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Mother Jones: An American Life
Her rallying cry was famous: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." A century ago, Mother Jones was a celebrated organizer and agitator, the very soul of the modern American labor movement. At coal strikes, steel strikes, railroad, textile, and brewery strikes, Mother Jones was always there, stirring the workers to action and enraging the powerful. In this first biography of "the most dangerous woman in America," Elliott J. Gorn proves why, in the words of Eugene V. Debs, Mother Jones "has won her way into the hearts of the nation's toilers, and . . . will be lovingly remembered by their children and their children's children forever."
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2001
37 people are currently reading
908 people want to read
About the author
Elliott J. Gorn
19 books6 followersElliott J. Gorn (Ph.D. Yale University, 1983, A.B. University of California, Berkeley, 1973) is the Joseph Gagliano Professor of American Urban History and has a distinguished record of scholarship, publication and excellence in teaching and student mentorship. His books and articles embrace multiple aspects of urban and American culture, particularly the history of various social groups in American cities since 1800. Gorn’s work is interdisciplinary and intersects with numerous other fields.
His four major books examine various aspects of urban life and city cultures in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States, including Dillinger’s Wild Ride: The Year That Made America’s Public Enemy Number One (Oxford University Press, 2009); Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (Hill and Wang, 2001, Korean edition, 2003); A Brief History of American Sports, co-authored with Warren Goldstein (Hill and Wang, 1993; reissued University of Illinois Press, 2004); and The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America (Cornell University Press, 1986; 2nd edition, 2010, with a new bibliography and afterword).
Gorn has edited eight volumes, including Sports in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 2008); The McGuffey Readers: Selections from the 1878 Edition, with an introduction (Bedford Books, 1998); Muhammad Ali, The Peoples' Champ (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995); and The Encyclopedia of American Social History, 3 volumes, co-edited with Peter Williams and Mary Cayton (Scribners, 1993), which was awarded the Dartmouth Certificate by the American Library Association. He has published and reprinted more than 50 articles, book chapters and reviews in a wide variety of scholarly journals, encyclopedias, edited collections and news magazines, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, the Journal of American Studies, the Journal of Urban History, the Journal of Sport History, American Quarterly, the International Journal of Maritime History, Harper’s Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Mother Jones, Boom: A Journal of California, Le Monde Diplomatique Dissent On-Line, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.
- taken from his staff profile, see "official website"
His four major books examine various aspects of urban life and city cultures in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States, including Dillinger’s Wild Ride: The Year That Made America’s Public Enemy Number One (Oxford University Press, 2009); Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (Hill and Wang, 2001, Korean edition, 2003); A Brief History of American Sports, co-authored with Warren Goldstein (Hill and Wang, 1993; reissued University of Illinois Press, 2004); and The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America (Cornell University Press, 1986; 2nd edition, 2010, with a new bibliography and afterword).
Gorn has edited eight volumes, including Sports in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 2008); The McGuffey Readers: Selections from the 1878 Edition, with an introduction (Bedford Books, 1998); Muhammad Ali, The Peoples' Champ (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995); and The Encyclopedia of American Social History, 3 volumes, co-edited with Peter Williams and Mary Cayton (Scribners, 1993), which was awarded the Dartmouth Certificate by the American Library Association. He has published and reprinted more than 50 articles, book chapters and reviews in a wide variety of scholarly journals, encyclopedias, edited collections and news magazines, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, the Journal of American Studies, the Journal of Urban History, the Journal of Sport History, American Quarterly, the International Journal of Maritime History, Harper’s Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Mother Jones, Boom: A Journal of California, Le Monde Diplomatique Dissent On-Line, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.
- taken from his staff profile, see "official website"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 16, 2019
Such a great title, and such a disappointment! Those who love the speeches and autobio of Mother Jones may go to this meatier, longer biography hoping somehow for something more from her. Her own speeches and actions are her actual legacy, and this armchair critic wants to pick it apart in the bloodless, distant language of a supposedly-impartial scholar. Usually when I say "scholar" it's a compliment, but not this time.
If you must read this book, have the autobiography with you so you can check what he says against what Jones says. He builds straw-man arguments, saying that she has said--or better yet, as-much-as-said, or almost-said, which are about the same as the truth, which is that she DIDN'T say some of the things he then pretends to debunk.
The one area in which I agree with the guy is that Jones reinvented herself after the deaths of her husband and four children, and the loss of everything in the Chicago fire, and that she had a clear sense of theater. But she says all of that in her much briefer autobiography.
Save yourself a nickel or two. Don't pay for this crap. Buy Mother Jones Speaks, or the Autobiography of Mother Jones, which I will review separately. That way you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.
If you must read this book, have the autobiography with you so you can check what he says against what Jones says. He builds straw-man arguments, saying that she has said--or better yet, as-much-as-said, or almost-said, which are about the same as the truth, which is that she DIDN'T say some of the things he then pretends to debunk.
The one area in which I agree with the guy is that Jones reinvented herself after the deaths of her husband and four children, and the loss of everything in the Chicago fire, and that she had a clear sense of theater. But she says all of that in her much briefer autobiography.
Save yourself a nickel or two. Don't pay for this crap. Buy Mother Jones Speaks, or the Autobiography of Mother Jones, which I will review separately. That way you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.
July 17, 2009
“Mother Jones is the most dangerous woman in America.”
