©2007 NWSA Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2 (Summer) Two Leaders, Two Utopias: Jane Addams and Dorothy Day MAURICE HAMINGTON It makes sense that many women have sought out utopias. Oppressive and restrictive social systems drive those excluded to claim “there must be something better than this.” While many women have engaged in utopian lights of fancy, fewer have had the opportunity to bring their vision into being. Jane Addams and Dorothy Day are two women who imagined the possibility of a different world and each initiated inluential movements to make their dreams a reality. Both created communities devoted to social service, worked among the oppressed, had radical ideas about social morality, and both were staunch paciists. These two pio- neering women also represent a stark contrast in utopian thinking. One was a pragmatist feminist who fought for women’s suffrage becoming a political force to be reckoned with. The other was a Catholic anarchist who eschewed the right to vote and refused to participate in politics. This article seeks to bring attention to the intriguing continuities and discon- tinuities of the activist philosophies of Jane Addams and Dorothy Day. While both utopian visions have their appeal, I suggest that ultimately Day’s approach is one of charity and Addams’s is one of education, and that the latter holds the most promise for feminist activist theorizing. Keywords: Jane Addams / Dorothy Day / social movements / utopian thinking / pragmatism / anarchism / activism A Fictional Meeting 1 Mutual friends arrange for two women to meet for a cup of coffee in New York during the spring of 1934. One woman is Jane Addams (1860–1935), the cofounder of the social settlement, Hull-House. She was a popular speaker, a sought-after author, and a political force even before U.S. women acquired the vote in 1920. At age 74, Addams’s health is pre- carious. A few years earlier, illness caused her to miss the ceremony that bestowed her with the Nobel Peace Prize, but this is one of Addams’s better days. The other woman is Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement who would become an inluential radical activist and the iconic symbol of American Catholic paciism. Thirty-seven years old at the time, Day is seated at a small round table in a corner café. Sipping from a mug, glasses dangling from a chain around her neck, Day’s face is gaunt and her simple solid dress hangs over her body, which is thinned