NHD Theme Book 2016 | Page 44

M 42 NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2016 Settlement House Movement ost nineteenth century immigrants to the United States settled in Eastern and Midwestern urban centers, where industrialization had created a need for a steady supply of low-skill, low-wage workers. A lack of sufficient and affordable housing led to families living in cramped, unhealthy conditions. Low wages and unreliable employment prospects kept many families in poverty. In response to increasing urban poverty, charitable and religious organizations established settlement houses, based on an English model, to redress the social situation. By 1890 there were more than 400 settlements in the United States. Forty percent of them were located in Boston, Chicago, and New York—the leading industrial centers— but most small cities had at least one.12 The settlement house movement’s primary goal was to assimilate immigrants into American culture and ease their transition into the labor force by urging them to adopt middleclass American values.13 The prevailing culture of the time saw ethnic and racial minorities as fundamentally different from the middle-class native-born population. Immigrants’ failure to acculturate was seen as partially responsible for their poverty and lack of social mobility. The settlement movement was unique in that many of the most important leadership roles were filled by women, at a time when women were largely excluded from leadership roles in business and government. Middle class reformers, often women, lived in settlement houses and undertook reform work in surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the services they provided were directed toward immigrant women and children. Their initial offerings included childcare services for working mothers, cooking classes, English-language classes, and healthcare services. Women were viewed as the linchpins to changing culture, especially in their roles as mothers. Jane Addams, c. 1914 Library of Congress Over time, settlement workers expanded their roles from being merely service providers to community advocates. They lobbied local and state governments to provide community services such as public bathhouses, neighborhood parks and playgrounds, branch libraries, better waste collection and disposal, as well as kindergartens and night classes in public schools.14 They went on to form national coalitions that urged the state and federal government to pass reform legislation, such as minimum wage laws, workplace safety standards, and laws regulating child labor. The advocacy was in response to the conditions they encountered in immigrant neighborhoods. Settlement House Movement,” Harvard Unive '6