Mother Jones

Mother Jones (1860 - 1918)

The labor upheaval and the fight for unions in the early part of the 20^th century produced many towering figures, both men and women, who advocated both peaceful and violent methods of achieving workers rights. One of the most passionate and powerful spokespersons for justice and equality was a cherubic faced tiny little old lady in Victorian dresses and large frilly hats who was called the most dangerous woman in America.

Mary Harris was born in County Cork, Ireland and baptized in 1837. Due to the Great Famine, Mary’s family emigrated first to Canada and then to Michigan where Mary was educated and hoped to be a teacher. In 1861 she married George Jones who was active in the fledgling iron workers union and her life was upended when she lost her husband and four children in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1867.

Moving to Chicago in time for the Great Fire of 1871, Mary saw the plight of the working class and while the city rebuilt Mary started organizing strikes and protests.  She became involved heavily with the United Mine Workers and later with the Socialist Party of America, strongly advocating and fair pay and better conditions while always advocating for peaceful protests and civil disobedience. This belief, rooted in her Catholic faith and the Gospel of Christ (she was greatly influenced by her brother who was a Canadian priest) and later adopted by Gandhi.

By the age of 60, she was known as Mother Jones and was no stranger to jail for her protests and pro-labor activities. She was known to have a very warm and loving disposition, speaking with a gentle Irish brogue and referring to the mine workers and strikers as her “boys”. She died in 1932 and is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery in Illinois next to those boys.