- U.S. District Attorney, Reece Blizzard, 1902
When Mother Jones celebrated her (allegedly) 100th birthday on May 1, 1930, our nation rejoiced with her. Hundreds of telegrams arrived from statesmen, celebrities and politicians, including Eugene Debs, Clarence Darrow, Carl Sandburg and her old enemy, John D. Rockafeller. Many of her well-wishers, only a few years before, had endorsed efforts to silence or imprison her; but now, noting that the woman, who had been called “the walking wrath of God,” was in failing health, her enemies relented and became conciliatory. “Mother” greeted Union officials who arrived with a gigantic cake with one hundred candles. Even the New York Times (one of her most persistent critics), now cooed about her long life of valor and dedication. Yes, it appeared that the fierce old lady, who had once defied machine guns (armed only with a hat pin), had finally been “declawed, defanged and domesticated” – by time.
Author, Elliott Gorn presents the life of Mother Jones as two stories since in his view there are two people in this biography: Mary Jones and Mother Jones. Mary is a young woman who fled poverty and oppression in Ireland only to fall victim a cholera epidemic in Memphis (1867) in which she lost her husband and children; then came the Chicago fire (1871) in which she lost all her worldly goods. In the grim days following the fire, Mary has her first encounter with a union called the Knights of Labor and she volunteered to help them.
At this point, Mary was 34 years old, but poverty and hardship had aged her. When her fellow workers began to affectionately refer to her as “Mother,” she gradually realized that the term gave her authority. Bit by bit, she began to acquire qualities that drew others to her: maternal, loyal and dependable. She learned to stand
In saloons with “the boys,” matching them drink for drink.
She spoke their language and since she came from a similar background, she could speak of her experiences with arrogant land owners and greedy factory managers; when she realized that such stories struck a common chord with unemployed workers, she learned to embellish her tales for effect. And when she saw that her grey hairs
gave her power, she added almost a decade to her age.
In time, Mary Jones became Mother Jones, a fearless old lady who possessed both remarkable reserves of energy and a gift for oratory. When desperate workers, literally reduced to starvation, confronted the managers of factories, Mother Jones led the march. When the DuPonts,
the Armours and the Morgans rejected their demands for
8-hour work days and the abolishment of child labor, Mother Jones called them “bloodsuckers” and denounced them from hundreds of platforms. When the managers hired an armed militia that fired on unarmed strikers, Mother Jones rallied the workers and returned to confront management again. Eventually, she became the voice of abused workers everywhere and once led a “children’s march to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt where she camped outside his gates. Roosevelt, like a more recent president, refused to see her or respond to her appeal.
For better than forty years, this incredible woman marched through coalmines, factories and railroad yards, denouncing child labor, company stores, payment by script, and unsafe working conditions in West Virginia coal towns, Colorado mining camps and the railroad slums of Pennsylvania. On these occasions, she lived with the strikers, ate with them and walked with them to their jobs (or strike sites) each day. As time went on, her indifference to personal safety and her willingness to confront armed goons caused her to be labeled “the most dangerous woman in America.” Indeed, at times she seemed half in love with the possibility of martyrdom.
In retrospect Gorn notes that Mother Jones rarely won significant concessions. Time and time again, “her boys” were forced to return to jobs where they endured the same injustices. Gorn’s careful documentation demonstrates that in the early 20th century, the forces of industry had become so powerful, they virtually ran the country. Certainly, they elected presidents, owned the major newspapers, appointed judges and reduced state governors to status of puppets. Yet, there is little doubt that Mother Jones initiated change. Once such issues as child labor and unsafe working conditions were raised, they would not go away.
Gorn concludes that Mary Jones, the seamstress and teacher “invented” Mother Jones, a charismatic figure that spoke for millions. He concludes that she was sometimes fallible and used her position to criticize anything that displeased her, including suffragettes, ministers (“sky pilots”) and the Salvation Army. At times, she gave rants that were filled with egotistical bombast, and she often played fast and loose with “the facts.”
On the advent of her 100th birthday, it is quite likely that Mother Jones was actually a mere 92. Perhaps a woman named Mary Jones was trapped inside “the most dangerous woman in America;” if so, Mary relished every moment of it. In the final analysis, whatever her shortcomings, Mother Jones captured the hearts and improved the lives of millions – workers who called themselves “Mother Jones’ children.”
- U.S. District Attorney, Reece Blizzard, 1902
When Mother Jones celebrated her (allegedly) 100th birthday on May 1, 1930, our nation rejoiced with her. Hundreds of telegrams arrived from statesmen, celebrities and politicians, including Eugene Debs, Clarence Darrow, Carl Sandburg and her old enemy, John D. Rockafeller. Many of her well-wishers, only a few years before, had endorsed efforts to silence or imprison her; but now, noting that the woman, who had been called “the walking wrath of God,” was in failing health, her enemies relented and became conciliatory. “Mother” greeted Union officials who arrived with a gigantic cake with one hundred candles. Even the New York Times (one of her most persistent critics), now cooed about her long life of valor and dedication. Yes, it appeared that the fierce old lady, who had once defied machine guns (armed only with a hat pin), had finally been “declawed, defanged and domesticated” – by time.
Author, Elliott Gorn presents the life of Mother Jones as two stories since in his view there are two people in this biography: Mary Jones and Mother Jones. Mary is a young woman who fled poverty and oppression in Ireland only to fall victim a cholera epidemic in Memphis (1867) in which she lost her husband and children; then came the Chicago fire (1871) in which she lost all her worldly goods. In the grim days following the fire, Mary has her first encounter with a union called the Knights of Labor and she volunteered to help them.
