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A Space for Dissent:
Lessons from the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
On Tuesday, October 9, 2007 Lisa Yun Lee, director of the Jane Addams Hull-House
Museum at the University of Illinois at Chicago presented Lessons from One Year
at Hull-House and the Legacy of Jane Addams at UIC: Engaging Publics, Counterpublics
and Communities. The museum seeks to serve the legacy of Hull-House and the work of
Jane Addams through engaged academic partnerships in areas such as peace and justice,
labor, immigration, youth, arts, and democracy. Lee spoke of how the museum strives
to reconnect with local, national, and international groups to bring this type of work
into the museum today.
Lee talked about the importance of keeping the legacy of Jane Addams alive, not through
a static memorial, but through active engagement with community —- to create an experience
where future generations can relate and be inspired and educated as a way to encourage future
social activism. She also spoke about the history of Hull-House as a place where
controversial issues were welcomed and addressed. One of the museum’s current objectives
is to create and maintain a space where active dissent can take place. Lee sees Hull-House
functioning as a space for counterpublics. Instead of just representing or reflecting the
history of Hull-House or the story of Jane Addams, the Hull-House Museum can also produce
and provide a space for new experiences.
Lee recited the following quote by Jane Addams, which serves as a source of inspiration for
her and for the Hull-House Museum in its goal to keep Addams’ story, work, and philosophy alive
and active into the future:
"The only thing to be dreaded in the Settlement is that it could lose its flexibility,
its power of quick adaptation, its readiness to change its methods as its environment may
demand. It must be open to conviction and must have a deep and abiding sense of tolerance...
It must be grounded in a philosophy whose foundation is on the solidarity of the human race."
This lecture was part of the GCI Seminar Series, which invite experts, practitioners, and
academics to speak on current issues and innovative research.
Download a podcast of Lisa Yun Lee's entire presentation.
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