better day to talk about historic

Chicago women than today. I want to focus on a

period of time between 1830 to the early

nineteen hundreds where women were very

limited both legally and socially in what

they could do or achieve. Fortunately

there are many women who saw these

restrictions as challenges to be

overcome and they fought tirelessly not

only in Chicago but across America for

social reform so who are these women

that ultimately shape chicago for the

better

well there's no better place to start

than Hull house. it was opened in 1889

by jane addams and Ellen Gates starr as

the settlement house on the west side of

Chicago for the previous 40 years

Chicago population grew from slightly

under 30,000 to over 1 million and this

was all due to immigrants. In 1870 almost half

of our population was immigrant and

this was bigger than any other American

city at the time. Hull house was opened in

an area which is densely populated with

immigrants they were living in poverty

sanitation was non-existent and there

was very little help available.

Hull house focused on improving social

conditions for these people provided

education, nurseries, medical help and so

much more

Hull house was the birthplace of Social

Work and Jane Addams was his mother she

crusaded for the needs of the less

fortunate convincing other women to join

her cause and promoted social reform she

helped America address and focus on

issues that were concerned to mothers

such as the needs of children, local

public health and world peace in 1920

she co-founded the ACLU and in 1931 she

was the first American female to be

awarded the nobel peace prize. Women came

from all over America to study social

reform at the Hull house. Women like

Ellen gates starr who campaign to reform

child labor Laws and industrial working

conditions. Florence Kelley worked against

sweatshops campaigning for eight hour

work days and women and children's work

right. Alice Hamilton pioneered healthy

working conditions, changing laws and

general practice to improve the health

of worker. Edith Abbott helped draft

the Social Security Act. Eleanor Clarke Slagle

was the founder of occupational

therapy

these are just some of the notable

residents of the Hull House

and if you go to the location today on

Halstead you can tour the Jane Addams

Hull House museum here. At the same time

chicago's very own Saint. Francis Xavier Cabrini

was working here helping

immigrants in our city. Her mission was to

help Italian immigrants who are

desperately in need of spiritual and

educational support. Mother Cabrini opened

assumption school the first italian

school in the city followed by columbus

hospital on Chicago's lakefront and

another hospital on the west side. She

lived, worked and died in Chicago making an

incredible difference too many lives in

this city especially for italian

immigrants you can go and visit her

shrine at 2520 N. Lakeview Avenue

there you can even visit the room which

she died in it has been preserved for

all those to see and yes Cabrini street

is also named after her! We have seen

numerous trailblazing women here in

Chicago some of them that come to mind

include Myra Bradwell who was the first

woman lawyer in Illinois. Bradwell passed

the Illinois Law exam in 1869 but was

denied access to the bar she fought for

the rights for women to practice law in

Illinois eventually in 1873 a law was

passed allowing women to practice law

in the state

interestingly under the new Law

Bradwell would have had to reapply to be

accepted into the bar

however she never did had she should

have been accepted

although she no longer pursued it

because she felt like she had already

won when she won the right for other

women to practice law in the state of

illinois. The chicago police department saw

Marie Connolly Owens become the first

female police officer in 1891 and was

followed by grace wilson in 1918 as the

first female african-american police

officer

although debated Owens and Wilson were

the first women in the country to

achieve their positions.

Marion Mahony Griffin was the first woman to be

licensed to practice architecture in the

state of Illinois she worked as a drafter

of the most famous architect in the

nation

Frank Lloyd Wright where she received

very little recognition for her work in a

male-dominated industry. Opinions of what

she achieved while working at Wrights

office often vary widely but no one

disputes the fact that she had an

amazing talent she married fellow

architect Walter Burley Griffin who is

well known for winning the design plan

Australia's capital city, Canberra although

it was her draft work that won over the

judges. Social constructs of the time kept

women out of business, finance and other

male-dominated professions so they open

club and charities these were run so

successfully that made men second-guess

their belief that financial and

organizational skills were unique unto

their own gender. The Women's Club

movement work to improve social welfare

for children and mothers that promoted

civic improvement and philanthropic work

working together they made huge

achievement members of the Chicago

Women's Club effort resulted in

establishing the first juvenile court in

the United States. Ida B. Wells

established the Alpha suffrage club in

Chicago believed to be the first of its

kind of African American suffragettes

they worked for political reform in

Chicago, educated voters, canvassing

door-to-door and succeeded in

registering 3,000 women in Chicago 2nd

Ward. Their efforts resulted in the

election of chicago's first

african-american alderman Oscar dePriest

in 1915. Philanthropy made a

profound difference in chicago and many

of that cultural institute would not be

the same without their women patrons to

this day Bertha Palmers large donations of

paintings constitute the core of the art

institutes infamous impressionist

holding. Mary Sturges donated 50 thousand

dollars in 1894 to establish the field

museum the fourth largest donation

received that year. Blackstone library

which is built in 1904 is the first

branch library in the city and it's

still open today it was built completely

through the donations of Isabella

Blackstone and have only started to

scratch the surface of all the patrons

to the arts that are out there

I can't help but feel that I just

completely glossed over the numerous

achievements and examples of women in

chicago the goal of this video wasn't to

provide a complete resource into these

amazing women

it was the spark your own interest in their

stories and to help i provided numerous

resources in the description below

do you know Bertha Palmer invented the

brownie! That's right

Chicago invented the brownie i love this

city