At this point, Mary was 34 years old, but poverty and hardship had aged her. When her fellow workers began to affectionately refer to her as “Mother,” she gradually realized that the term gave her authority. Bit by bit, she began to acquire qualities that drew others to her: maternal, loyal and dependable. She learned to stand
In saloons with “the boys,” matching them drink for drink.
She spoke their language and since she came from a similar background, she could speak of her experiences with arrogant land owners and greedy factory managers; when she realized that such stories struck a common chord with unemployed workers, she learned to embellish her tales for effect. And when she saw that her grey hairs
gave her power, she added almost a decade to her age.
In time, Mary Jones became Mother Jones, a fearless old lady who possessed both remarkable reserves of energy and a gift for oratory. When desperate workers, literally reduced to starvation, confronted the managers of factories, Mother Jones led the march. When the DuPonts,
the Armours and the Morgans rejected their demands for
8-hour work days and the abolishment of child labor, Mother Jones called them “bloodsuckers” and denounced them from hundreds of platforms. When the managers hired an armed militia that fired on unarmed strikers, Mother Jones rallied the workers and returned to confront management again. Eventually, she became the voice of abused workers everywhere and once led a “children’s march to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt where she camped outside his gates. Roosevelt, like a more recent president, refused to see her or respond to her appeal.
For better than forty years, this incredible woman marched through coalmines, factories and railroad yards, denouncing child labor, company stores, payment by script, and unsafe working conditions in West Virginia coal towns, Colorado mining camps and the railroad slums of Pennsylvania. On these occasions, she lived with the strikers, ate with them and walked with them to their jobs (or strike sites) each day. As time went on, her indifference to personal safety and her willingness to confront armed goons caused her to be labeled “the most dangerous woman in America.” Indeed, at times she seemed half in love with the possibility of martyrdom.
In retrospect Gorn notes that Mother Jones rarely won significant concessions. Time and time again, “her boys” were forced to return to jobs where they endured the same injustices. Gorn’s careful documentation demonstrates that in the early 20th century, the forces of industry had become so powerful, they virtually ran the country. Certainly, they elected presidents, owned the major newspapers, appointed judges and reduced state governors to status of puppets. Yet, there is little doubt that Mother Jones initiated change. Once such issues as child labor and unsafe working conditions were raised, they would not go away.
Gorn concludes that Mary Jones, the seamstress and teacher “invented” Mother Jones, a charismatic figure that spoke for millions. He concludes that she was sometimes fallible and used her position to criticize anything that displeased her, including suffragettes, ministers (“sky pilots”) and the Salvation Army. At times, she gave rants that were filled with egotistical bombast, and she often played fast and loose with “the facts.”
On the advent of her 100th birthday, it is quite likely that Mother Jones was actually a mere 92. Perhaps a woman named Mary Jones was trapped inside “the most dangerous woman in America;” if so, Mary relished every moment of it. In the final analysis, whatever her shortcomings, Mother Jones captured the hearts and improved the lives of millions – workers who called themselves “Mother Jones’ children.”
May 13, 2013
I read Elliott Gorn's biography of Mary "Mother Jones" Harris because I grew up hearing my grandfather's stories about coal strikes, labor struggles, and the Ludlow Massacre in southern Colorado. My grandfather was born in Trinidad, Colo., and worked as a coal miner for years.
Mother Jones was a key figure during the Colorado Coalfield War, and it was important for me to read Gorn's book. Boy, am I glad I did. His book transported me back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. I finished it feeling that I had actually lived through that period of our nation's history. I can't imagine the careful research and scholarly work that went into this fine book. I feel this will be the definitive biography about Mother Jones, who, like to many others who have posted here, has always been a hero-like folk figure.
Gorn's book brought Mother Jones vividly to life. It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about her life and times.
Mother Jones was a key figure during the Colorado Coalfield War, and it was important for me to read Gorn's book. Boy, am I glad I did. His book transported me back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. I finished it feeling that I had actually lived through that period of our nation's history. I can't imagine the careful research and scholarly work that went into this fine book. I feel this will be the definitive biography about Mother Jones, who, like to many others who have posted here, has always been a hero-like folk figure.
Gorn's book brought Mother Jones vividly to life. It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about her life and times.
January 28, 2017
Mother Jones is a figure who should be better remembered, considering she was a trailblazing woman along the lines of maybe Dorothy Day or Margaret Sanger. Unfortuately, as this biography demonstrates, many details of Jones' life are simply unknown. It is disappointing, since it makes it hard for us to really understand her motivations or her character, and what went into building the remarkable person that she was.
This book does a good job of patching together what is available about Jones, and of placing her public figure in the context of femininity of the time.
From the book: "The way Mother Jones lived her life was breathtaking. She tailored her appearance to match every sentimental notion about mothers. Then she subverted the very idea of genteel womanhood on which such stereotypes were based with her vituperative, profane, electric speeches. Women -- especially old women -- were not supposed to have opinions abut politics and economics; they were not supposed to travel alone; they were too delicate for controversy. Yet there she was, haranguing workers, berating politicians, attacking the 'pirates,' and telling women to take to the streets, all under the cover of sacred motherhood."
This book does a good job of patching together what is available about Jones, and of placing her public figure in the context of femininity of the time.
