Q: This woman was known both as “mother” and as “the most dangerous woman in America.” She organized mine workers and their families and organized a children’s march in 1903 to protest weak child labor laws.
A: Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was an Irish immigrant who became prominent in the American labor movement and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. She became involved with the labor movement after a series of tragedies in the late 1860s and early 70s claimed the lives of her husband, four young children and dress-making business. She often led strikes and, as a union organizer, she led the wives and children of striking workers to demonstrate, too.
She got the nickname “Mother Jones” because she claimed to be older than she actually was and referred to male workers as “her boys.”
In 1903, she organized children who were working in mills and mines to participate in a “Children’s Crusade.” The children, some of whom had injuries suffered on the job, marched 125 miles from Kensington, PA to Oyster Bay, NY, the home of President Theodore Roosevelt. Though the president refused to meet with the marchers, the demonstration did bring attention to the issue of child labor.
Later in life, Mother Jones moved to Adelphi, MD, where she continued to speak on union issues almost until her death in 1930.
