Back Where It All Began for WILPF – The Chicago Branch ReLaunch
Published on November, 51 2023
“Children in Hull House front yard” Hull House photographic digital image collection, Special collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago. Rima Lunin Schultz, PhD – Life-long Addams Scholar and expert on how immigration shaped Jane Addams’ peace-making skills.
The Chicago Restart Team
November 2023
On Saturday, November 4th, the Chicago Restart Team (of the Membership Committee) sponsored a soft launch virtual event with co-sponsorship from the Chicago chapter of the American Association of University Women and promotional support from the League of Women Voters and other ally groups in and around the city. You can listen to the recording at the WILPF Youtube channel.
The event, called “What Chicago taught Jane Addams about making peace: Lessons learned during America’s long troubled immigration crisis”, looked at the less publicized work of Jane Addams among immigrants of her time. The history is very informative for the current immigration crisis, as well as for Addams fans, as there were new glimpses into the persona of the WILPF founder and shero. This recording isn’t just for Chicagoans! Everyone interested in history, Jane Addams, Hull House and conflict resolution will find something useful and informative.
The event was facilitated by Chicago’s WTTW news reporter Erica Gunderson. A special introduction from the DuPage County NAACP President Michael Childress preceded a special award that Section President Darien DeLu conferred on Jane Addams historian, scholar and presenter Rima Lunin Schultz, PhD, from Boston University.
Schultz is a passionate and animated presenter whose scholarly credentials make her a national treasure and a gift to WILPF members interested in history. Her research on Addams leans heavily on the immigration crisis surrounding those early years of Hull House, and the way Addams was able to navigate the troubled times and long term historical conflicts the immigrants brought with them. Schultz was former assistant director of the Hull House Museum, served on the Hull House Museum Advisory Board, and was a scholar-in-residence at the Newberry Library in Chicago. She has written and edited many books, articles and papers about Jane Addams, feminism and the Settlement House movement as practiced at Hull House.
Copy the link to the recording to email to friends who are interested in Addams, Hull House history, immigration history, sociology and ties to origins of WILPF in Chicago. By doing so you might help us find some new branch members for our relaunched Chicago branch!
Thanks to Chicago Restart Team members Gloria McMillan, Phillip Cole, Kate Skegg, Marybeth Gardam, and Shilpa Pandey for organizing this first of several virtual Chicago events, building up to an in-person event.
Photo courtesy of Hull House Museum archives. Graphic free from Pixabay.
