Edith Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska on September 26th, 1876 to Elizabeth Griffin and Othman Abbott. Her parents were both active in their communities with her father being a first lieutenant governor of Nebraska as well as a lawyer and banker. Her mother was a republican, Quaker, woman suffrage leader and an abolitionist (cite here). Edith was one of four children in the Abbott family along with her sister Grace Abbott who would later on work side by side with her sister in social services. Edith was a well-rounded child, helping her mother in the woman’s suffrage movement even meeting and helping Susan B. Anthony in the fight for woman’s rights (cite here). During Edith’s childhood Abbott and her sister were able to take a trip to visit the Columbian World’s Fair in Chicago. While in Chicago for the fair they visited the University of …show more content…
As a child Abbott attended a private school named Brownell Hall where she excelled with honors. After graduating from high school as valedictorian and earning a gold medal for her work. Abbott began to teach a high school class in Grand Isle at the age of 16 and continued her studies at the University of Nebraska. After graduating in 1901, Abbott went on to the University of Chicago where she studied and later obtained a doctoral degree in economics in 1905. While in Chicago Abbott had the opportunity to live and work alongside very influential women in the Hull House, including her sister Grace Abbott. Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Star Gates started the Hull House in 1889 and it was there that Abbott helped immigrants and women and children to have a better chance at life in America instead of living