For Mother's Day, 2005, the platform address at the Northern Virginia Ethical Society looked at Jane Addams and social reform. I especially enjoyed that timing because my mother had been a #1 fan of Jane Addams, and had modeled her own professional life after what she got from the experience of Jane Addams. Addams also had a connection to the Ethical movement, which I bring out in the address.

In 2000, Jean Kotkin, a Leader at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, delivered the following Platform Address on the topic of women in Ethical Culture. Before her death, she gave permission -- more than permission, encouragement -- to post the essay online. We are now including it in this collection of documents on Ethical Culture roots, where it sheds light on a less-known part of Ethical Culture history.