On in particular I would like to give particular attention to and that is Mary Harris Jones aka Mother Jones.
(americanswhotellthetruth.org)
Portrait by Robert Shetterly as part of his Americans Who Tell The Truth Series
Mother Jones was known for her famous words "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living!"
She was an agitator who exposed the cruel truths of child labor, unstable working conditions and poverty of working families.
Perhaps she appears as a typical granny looking woman but make no mistake she was a fighter. Or as she would put it, "Get it straight, I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hell raiser."
Mother Jones is most associated as a agitator for the mine workers and the mine wars they faced. Decent pay, decent hours, and decent conditions were usually what she fought for.
Mother Jones was an Irish immigrant who had faced many obstacles of her own. She had survived famine, plague and hard labor in her own time.
(http://motherjonesmuseum.org)
When she began standing up for the miners she was thought of as "the miner's friend" or "the miner's angel" and was then bestowed with the name Mother Jones.
Mother Jones appeared almost fearless. She existed in a time were women were expected to live quite, domesticated lives at home. Mother Jones defied convention and made herself known physically and vocally.
In 1905 she helped found the International Workers of the World (IWW) aka "Wobblies".
One of those union members was none other than U. Utah Phillips. He is also featured in Robert Shetterly's Americans Who Tell The Truth series. I was quite surprised to find him there as Utah was a man who didn't receive hardly enough attention.
Below is a sample of what Utah does best and this piece is about none other than Mother Jones.
Utah passed away in May of 2008 due to heart failure. He was a storyteller, folksinger, ex-hobo, activist, anarchist, pacifist and feminist. I'm sure there are many adjectives that can be used to describe Utah. He collected stories and I admire him so greatly for that.
In 1999 he collaborated with my favorite musical artist Ani Difranco to make the album Fellow Workers. Here is his piece for Mother Jones.
"The Most Dangerous Woman" - Story by Utah Phillips and music and background vocals by Ani Difranco from their collaborative album Fellow Workers
Here is an excerpt from a speech Mother Jones gave in Charleston West Virginia on August 15th, 1912.
Now, brothers, not in all the history of the labor movement have I got such an inspiration as I have got from you here to-day. Your banners are history; they will go down to the future ages, to the children unborn, to tell them the slave has risen, children must be free.
The labor movement was not originated by man. The labor movement, my friends, was a command from God Almighty. He commanded the prophets thousands of years ago to go down and redeem the Israelites that were in bondage, and he organized the men into a union and went to work. And they said, "The masters have made us gather straw; they have been more cruel than they were before. What are we going to do?" The prophet said, "A voice from heaven has come down to get you together." They got together and the prophet led them out of the land of bondage and robbery and plunder into the land of freedom. And when the army of the pirates followed them the Dead Sea opened and swallowed them up, and for the first time the workers were free.
And so it is. That can well be applied to the State of West Virginia...
I hope, my friends, that you and the mine owners will put aside the breach and get together before I leave the State. But I want to say, make no settlement until they sign up that every bloody murderer of a guard has got to go. This is done, my friends, beneath the flag our fathers fought and bled for, and we don't intend to surrender our liberty.
I have a document issued 18 years ago telling how they must handle the labor movement — pat them on the back; make them believe that they were your devoted friends. I hold that document, taken from their statement in Washington. It plainly states, "We have got to crucify them, but we have got to do it cunningly." And they have been doing it cunningly...
Oh you men of wealth! Oh you preachers! You are going over to China and sending money over there for Jesus. For God's sake, keep it at home; we need it. Let me tell you, them fellows are owned body and soul by the ruling class, and they would rather take a year in hell with Elkins than ninety-nine in heaven. Do you find a minister preaching against the guards? He will preach about Jesus, but not about the guards.
When we were crossing the bridge at [the] Washington [coal mines] the bloodhounds were at the company store. The bloodhounds might have thrown me into the river and I wouldn't have known it. The [miners] were hollering "Police! Police!" I said, "What is the matter with you?" They said, "Oh God! Murder! Murder!" Another [miner] came out, and his feet never touched the sidewalk.
My boys came running to me and said, "Oh, Mother, they are killing the boys..." I said, "Call them boys here." Then [the guards left]; they thought I had an army with me. Then I picked up a boy streaming with blood where the hounds had beat him.
You are to blame. You have voted for the whole gang of commercial pirates every time you get a chance to free yourselves. It is time to clean them up...
If your sheriff had done his duty as a citizen of this State and according to his oath, he would have disarmed the guards and then there would have been no more trouble. Just make me governor for one month. I won't ask for a sheriff or policeman, and I will do business, and there won't be a guard [remaining] in the State of West Virginia. The mine owners won't take 69,000 pounds of coal in dockage off of you fellows. Sixty-nine thousand pounds of coal they docket you for, and a few pounds of slate, and then they give to Jesus on Sunday.
They give your missionary women a couple of hundred dollars and rob you under pretense of giving to Jesus. Jesus never sees a penny of it, and never heard of it. They use it for the women to get a jag on and then go and hollow for Jesus. I wish I was God Almighty! I would throw down some night from heaven and get rid of the whole blood-sucking bunch!
I want to show you here that the average wages you fellows get in this country is $500 a year. Before you get a thing to eat there is $20 taken out a month, which leaves about $24 a month. Then you go to the "pluck-me" stores and want to get something to eat for your wife, and you are off that day, and the child comes back and says, "Papa, I can't get anything."
Mother Jones impresses me for so many reasons. She fought for human rights and she did it at a time when women were expected to shut up. She pushed herself and her fellow workers towards greater ideals. She encouraged, she loved and she rose hell.
It was in her 80s that her actions earned her the title of "the most dangerous woman in america". I hope she was flattered by that title. We often associate the word danger with the negative. Well, here is a prime example of how "dangerous" can be a beautiful compliment.
Mother Jones lived for 100 years. She was born in 1830 and died in 1930. Oh, America we certainly need more of her kind.
“Goodbye, boys; I’m under arrest. I may have to go to jail. I may not see you for a long time. Keep up the fight! Don’t surrender! Pay no attention to the injunction machine at Parkersburg. The Federal judge is a scab anyhow. While you starve he plays golf. While you serve humanity, he serves injunctions for the money powers.”
----------------------Mother Jones
For more information on Mother Jones go to http://motherjonesmuseum.org
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