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| Immigrants and Social Activities at Hull-House, 1890s-1930s by Margaret Strobel, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum word document here. Grade - High school or college Objective - Through studying primary text documents and photographs, students will: • become familiar with several ethnic groups in the Hull-House neighborhood from the 1890s to the 1930s (Jews, Italians, Greeks); • understand, by identifying differences or conflicts within ethnic groups, that these ethnic groups were not internally homogenous; • identify and critique the approach of the Hull-House social settlement to ethnic groups and their cultural practices; • explore the variety of ways in which immigrant neighbors related to Hull-House and to one another; • reflect upon the relevance of the historical information to present day issues related to immigrants, their cultural practices, and U.S. society. Materials • Background information for teacher • Reading materials and discussion questions for each group Instructions • Divide students into 4 groups: A) documents about Jews, B) documents about Christmas, C) documents about Greeks, and D) documents about Italians. • Have the students in each group read the appropriate material for their group. • Give the students 20 minutes to discuss their documents in their small groups, reflecting on the discussion questions related to their readings. • Bring together groups A) documents about Jews and B) documents about Christmas. Similarly, combine group C) documents about Greeks with D) documents about Italians. For another 20 minutes, each of the combined groups should discuss the second set of questions. • Finally, for about 20 minutes have the groups A/B and C/D report back to the whole class. Assessment The teacher will evaluate the quality of the students' reading of the primary documents and their discussion. • Can students provide accurate information about Jews, Greeks, and Italians in the Hull-house neighborhood during the period covered in their documents? • Can students identify differences or conflicts within these ethnic groups? • Can students identify and critique the approach of Hull-House residents to these ethnic groups and their cultural practices? • Can students give examples of how Jewish, Greek, and Italian neighbors did or did not take advantage of Hull-House activities and how they interacted with one another? • Do students see any connections or parallels between the present and the past? Background Information Hull-House was situated in a very diverse neighborhood. The social survey Hull-House Maps and Papers (1895) identified nearly two dozen different ethnic, racial, or linguistic groups near Hull-House. Hull-House residents paid room and board to volunteer in innovative social programs created at Hull-House. They tried to affirm their neighbors' ethnic heritages while encouraging immigrants to become citizens and to interact with one another across social boundaries. For more information on the following topics, consult Urban Experience in Chicago, Hull-House and Its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963 , an educational website of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum that has over 1,000 primary documents, several hundred photographs, and several dozen maps. http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/urbanexp/ Enter the website, click on “search”, and type “residency” or “Hull-House Maps and Papers”. You may also use the “search” function for information about various ethnic groups. To view whole sections of the website, enter the website, click on “historical narrative”, and scroll to “Christian celebrations at Hull-House” or “Immigration and migration: Ideas or race, citizenship, and community.” Regarding the difference in the relationship Hull-House residents had with Greeks and with Italians, consider the following information:
Jews Documents “Eldorado Social Club,” Hull-House Year Book (1913), p. 28. “Hawthorne Club,” “Foreign Plays,” Hull-House Year Book (1916), p. 48. Discussion questions for small group 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House viewed Jews? 2. What do they tell us about how immigrants viewed Hull-House and their neighbors outside their own ethnic group? 3. The past is both different from and similar to the present. In what ways are the views reflected in these documents different from the views about immigrants and their communities found among the general public today? Discussion questions for the merged group of people who read documents about Jews and about Christmas 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House and its neighbors viewed the Hull-House Christmas activities? What were the views of Jews in the neighborhood about Christmas activities at Hull-House? (Feel free to speculate or extrapolate from these documents.) 2. How might this discussion of Hull-House Christmas inform our understanding of present day debates about religious expression in public places? (Hull-House was a private organization but a public, secular space.)
Christmas at Hull-House Documents “Christmas Celebrations,” Hull-House Bulletin (December 1896), p. 6. “Christmas Entertainment,” Hull-House Year Book (1906), p. 34. Amalie Hannig, “Christmas at Hull-House,” The Ladies Home Journal 28, no. 17 (December 1911): 31. Photograph: Christmas tableau, 1930, JAMC 929 Mary, Jesus, three wise men, shepherds. Oral interview: OH-075, Elizabeth Elson Cohen interviewed by Stuart Hecht, November 7, 1980. Oral interview: OH-071, Dorothy Mittelman Sigel interviewed by StuartHecht, July 12, 1981. Discussion questions for small group 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House viewed Christmas? 2. What do they tell us about how immigrants viewed Hull-House Christmas activities? 3. The past is both different from and similar to the present. In what ways are the views reflected in these documents different from the views about religious celebrations found among the general public today? Discussion question for the merged group of people who read documents about Jews and about Christmas 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House and its neighbors viewed the Hull-House Christmas activities? What were the views of Jews in the neighborhood about Christmas activities at Hull-House? (Feel free to speculate or extrapolate from these documents.) 2. How might this discussion of Hull-House Christmas inform our understanding of present day debates about religious expression in public places? (Hull-House was a private organization but a public, secular space.)
Documents “Greek Plays,” Hull-House Year Book (1906), p. 36. Elizabeth C. Barrows, “The Greek Play at Hull House,” Commons 9 (January 1904):6-10. Grace Abbott, “A Study of the Greeks in Chicago,” American Journal of Sociology 15 (1909): 379-93. “Greek-American Athletic Club,” Hull-House Year Book (1913), p. 23. “Greek Social Club,” Hull-House Year Book (1916), p. 14. Photograph: Greek Easter Procession [Good Friday, ca. 1930]. Discussion questions for small group 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House viewed Greeks? 2. What do they tell us about how immigrants, especially Greeks, viewed Hull-House and their neighbors outside their own ethnic group? 3. The past is both different from and similar to the present. In what ways are the views reflected in these documents different from the views about immigrants and their communities found among the general public today? Discussion question for the merged group of people who read documents about Greeks and about Italians 1. In what ways was the relationship of Hull-House to Greeks and the Greek community similar to and different from its relationship to Italians and the Italian community? Speculate as to why. Italians Documents “Is Hull-House ALL?” The New World (October 24, 1903):17. “Italian Plays” and “Hull-House Five Cent Theatre,” Hull-House Year Book (1906), p. 37, 39. Discussion questions for small group 1. What do these documents tell us about how Hull-House viewed Italians? 2. What do they tell us about how immigrants, especially Italians, viewed Hull-House and their neighbors outside their own ethnic group?3. The past is both different from and similar to the present. In what ways are the views reflected in these documents different from the views about immigrants and their communities found among the general public today? Discussion question for the merged group of people who read documents about Greeks and about Italians 1. In what ways was the relationship of Hull-House to Greeks and the Greek community similar to and different from its relationship to Italians and the Italian community? Speculate as to why.
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