, becoming just another pawn of the boss system. While not all settlement activities were successful they were consistent aimed at modifying the general situations facing the poor rather than changing the individual.