From the book: "The way Mother Jones lived her life was breathtaking. She tailored her appearance to match every sentimental notion about mothers. Then she subverted the very idea of genteel womanhood on which such stereotypes were based with her vituperative, profane, electric speeches. Women -- especially old women -- were not supposed to have opinions abut politics and economics; they were not supposed to travel alone; they were too delicate for controversy. Yet there she was, haranguing workers, berating politicians, attacking the 'pirates,' and telling women to take to the streets, all under the cover of sacred motherhood."
February 1, 2019
I haven't finished this yet but I've gotten far enough in to know what I'm talking about. Mother Jones was an important historical figure but this text does a serious injustice to her legacy. It constantly restates the same facts about her life, and uses paragraphs where sentences would do. It's boring and I hate it.
August 12, 2017
In the summary of his book, after describing how Mother Jones had been largely forgotten in the US in the second quarter (roughly) of the last century, she had "returned to the fringes" of American consciousness during or after the 60s. That's an apt description of my awareness of her as well. I knew she was a popular figure in the labor movement in the Progressive Era, but I didn't know much of anything about who she was or what she accomplished. I decided it was time to change that, and checked this book out of the library.
On a personal level, This is one of the most difficult things I've read in some time. Not because the book was poorly written, or because I didn't like the subject--far from it--but because it was so depressing to read about how little she actually accomplished. More than perhaps anyone of whom I'm aware, Jones have her all, her life, to a noble cause, and yet the deck was so stacked against her and the workers she championed that they won few battles, and most of the progress that did occur in some part due to her efforts was undone after WWI, as business came on strong after the war, and anything seemingly socialist became verboten in the first Red Scare after the Russian Revolution.
And yet her story is inspiring as well. Despite the overwhelming odds, in spite of her singular lack of any sort of institutional power as a woman of her time who came from the working class, she fought as passionately and as determinedly and even hopefully as any human being could possibly have done. Even with the organizations and groups she sought to advance, she was denied any formal power, barred from leadership positions in the unions and political parties as a woman. She wrested what indirect power she could, a not insignificant amount, by the power of her words and the force of her personality. Even in the her last years, when ill health limited her direct participation, she did has much as she could writing letters to seek to persuade government officials. As discouraging as contemporary situations may be for us liberals, I doubt that we can argue our predicament is more challenging than hers. We can take courage in her example and her dogged hope for a better day.
I found this book particularly interesting in how much of it, especially early on, is reconstructed history. Unlike any other biography I've read about a person from modern history, there is virtually no direct testimony about her life prior to her activism, the first thirty years of her life. No journal, no letters from the time. Gorn sets out to separate fact from fiction, and deduces from what little record we do have of her and her family, and of the circumstances of the time, what life was like for her as an Irish child, as an teen immigrant to Canada with her family, as a teacher and dressmaker as a young woman, and as family woman doomed to tragedy in the south during the Civil War and early Reconstruction years.
Gorn not only details her extensive work, but tries to tease out, as best he can given the lack of personal or introspective information from Jones, the possible influences on her personality, passion, and foibles. He offers a paradigm of Mother Jones as a character Mary Jones chose to become in service of her cause, one brilliantly crafted to enable her to rally people and grant her gravitas. He suggests that the tragedy of her own family, where she could not (nor could any human at the time) prevent the painful deaths of her husband and all her children to an outbreak of Yellow Fever, may have been the source of her determination to help save the laborer from the suffering he experienced as a result of his condition and place in society. He insightfully points to a few unguarded statements by Jones, normally very keen to avoid personal comments in her life as Mother Jones, which seem to support this theory.
The book does not gloss over Jones' flaws. It frequently observes the challenge her ego posed, causing friction with many leaders and fellow activists in the cause, enabling powerful men to manipulate her by playing on her desire to listened to as a mother, leading her to frequently play fast and loose with the truth to put herself on center stage or advance her cause. Gorn also notes the double-edged sword of her Mother Jones persona, how it enabled her to ingratiate herself with the people she was truing to organize and give her a kind of informal authority, but at the same time reinforced gender norms and roles which put women in a lower position in society, and caused her to ignore the importance of many progressive causes for women like suffrage or economic opportunity. She encouraged women to be aggressive and active, but in support of their husbands as breadwinner for the family, not in building new avenues in society in which they could contribute and self-actualize.
Most perhaps most intriguing was the discussion of the charges corporate supporters made about her involvement with prostitution and a brothel, and Jones' reaction to those charges. Gorn judges that these accusations appear likely false, as no evidence was ever produced, but that given the lack of information available for large portions of the first half of her life, it is impossible to entirely rule them out. In the interest of fairness, Gorn even includes records of a couple of interactions she had with friends which might possibly allude to some unseemliness in her past. Gorn's examination of the issue appears very thorough and even handed.
A somewhat discouraging read, yes, but still a wonderful book about a fascinating, amazing woman who, Gorn concludes, no one could have expected to do anything noteworthy, given her background and circumstances, but who "out of nothing but courage, passion, and commitment, she created a unique voice, a prophetic voice, and raised it in the cause of renewing America's democratic process."
On a personal level, This is one of the most difficult things I've read in some time. Not because the book was poorly written, or because I didn't like the subject--far from it--but because it was so depressing to read about how little she actually accomplished. More than perhaps anyone of whom I'm aware, Jones have her all, her life, to a noble cause, and yet the deck was so stacked against her and the workers she championed that they won few battles, and most of the progress that did occur in some part due to her efforts was undone after WWI, as business came on strong after the war, and anything seemingly socialist became verboten in the first Red Scare after the Russian Revolution.
