Jane Adams was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and perhaps, the most famous social worker from the United States. As a young woman, Jane desperately wanted to make a difference in the world. She found her opportunity when she visited Toynbee Hall, the settlement house in London. It inspired her to start Hull House. Hull House’s purpose was two-fold. Its primary purpose was to serve the poor inner city residents. Its other purpose was to give an outlet for educated, well to do women to prove they useful to society. Hull House worked for social change, addressing such issues as child labour, public health reform, garbage collection, labour laws and race relations.
Jane believed women had a social responsibility to work for peace because, working men would never be against war. She took on a leadership role in the Woman’s Peace Party. Jane had a heart attack in 1926. She never fully regained her health. As a matter of fact, she was being admitted to a Baltimore hospital on the very day on December 10, 1931, that the Nobel Peace Prize was being awarded to her in Oslo. True to her cause, Jane gave all her prize money away.