Mother Jones

Mother Jones was an exceptional woman who tirelessly fought for worker's rights till the end of her life. Labelled as the "Most Dangerous Woman" in America, she organised many successful strikes and championed for better enforcement of the child labor laws. In 1903, she also organized a children's march from Philadelphia to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt in New York. Excerpt: I was born in the city of Cork, Ireland, in 1830. My people were poor. For generations they had fought for Ireland's freedom. Many of my folks have died in that struggle. My father, Richard Harris, came to America in 1835, and as soon as he had become an American citizen he sent for his family. His work as a laborer with railway construction crews took him to Toronto, Canada. Here I was brought up but always as the child of an American citizen. Of that citizenship I have ever been proud. After finishing the common schools, I attended the Normal school with the intention of becoming a teacher. Dress-making too, I learned proficiently. My first position was teaching in a convent in Monroe, Michigan. Later, I came to Chicago and opened a dress-making establishment. I preferred sewing to bossing little children. However, I went back to teaching again, this time in Memphis, Tennessee. Here I was married in 1861. My husband was an iron moulder and a member of the Iron Moulders' Union...