And yet her story is inspiring as well. Despite the overwhelming odds, in spite of her singular lack of any sort of institutional power as a woman of her time who came from the working class, she fought as passionately and as determinedly and even hopefully as any human being could possibly have done. Even with the organizations and groups she sought to advance, she was denied any formal power, barred from leadership positions in the unions and political parties as a woman. She wrested what indirect power she could, a not insignificant amount, by the power of her words and the force of her personality. Even in the her last years, when ill health limited her direct participation, she did has much as she could writing letters to seek to persuade government officials. As discouraging as contemporary situations may be for us liberals, I doubt that we can argue our predicament is more challenging than hers. We can take courage in her example and her dogged hope for a better day.
I found this book particularly interesting in how much of it, especially early on, is reconstructed history. Unlike any other biography I've read about a person from modern history, there is virtually no direct testimony about her life prior to her activism, the first thirty years of her life. No journal, no letters from the time. Gorn sets out to separate fact from fiction, and deduces from what little record we do have of her and her family, and of the circumstances of the time, what life was like for her as an Irish child, as an teen immigrant to Canada with her family, as a teacher and dressmaker as a young woman, and as family woman doomed to tragedy in the south during the Civil War and early Reconstruction years.
Gorn not only details her extensive work, but tries to tease out, as best he can given the lack of personal or introspective information from Jones, the possible influences on her personality, passion, and foibles. He offers a paradigm of Mother Jones as a character Mary Jones chose to become in service of her cause, one brilliantly crafted to enable her to rally people and grant her gravitas. He suggests that the tragedy of her own family, where she could not (nor could any human at the time) prevent the painful deaths of her husband and all her children to an outbreak of Yellow Fever, may have been the source of her determination to help save the laborer from the suffering he experienced as a result of his condition and place in society. He insightfully points to a few unguarded statements by Jones, normally very keen to avoid personal comments in her life as Mother Jones, which seem to support this theory.
The book does not gloss over Jones' flaws. It frequently observes the challenge her ego posed, causing friction with many leaders and fellow activists in the cause, enabling powerful men to manipulate her by playing on her desire to listened to as a mother, leading her to frequently play fast and loose with the truth to put herself on center stage or advance her cause. Gorn also notes the double-edged sword of her Mother Jones persona, how it enabled her to ingratiate herself with the people she was truing to organize and give her a kind of informal authority, but at the same time reinforced gender norms and roles which put women in a lower position in society, and caused her to ignore the importance of many progressive causes for women like suffrage or economic opportunity. She encouraged women to be aggressive and active, but in support of their husbands as breadwinner for the family, not in building new avenues in society in which they could contribute and self-actualize.
Most perhaps most intriguing was the discussion of the charges corporate supporters made about her involvement with prostitution and a brothel, and Jones' reaction to those charges. Gorn judges that these accusations appear likely false, as no evidence was ever produced, but that given the lack of information available for large portions of the first half of her life, it is impossible to entirely rule them out. In the interest of fairness, Gorn even includes records of a couple of interactions she had with friends which might possibly allude to some unseemliness in her past. Gorn's examination of the issue appears very thorough and even handed.
A somewhat discouraging read, yes, but still a wonderful book about a fascinating, amazing woman who, Gorn concludes, no one could have expected to do anything noteworthy, given her background and circumstances, but who "out of nothing but courage, passion, and commitment, she created a unique voice, a prophetic voice, and raised it in the cause of renewing America's democratic process."
December 6, 2007
This is another good read, though not as quick. It busts up a lot of the myths about Mother Jones that those of us who are fairly romantic and non-critical in our idealization of labor history (me) might be guilty of, which still giving Mother Jones credit for everything she did. Gorn is a good historian, the book is very well researched, and if you can get past his critical eye (which took me some time to re-adapt to, as I haven't read any "real" history in quite a while), the book is really interesting.
March 31, 2015
This was an interesting and not completely sympathethic biography. I came away from it admiring Mother Jones' courage and commitment to labour rights and trade unions but disappointed in her dodgy views on reproductive freedom, Asian people and support for WWI (which I hadn't been particularly aware of). Her bewilderment at useless (male) senior union officials shows some things never change. She had a great way with words though: "How a woman can degrade herself by marrying a measly man who does not dare join a union is beyond my comprehension."
January 15, 2009
Covering Mother Jones’s greatest crusades from rising up against child labor and demanding rights for coal miners shows what a brave women she was. She had the will and courage to march to the Whitehouse where President Theodore Roosevelt flatly refused to see her. The book also gives a telling history of the bleakness of big business and why labor unions became so popular in the early 20th century. The funny thing about her is that as a liberal reformer she opposed women’s suffrage.
April 3, 2012
Very good history of Mother Jones, this cuts through the romanticism and shows her for who she really is, a fiery dedicated woman who organized and led gutsy strikes and demonstrations, often putting her own life in danger to fight for the rights of the working poor. She is a worthy hero whose work needs to be emulated by activists all over the world.
February 22, 2020
The godmother of American activism, Mother Jones was living proof that anyone can make a difference.
July 29, 2010
Excellent bio of one of my heros.
