Mother Jones lived one of the most dramatic second acts in American history. Though her early life was shaped by poverty, immigration, and repeated personal tragedies, she reinvented herself in middle age as a warrior for justice.
She was a fearless labor organizer – an electrifying speaker who rallied coal miners, steelworkers, railroad shopmen, and exploited children to stand up for their rights. She once earned the label, “The Most Dangerous Woman in America,” for standing firm against powerful corporate and government pressures. Her work can still be felt in the labor protections, organizing strategies, and economic justice movements around the world.
Mother Jones proved that one single, relentless voice… armed with purpose, strategic fury, and above all stamina – could shake the foundations of society.
Shownotes still under construction, please come back for more information and media recommendations!
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Books!
Web!
Information about the Potato Famine of the 1840s from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum (in Connecticut, USA.) Virtual tours only at this time. And a more nuanced accounting at the Foundation for Economic Education and at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum.
For information on the Battle of Virden, the violent strike that is memorialized where Mother Jones is buried in Virden, Illinios.
There is a video recording done in 1930 of Mother Jones at the Mother Jones Museum.
There will be a statue of Mother Jones in a very prominent position in Chicago, it may even go up this summer but keep an eye at the Mother Jones Museum website. There’s also a lot of information on Mother Jones there, too!
NY Times obituary. Written at the time of her death in 1930, it seems to be sourced from her autobiography, so it lacks fact checking.
Moving Pictures!
There is a documentary, Fight Like Hell: the Testimony of Mother Jones
