Arts at Hull House explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Art and Culture as Social Force

  The chapter extensively explores how drama, music, and visual arts at Hull House serve to express immigrant identities, foster community solidarity, and address social and labor issues.

• Immigration and Cultural Assimilation

  Immigrant groups use the Hull House stage to perform plays in their native languages, preserving their heritage while navigating American life, as seen in the Greek productions and Italian play about generational conflict.

• Class and Economic Inequality

  The chapter highlights how industrial labor saps the vitality of young musicians and how labor plays address the struggles of trades-unionists and the moral dimensions of class conflict.

Characters to notice

• Jane Addams

  Narrator and founder of Hull House, reflecting on the artistic programs and their impact on the community.

• Miss Eleanor Smith

  Head of the Hull House Music School, who set labor songs to music and directed musical instruction.

• Count Tolstoy

  Depicted in a mural as a hero of the common lot, plowing his field.

• Abraham Lincoln

  Depicted in a mural as a young man pushing a flatboat, receiving his first impression of the 'great iniquity.'

• John Ruskin

  Mentioned as the Irish poet Yeats who inspired the stage to free itself from expensive scene setting.

Key passages

• “I am glad we had so many performances, for I think I can remember them to the end. It is getting hard for me to listen to reading, but the different voices and all made this very plain.”

  An elderly audience member expresses gratitude for the performances, noting that the variety of voices made the experience memorable despite difficulty hearing readings.

  Illustrates the power of drama to communicate beyond textual limitations.

• “The immigrants in the neighborhood of Hull House have utilized our little stage in an endeavor to reproduce the past of their own nations through those immortal dramas which have escaped from the restraining bond of one country into the land of the universal.”

  Immigrant groups use the Hull House stage to perform classic plays from their homelands, turning local heritage into universal art.

  Highlights the role of theater in cultural preservation and universal connection.

• “It was a genuine triumph to the actors who felt that they were 'showing forth the glory of Greece' to 'ignorant Americans.'”

  The Greek actors felt proud to demonstrate the greatness of Greek culture to Americans who they believed were unaware of it.

  Reflects the mutual education between immigrants and native-born Americans.

• “The little drama presented the untutored effort of a trades-union man to secure for his side the beauty of self-sacrifice, the glamour of martyrdom, which so often seems to belong solely to the nonunion forces.”

  A play depicted a union worker's attempt to claim the moral high ground of sacrifice, usually associated with employers.

  Shows how drama explores the moral dimensions of labor conflicts.

• “The roaring of the wheels has filled my ears, The clashing and the clamor shut me in, Myself, my soul, in chaos disappears, I cannot think or feel amid the din.”

  A worker laments how the noise and chaos of machinery overwhelm his senses and identity.

  Captures the dehumanizing effect of industrial labor, as expressed in a Yiddish poem set to music.

• “In the deep tones of the memorial organ erected at Hull House, we realize that music is perhaps the most potent agent for making the universal appeal and inducing men to forget their differences.”

  The organ's music at Hull House demonstrates that music can unite people across divides.

  Emphasizes music's role in fostering community and transcending conflict.