author
Mother Jones
1837–1930
A fiery labor organizer who became one of the most famous voices for working people, she spent decades rallying miners, mill workers, and children trapped in brutal labor. Her life was marked by personal loss, but also by extraordinary energy, courage, and a gift for stirring crowds to action.
1 Audiobook
Autobiography of Mother Jones
by Mother Jones
About the author
Born Mary Harris in Cork, Ireland, in 1837, she moved with her family to North America and worked as a teacher and dressmaker before becoming known to history as Mother Jones. After losing her husband and four children in a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis and later seeing her Chicago dressmaking business destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871, she turned toward activism and the labor movement.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mother Jones had become a legendary organizer, especially among coal miners and industrial workers. She worked with groups including the Knights of Labor and later became closely associated with the United Mine Workers. Known for her fierce speeches and tireless travel, she spoke up for safer working conditions, union rights, and an end to child labor.
She was often called "the most dangerous woman in America" by her opponents, which only added to her reputation as a fearless agitator. Even into old age, she remained a powerful public figure, remembered less for comfort or compromise than for her determination to stand with workers in some of the hardest fights of the industrial age.