Mary Harris Jones

"Mother" Jones

Mary Harris Jones (August 1 , 1837 – November 30, 1930),was a prominent American labor and community organizer. Mother Jones was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). She strongly identified with working people who had no protection against low wages, long hours, and dangerous working conditions. Owners often used blacklists and violence to intimidate workers and prevent unionism. "Mother" Jones, as she came to be called, was neither frightened nor discouraged. She fearlessly began to organize both men and women to fight for their rights.

Biography

Born Mary Harris near the city of Cork, Ireland, she moved with her family to Toronto, Canada when she was still young, shortly after her grandfather was hanged by the British for participation in the Irish Republican Movement. Upon completing school she worked alternately as a teacher and seamstress in the United States. She was introduced to unions through her husband George Jones, then a prominent member of the Iron Molders' Union, and to whom she married in 1861.

Formative years

Two major turning points in her career were, first, the deaths of her husband and four children during a yellow fever epidemic in Tennessee in 1867. Secondly, the loss of her property in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Forced to support herself, she became involved in the labor movement and joined the Knights of Labor, a predecessor to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), which she helped found in 1905. The IWW's nearly social darwinistic stand-up-for-yourself philosophy mirrored that of Mother Jones' anti-capitalist individualism. Active as an organizer and educator in strikes throughout the country at the time, she was particularly involved with the United Mine Workers (UMW) and the Socialist Party of America. As a union organizer, she gained prominence for organizing the wives and children of striking workers in demonstrations on their behalf. In 1903 she organized children working in mills and mines in the "Children's Crusade", a march from Kensington, Pennsylvania to Oyster Bay, New York, the home of President Theodore Roosevelt with banners demanding "We want time to play!" and "We want to go to school!" Though the President refused to meet with the marchers, the incident brought the issue of child labor to the forefront of the public agenda. She became known as "the most dangerous woman in America," a phrase coined by a West Virginia District Attorney named Reese Blizzard in 1902, when she was arrested for ignoring an injunction banning meetings by striking miners. "There sits the most dangerous woman in America," announced Blizzard. "She crooks her finger—twenty thousand contented men lay down their tools and walk out."

Later Years

In 1913, during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia, Mother Jones was charged and kept under house arrest in the nearby town of Pratt and subsequently convicted with other union organizers of conspiring to commit murder, after organizing another children's march. Her arrest raised an uproar and she was soon released from prison, after which the United States Senate ordered an investigation into the conditions in the local coal mines.

A few months later she was in Colorado, helping to organize the coal miners there. Once again she was arrested, served some time in prison, and was escorted from the State in the months leading up to the Ludlow Massacre. After the massacre, which she used as an anti-Rockefeller vendetta, she was invited to Standard Oil's headquarters at 26 Broadway to meet face-to-face with John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a meeting that prompted Rockefeller to visit the Colorado mines and introduce long-awaited reforms.

By 1924, Mother Jones was in court again, this time facing varying charges of libel, slander, and sedition. In 1925, Charles A. Albert, publisher of the fledgling Chicago Times, won a stunning $350,000 judgment against the failing matriarch.

In early 1925, the indomitable Jones fought off a pair of thugs who had broken into a friend's house where she was staying. After a brief struggle one intruder fled while the other was seriously injured. The wounded attacker, 54-year old Keith Gagne, later died from the wounds inflicted on him by the elderly Jones—wounds including blunt head trauma from Jones' trademark black leather boots. Police immediately arrested Jones, but she was soon released when the attackers were identified as associates of a prominent local business person.

Mother Jones remained a union organizer for the UMW affairs into the 1920s, and continued to speak on union affairs almost until her death. She released her own account of her experiences in the labor movement as The Autobiography of Mother Jones (1925). She died at the age of 93 in 1930.

At present, many people know of her largely because of the American magazine Mother Jones, which advocates many of the social views that Mother Jones herself espoused. Jones is known as the "Grandmother of All Agitators". She is also believed to be the inspiration for the popular folk song She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones Elementary School in Adelphi, Maryland is named for her.

Students at Wheeling Jesuit University have the option to apply for residence in the Mother Jones House, which is an off-campus service house. Resident students are required to perform at least 10 hours of community service each week, plus participate in community dinners and other functions.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• The Autobiography of Mother Jones, 1925, New York, Arno, 1969 ISBN 0-486-43645-4
• Gorn, Elliott J. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, 2001, ISBN 0-8090-7094-4
• Bethell, Jean: Three cheers for Mother Jones! Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980 ISBN 0030548314
• Truman, Margaret: Women of courage New York : Morrow, 1976 ISBN 0688030386
• Hoople, Cheryl G: As I saw it : women who lived the American adventure New York : Dial Press, 1978 ISBN 0803703392
• Rolka, Gail Meyer: 100 women who shaped world history San Francisco, CA : Bluewood Books, 1994 ISBN 0912517069

External links

• Mother Jones: biography by Sarah K. Horsley
• Industrial Workers of the World
• Free eBook of The Autobiography of Mother Jones
• Mother Jones at Find-A-Grave

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