Mary Harris "Mother" Jones

Bread and Roses 1912-2012

Yesterday at 10:45 AM · 

In 1902, she was called "the most dangerous woman in America." On July 7, 1903, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones began the “Children’s Crusade.” Accompanied by childmine and mill workers, she walked from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to President Theodore Roosevelt’s home in New York state to protest the plight of child laborers. Children carried signs that read, "We Want to Go to School and Not to the Mines."

Born Mary Harris in Cork County, Ireland, the woman who would become Mother Jones came to North America with her family as a child to escape the Irish famine. She spent her early years in Canada and trained to be a dressmaker and

teacher. After her husband and four children died of yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in an 1871 fire, she became an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union. From 1897, at around 60 years of age, she was known as Mother Jones. In 1902 she was called
"the most dangerous woman in America" for her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners.

Typically clad in a black dress, her face framed by a lace collar and black hat, the barely five-foot-tall Mother Jones was a fearless fighter for workers’ rights—once labeled "the most dangerous woman in America" by a U.S. district attorney. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones rose to prominence as a fiery orator and fearless organizer for the Mine Workers during the first two decades of the 20th century. Her voice had great carrying power. Her energy and passion inspired men half her age into action and brought their wives and daughters into the struggle. If that didn’t work, she would embarrass men to action. "I have been in jail more than once and I expect to go again. If you are too cowardly to fight, I will fight," she told them.

Mother Jones' organizing methods were unique for her time. She welcomed African American workers and involved women and children in strikes. She organized miners’ wives into teams armed with mops and brooms to guard the mines against scabs. She staged parades with children carrying signs that read, "We Want to Go to School and Not to the Mines."