Read
January 5, 2010The life of turn-of-the-century labor organizer and hell-raiser Mary Harris "Mother" Jones makes for an unusual biography. For one thing, there's almost no documentation on Jones's life until after her sixtieth birthday - an age when many biographies are beginning to wind down, and those on rock stars and Romantic poets have already ended. Jones herself, in her autobiography, devoted only four pages to the first forty years of her life; she continuously sought to downplay the period before she jettisoned her role as a teacher and dressmaker to become "Mother" Jones. For another thing, in the documentation that does exist, fact needs to be teased apart from fiction - and fiction, in turn, must be analyzed to extract the larger metaphorical truth it contains. Mary Jones was a consummate storyteller and a skilled propagandist, and her self-made "Mother Jones" persona was one of her primary tools in her own political campaigns. As Elliott Gorn explains in the introduction to his biography Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, she crafted her public image carefully and completely, often using embellished or fabricated anecdotes to communicate a larger point:
This is a fantastic biography. Gorn does a thoughtful, thorough job of addressing Jones's doubleness, and analyzing many of the questions she never wanted to address. How was her political work affected by the heart-wrenching death of her husband and four young children from yellow fever in 1867? What were the atmospheres of famine-era Cork and mid-19th-century Toronto like, and what might Jones have observed there to influence her later outlook? What factors may have caused her militantly anti-middle-class stance, or her tendency to pick fights with her colleagues? On top of these, though, Gorn paints a vivid portrait of the character of Mother Jones - the foul-mouthed, white-haired Irish-American matron who braved armed mine guards, Presidents of the United States, jail cells, hundred-mile marches, and decades of nomadic existence in order to help working-class Americans win such innovations as the weekend, the ten-hour day, and the right to negotiate with owners of capital.
Gorn's tone throughout is respectful, even admiring, but he never seeks to make his subject into a saint. He explores Jones's flaws along with her strengths, details her failures as well as her successes, and calls out her bull whenever he sees it. In the process, he gives a fascinating glimpse into an important period of American labor history, in which unionism was becoming steadily more mainstream. Within Mother Jones's lifetime the labor movement moved away from a radical critique of the capitalist system, and toward a model in which the laborers were merely guaranteed a certain piece of the capitalist pie. Jones's herself believed that workers had a moral right to the products of their own hands; she was a revolutionary, which made the country's trajectory frustrating to her, and caused her to become alienated late in life from many of her former allies. But she was also pragmatic. Never one to hold out for the perfect revolutionary outcome, she understood the value of compromises and took them whenever she felt they would improve quality of life for striking workers.
For a revolutionary and a self-described female hell-raiser, Jones also had some surprisingly conservative philosophies. To me, the most fascinating analysis in Gorn's book has to do with her opposition to female suffrage and other feminist causes such as access to birth control and, amazingly, even the right of women to join unions. At first glance contradictory - how could a woman living such an unusual life be for limiting other womens' options? - her stance makes some sense once Gorn has contextualized it. The entire "Mother Jones" persona was heavily invested in the family model; Jones's idea of an equitable society was one in which women didn't have to work, because their husbands would earn enough to support them and enable them to stay home and raise children. While it ignores the "exceptions to the rule" - those women who don't marry, for example, who are widowed like Jones herself, or who find personal satisfaction in joining the workforce but who would prefer to join it on equal terms with men - Jones's position has a certain logic. The vast majority of examples she saw of women and children working for money, were cases of dire financial necessity. Most working-class women in turn-of-the-century US cities, Jones argued, would have preferred to devote themselves to their "natural" role as full-time caregivers, but couldn't afford to do so because of a system that cheated working-class men out of a living wage.
Likewise, the birth control campaigns of people like Margaret Sanger seemed to Jones dangerous machinations of the capitalist class: convincing women that they should have fewer children would take the onus off the employers and put it instead on the shoulders of working-class women, who would in turn be blamed for struggling to feed large families they had "chosen" to have. Women were naturally maternal, according to Jones, and far from being suppressed, this motherliness should be celebrated. Enacting legislation that encouraged women to be "more like men": voting, joining unions, having fewer children, and so on - would undermine the family model that was a strength of the working class and the source of Mother Jones's own moral authority, and ultimately create a justification for lower pay (since a two-income household has twice as much money coming in, and capitalists would use this to argue that each worker should earn less). Jones also felt that voting was largely meaningless, and that female suffrage would pacify the workers without actually improving their lives or according them more agency.
Reading about Jones's take on the early feminist movement really brought home to me my own middle-class origins. Jones wouldn't have liked me, and despite my admiration for her courage, sharp tongue, and organizing genius, I probably wouldn't have liked her much in person either. Her dismissal of women outside the married-with-children mold is hard for me to stomach (especially as spinsters and widows have traditionally been among the most marginalized groups). On the other hand, Gorn enabled me to grasp Jones's perspective in a truly valuable way. In reading about her initial opposition to child-labor restrictions, for example, I was reminded that sending a son or daughter out to work at thirteen or fourteen was widely accepted at the time, and often made the difference between sufficiency and hunger for working-class families. The push for child-labor restrictions began in the middle class, and the arguments for them were often purely sentimental. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children" and other maudlin poems, for example, circulated in drawing rooms and galvanized committee ladies. Although Mother Jones was certainly not above an assault on the heartstrings herself, she was fundamentally a big-picture pragmatist; I can understand how she would find the well-meaning dilettantism of wealthy women offensive. And it's a sobering fact that this divisiveness still plagues the feminist movement today, with the perspectives of working-class women and women of color often getting excluded from the feminist agenda (leading, in turn, to the rise of Womanism and similar movements). As a middle-class white woman, that's something I could stand to be reminded of more often.
