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Episode 278: Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

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.

*The start of the March of the Mill Children, 1903* *via LOC*

*Mother Jones speaking to a crowd, 1914 LOC*

*Mother Jones at the White House 1924, via LOC*

Shownotes still under construction, please come back for more information and media recommendations!

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Books!

*There is an autobiography, bring a salt shaker with you if you’re going to read it.*

*Selected writings and speeches edited by Philip Forner*

*Her (very limited) correspondence edited by Edward M Steel*

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 F oundation 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.

AN article (with photos) of her funeral from The State Journal Register.

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

Episode 277: Martha Gellhorn

Martha Gellhorn was one of the most influential war correspondents of the 20th century. Over the course of a 60-year career, she reported from nearly every major global conflict – the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, and more. In her work, she focused a compassionate eye on the lives of ordinary people caught up in turmoil beyond their control, and this made her coverage uniquely powerful. Her personal bravery, determination, and skill as a writer made her a legend.

TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS

Books!

Obviously, you should start with Martha’s own work, there are many collections and editions out there, it’s very easy to find them. We do recommend this one for an easy start:

*By Martha, the one where she refers to her first husband* as UC (Unwilling Companion)*

Then we diverge on your second read: Beckett recommends The Face of War, and Susan liked Troubles I’ve seen– but we agree that you can’t go wrong if you pick up anything she wrote.

*Beckett’s reccomendation for articles from her war correspondence.*

Susan’s recommendation, go back to her first collection from the Great Depression.

Biographies:

*We both liked this one the most, by Caroline Moorehead (Beckett’s copy…well, Beckett’s LIBRARY’S copy.)*

*Written during her lifetime,* *she wasn’t much of a fan. By Carl Rollyson*

*Carl Rollyson’s second book about Martha (we liked it, she never saw it.)*

*By Rituparna Moharana and Gurudev Meher*

Middle Grade to YA:

There are collections of her letters, there are more, but we liked this one:

*And we liked this one, collected by Caroline Moorehead*

*About the Spanish Civil War. Martha shares the cover with her first husband* by Amanda Vaill*

*Martha and her friend Virginia Cowles wrote a play after WWII*

Web!

Martha and her dear friend Eleanor Roosevelt from Hazlit.net

How she became to only female journalist on the beach at Normandy, from Military.com.

Her final war coverage from Panama in 1989 from Granta magazine.

Martha on Palestine in the Atlantic, 1961

Her Blue Plaque at 72 Cadogan Square in London, where we can pay our respects when we go in April.

Moving Pictures!

Interview with Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note series

Feature-length movie from 2012:

With Nicole Kidman as Martha and Clive Owen as her first husband*

* Martha Gellhorn’s first husband, Ernest Hemingway

End music: War by Pastis, via Epidemic Sound

Episode 276: Sarah Rector

*The image used most often of a young Sarah, but is it? Some members of her family don’t believe it is. Maybe Sarah, circa 1912, public domain*

Once upon a time, an eleven-year-old girl named Sarah Rector struck it rich with a discovery that was perfectly timed for the rise of the automobile and the expansion of American manufacturing. After hitting the jackpot, she had to escape the minefields of greed, racism, politics, and public opinion to build a satisfying life for herself at last.

Episode 275: Italy Field Trip Travelogue, 2025

In early October, 55 History Chicks travelers embarked on a joyful, 10-day romp through Italy! We began in Rome, traveled to Florence, and finally on to Venice. Along the way, we had private tours and delicious meals; we tasted cheese and balsamic, saw art and touched ancient history while we learned so much about the places some of our former subjects had lived.

Episode 274: Betsy Ambler, Sarah Botstein, and the American Revolution

One wrote of her experiences during the American Revolutionary era, and the other is helping tell that story as co-director of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution documentary on PBS, starting November 16, 2025.