Illinois has the distinct honor of being the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in 1835. They are also the home of the first McDonalds, the first skyscraper, and the first aquarium. Illinois has been progressive in many ways, but women and children, poor and working class, were still second class citizens.
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Addams was born into a middleclass family and could easily have followed society’s expectations to marry and become a mother/homemaker. Addams wanted more – she wanted to make a difference. According to the Jane Addams Hull House Museum, she saw the treatment immigrants received and decided to help smooth their transition and help make life better for them. With her friend, Ellen Gates Starr, Addams started Hull House to provide services for immigrants such as child care, adult education classes, and health care. The work Addams did to protect women and children on a local level became a national project – Illinois first passed laws to protect women and children in 1893. By 1912, the federal government created the Federal Children’s Bureau, which led to child labor laws.
Sarah Ann Hackett Stevenson (1841-1909)
Medical school was tough to get into during Stevenson’s day. After graduation, finding a job in medicine was even trickier. As with many women who obtained medical degrees, Stevenson opened her own practice. She became the American Medical Association’s first female member. She became the first female doctor at Cook County Hospital. She and Lucy Flowers founded the first nursing school in Illinois. Another first for Stevenson occurred in 1893 when she was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Health.
Margaret A. Haley (1861-1939)
Haley began her career as a teacher at 16 and went on to become the leader of America’s first teacher union. She worked in some of the poorest neighborhood schools in Chicago and saw the conditions teachers were forced to endure, as well as the environment children were expected to learn in. Perhaps the rest of the community didn’t care much about these poor schools and whether the children learned or not, but Haley cared. She started to fight back. At one point, according to Encyclopedia.com, she discovered many large corporations in Chicago weren’t paying city taxes – this found money was the difference in teachers being paid promised wage increases and reopened schools closed due to lack of funds.
Lucy Parsons (1853-1942)
Labor disputes were common during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Parsons and her husband spent a large part of their lives fighting for the rights of the poor and working class. Companies were given the right to bring in immigrants to work in their factories, working for less money, which lowered wages throughout the city. Hours were long and conditions were substandard.
As the problems grew, many anarchist groups began developing. This lead to demonstrations, arrests, fights, strikes, etc. The Parsons were in the thick of the battle. In fact, Parsons’ husband was killed because of his involvement in the anarchist groups. His death only pushed Parsons further into the battle herself. She started writing for publications published by the International Working People’s Association, which she and her husband helped found. She gave speeches – sometimes being arrested before she even got into the arena to say a word.
Later she fought for women’s issues such as birth control, and a woman’s right to divorce and remarry.
According to Industrial Workers of the World, most of Parsons’ personal papers and books were stolen after her death, confiscated by the FBI. She was an influential woman and even in death, the government felt they needed to silence her.
For More Information on Women’s History
Important Women in Florida History
Industrial Workers of the World