There are so many fascinating angles explored in this book; I couldn't begin to touch on all of them. But I do recommend Mother Jones for an excellent foray into turn-of-the-century labor history and a portrait of one flawed but astounding person within that movement.
Her fame began when, toward the end of the nineteenth century, she transformed herself from Mary Jones into Mother Jones. Her new persona was a complex one, infused with overtones of Christian martyrdom and with the suffering of Mother Mary. Perhaps it is best to think of Mother Jones as a character performed by Mary Jones. She exaggerated her age, wore old-fashioned black dresses, and alluded often to her impending demise. By 1900, she had stopped referring to herself as Mary altogether and signed all of her letters "Mother." Soon laborers, union officials, even Presidents of the United States addressed her that way, and they became her "boys."
The persona of Mother Jones freed Mary Jones. Most American women in the early twentieth century were expected to lead quiet, homebound lives for their families; few women found their way onto the public stage. Ironically, by making herself into the symbolic mother of the downtrodden, Mary Jones was able to go where she pleased and speak out on any issue that moved her. She defied social conventions and shattered the limits that confined her by embracing the very role that restricted most women.
This is a fantastic biography. Gorn does a thoughtful, thorough job of addressing Jones's doubleness, and analyzing many of the questions she never wanted to address. How was her political work affected by the heart-wrenching death of her husband and four young children from yellow fever in 1867? What were the atmospheres of famine-era Cork and mid-19th-century Toronto like, and what might Jones have observed there to influence her later outlook? What factors may have caused her militantly anti-middle-class stance, or her tendency to pick fights with her colleagues? On top of these, though, Gorn paints a vivid portrait of the character of Mother Jones - the foul-mouthed, white-haired Irish-American matron who braved armed mine guards, Presidents of the United States, jail cells, hundred-mile marches, and decades of nomadic existence in order to help working-class Americans win such innovations as the weekend, the ten-hour day, and the right to negotiate with owners of capital.
Gorn's tone throughout is respectful, even admiring, but he never seeks to make his subject into a saint. He explores Jones's flaws along with her strengths, details her failures as well as her successes, and calls out her bull whenever he sees it. In the process, he gives a fascinating glimpse into an important period of American labor history, in which unionism was becoming steadily more mainstream. Within Mother Jones's lifetime the labor movement moved away from a radical critique of the capitalist system, and toward a model in which the laborers were merely guaranteed a certain piece of the capitalist pie. Jones's herself believed that workers had a moral right to the products of their own hands; she was a revolutionary, which made the country's trajectory frustrating to her, and caused her to become alienated late in life from many of her former allies. But she was also pragmatic. Never one to hold out for the perfect revolutionary outcome, she understood the value of compromises and took them whenever she felt they would improve quality of life for striking workers.
For a revolutionary and a self-described female hell-raiser, Jones also had some surprisingly conservative philosophies. To me, the most fascinating analysis in Gorn's book has to do with her opposition to female suffrage and other feminist causes such as access to birth control and, amazingly, even the right of women to join unions. At first glance contradictory - how could a woman living such an unusual life be for limiting other womens' options? - her stance makes some sense once Gorn has contextualized it. The entire "Mother Jones" persona was heavily invested in the family model; Jones's idea of an equitable society was one in which women didn't have to work, because their husbands would earn enough to support them and enable them to stay home and raise children. While it ignores the "exceptions to the rule" - those women who don't marry, for example, who are widowed like Jones herself, or who find personal satisfaction in joining the workforce but who would prefer to join it on equal terms with men - Jones's position has a certain logic. The vast majority of examples she saw of women and children working for money, were cases of dire financial necessity. Most working-class women in turn-of-the-century US cities, Jones argued, would have preferred to devote themselves to their "natural" role as full-time caregivers, but couldn't afford to do so because of a system that cheated working-class men out of a living wage.
Likewise, the birth control campaigns of people like Margaret Sanger seemed to Jones dangerous machinations of the capitalist class: convincing women that they should have fewer children would take the onus off the employers and put it instead on the shoulders of working-class women, who would in turn be blamed for struggling to feed large families they had "chosen" to have. Women were naturally maternal, according to Jones, and far from being suppressed, this motherliness should be celebrated. Enacting legislation that encouraged women to be "more like men": voting, joining unions, having fewer children, and so on - would undermine the family model that was a strength of the working class and the source of Mother Jones's own moral authority, and ultimately create a justification for lower pay (since a two-income household has twice as much money coming in, and capitalists would use this to argue that each worker should earn less). Jones also felt that voting was largely meaningless, and that female suffrage would pacify the workers without actually improving their lives or according them more agency.
Reading about Jones's take on the early feminist movement really brought home to me my own middle-class origins. Jones wouldn't have liked me, and despite my admiration for her courage, sharp tongue, and organizing genius, I probably wouldn't have liked her much in person either. Her dismissal of women outside the married-with-children mold is hard for me to stomach (especially as spinsters and widows have traditionally been among the most marginalized groups). On the other hand, Gorn enabled me to grasp Jones's perspective in a truly valuable way. In reading about her initial opposition to child-labor restrictions, for example, I was reminded that sending a son or daughter out to work at thirteen or fourteen was widely accepted at the time, and often made the difference between sufficiency and hunger for working-class families. The push for child-labor restrictions began in the middle class, and the arguments for them were often purely sentimental. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children" and other maudlin poems, for example, circulated in drawing rooms and galvanized committee ladies. Although Mother Jones was certainly not above an assault on the heartstrings herself, she was fundamentally a big-picture pragmatist; I can understand how she would find the well-meaning dilettantism of wealthy women offensive. And it's a sobering fact that this divisiveness still plagues the feminist movement today, with the perspectives of working-class women and women of color often getting excluded from the feminist agenda (leading, in turn, to the rise of Womanism and similar movements). As a middle-class white woman, that's something I could stand to be reminded of more often.
