I have long considered creating a series of t-shirts focused on women who stepped up, knowing the difficulty in going against powerful people, and changed their world. Today, our daughters are inundate with images of women who seem to affect change only through the sexuality. They are influenced by musicians, actresses and pop stars who show our daughters little of what they are capable of accomplishing. A study some years ago showed that young girls would rather win the “Next Top Model” over the Nobel Peach Prize.
This is the first in a series of T-shirts I plan to offer. I’m offering this first t-shirt at just $25 for a limited time in order to get these in the stockings of every girl in America. I sincerely appreciate any purchase to help with this passionate endeavor.
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Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work forging peace. She was an activist for women and children, promoting women’s issues and keeping children’s needs at the forefront of the American agenda.
“America’s future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live,” noted Addams.
Addams founded Hull House and used it as the epicenter to affect reform in the slums of Chicago. She understood the power that women held and called upon them to be civic housekeepers, empowering them to be more present in their community. She felt women were more effective in reforming, but were often held down by societal norms, “Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply to changed conditions are a snare in which the feet of women have always become readily entangled,” she said.
When Addams discovered the garbage disposal practices of Chicago were affecting the life and health of women and children, including spreading tuberculosis, she organized the women of Chicago’s 19th Ward. In 1894, she became the first woman appointed as sanitary inspector the Ward. She called on the Hull House Women’s Club to follow the garbage collectors through the city and cite any violations. There were over 1000 health department citations given in the first year. She empowered women in the ward and changed many lives.