Google Logo Celebrates Hull House Founder & Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jane Addams

Today’s Google logo celebrates Jane Addams, a woman of many disciplines, including social worker, peace activist, settlement house founder, suffragist and author. Included in her extensive list of accomplishments, Addams was the first American woman awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

The Google logo illustrates Addams’ civic-minded roles, highlighting Hull House, a settlement house co-founded by Addams with Ellen Gates Starr located on the west side of Chicago.

Born September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, Addams attended Rockford Female Seminary and studied medicine for one year at the University of Pennsylvania. As the co-founder of Hull House, Addams made possible a series of educational programs, public kitchen, art gallery, coffee house and gym, all offered through the Chicago settlement house.

Addams documented her experiences at Hull House in two autobiographies: Twenty Years at Hull House published in 1910 and The Second Twenty years at Hull House published in 1930.

Addams was active in the suffragist and peace movements, and was elected national chairman of the Woman’s Peace Party and president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1915. Her dedication to bring international peace and stop the war would earn Addams a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, making her the first American female to receive the award.

Addams died May 21, 1935 at the age of 74.