Mary Harris Jones
(1837-1930)

Died aged c. 93

Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She helped coordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. After Jones's husband and four children all died of yellow fever in 1867 and her dress shop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, she became an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union. 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. In 1903, to protest the lax enforcement of the child labor laws in the Pennsylvania mines and silk mills, she organized a children's march from Philadelphia to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt in New York.

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Commemorated on 4 plaques

Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones. Labor leader, workers' advocate. Arrested and jailed in Homestead for speaking to striking steelworkers, 1919. When a judge asked who gave her a permit to speak publicly, she replied, "Patrick Henry. Thomas Jefferson. John Adams!"

NE corner of 9th and Amity Sts., (at former municipal bldg.), Homestead, PA, United States where they was arrested (1919)

Mother Jones (1830-1930). Mary Harris Jones began the March of the Factory Children here, July 1903, to dramatize the need for child labor legislation. Born in Ireland, Jones was an organizer and inspiring presence in the U.S. coal, steel, and textile labor movements.

N Broad St. & JFK Blvd., N side of City Hall, Philadelphia, PA, United States where they was (1903)

Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones. Labor leader, worker advocate. In October 1900 she led a march of 2,000 women from McAdoo to Coaldale to aid a six - week strike called in September by the United Mine Workers of America for higher wages, recognition, and a grievance process. Many mineworkers stopped work and joined the union. Concessions by anthracite coal operators and unmet union demands resulted in the anthracite coal strike of 1902.

Rte. 209 & 1st Street, Coaldale, PA, United States where they was (1900)

Mary Harris 1837 – 1930 known as Mother Jones, campaigner for workers rights, opponent of child labour, champion of American mineworkers, was born on the northside of Cork and baptised at the nearby North Cathedral on 1st August 1837 "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living"

John Redmond Street, Cork, Ireland where they was baptised (1837)