There are so many fascinating angles explored in this book; I couldn't begin to touch on all of them. But I do recommend Mother Jones for an excellent foray into turn-of-the-century labor history and a portrait of one flawed but astounding person within that movement.
August 14, 2018
This book tells about the activist life of a figure from U.S. history who is frequently overlooked. Mary "Mother Jones" was known for her work on behalf of American labor (particularly among coal miners and textile workers), a tireless advocate who stood out all the more due to her gender.
Elliott J. Gorn did a service by raising readers' awareness of such a selfless individual. For this he should be lauded. But what drags down Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, is the manner in which Gorn continually whitewashes the fact that the titular character often embellished stories and scenarios from her past. There are numerous passages (some of which quote from her dictated autobiography) which Gorn admits are more apocryphal than factual. He glosses over this inconvenience by telling readers that she would twist and distort facts simply to drive home broader points about her contributions. Jones would even fib on her age, frequently telling audiences she was almost a decade older than she really was.
Mother Jones's efforts to organize coal miners in West Virginia and Colorado make for much of the book's content. She was born to an Irish family which immigrated to Canada, but many of the details of her early life are obscure.
What made her stand out-aside from being female in the field of late nineteenth and early twentieth century labor organizing-were her frequent obscenities and confrontational speaking style. Although she was not religious, Jones would often paint strikers as figures of a Biblical-like stature. She even spoke kindly of Bolshevism and thought many labor unions did not go far enough in demanding changes in the relationship between management and labor. That their demands often stopped at eight hour work days and wage increases maddened her, as she was of the mind that an overhaul of capitalism-in the direction of a socialistic economy crafted to give dignity to workers-was what should be demanded by the I.W.Ws and United Mine Workers of the world.
Her willingness to embrace the Socialist Party (before breaking with it over disputes) and frequent scorning of half-measures at compromise in service of gaining more for labor at the expense of capital were reminiscent of William Lloyd Garrison's antislavery tactics.
This book is informative, but the overlooking of Jones's tendency to distort facts weakens it. The book is written in a style that keeps the narrative moving, but it seems to speed through too many situations and sacrifices quality in the process.
Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
Elliott J. Gorn did a service by raising readers' awareness of such a selfless individual. For this he should be lauded. But what drags down Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, is the manner in which Gorn continually whitewashes the fact that the titular character often embellished stories and scenarios from her past. There are numerous passages (some of which quote from her dictated autobiography) which Gorn admits are more apocryphal than factual. He glosses over this inconvenience by telling readers that she would twist and distort facts simply to drive home broader points about her contributions. Jones would even fib on her age, frequently telling audiences she was almost a decade older than she really was.
Mother Jones's efforts to organize coal miners in West Virginia and Colorado make for much of the book's content. She was born to an Irish family which immigrated to Canada, but many of the details of her early life are obscure.
What made her stand out-aside from being female in the field of late nineteenth and early twentieth century labor organizing-were her frequent obscenities and confrontational speaking style. Although she was not religious, Jones would often paint strikers as figures of a Biblical-like stature. She even spoke kindly of Bolshevism and thought many labor unions did not go far enough in demanding changes in the relationship between management and labor. That their demands often stopped at eight hour work days and wage increases maddened her, as she was of the mind that an overhaul of capitalism-in the direction of a socialistic economy crafted to give dignity to workers-was what should be demanded by the I.W.Ws and United Mine Workers of the world.
Her willingness to embrace the Socialist Party (before breaking with it over disputes) and frequent scorning of half-measures at compromise in service of gaining more for labor at the expense of capital were reminiscent of William Lloyd Garrison's antislavery tactics.
This book is informative, but the overlooking of Jones's tendency to distort facts weakens it. The book is written in a style that keeps the narrative moving, but it seems to speed through too many situations and sacrifices quality in the process.
Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
April 17, 2019
I think that biography is always stronger with a clear point of view. Objectivity is mostly an illusion and the idea that someone would choose one person in history to write a 300 page book about for objective reasons is total bullshit.
In "Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America," Elliot J. Gorn sets out with a clear mission: to measure Mother Jones the flesh-and-blood woman against Mother Jones the legend. Some divisive reviews show that there are readers, perhaps great admirers of Jones, who don't appreciate this approach. But, I think that Gorn's work ultimately does a service to the memory of the great labor organizer, as we can come to appreciate Mother Jones without falling in love with her mythology.
The most interesting material in the book comes when we see the power and the limits of Jones' self-mythologizing. Jones lied in her autobiography. She would often fudge her age and place herself at struggles she wasn't actually present for. She was also arrogant, condescending, and sometimes on the wrong side of history on certain issues (like women's suffrage). But, Gorn, and his readers, leave the book with greater sympathy, understanding, and respect for Jones, not less.
The myth making that Jones engaged in wasn't self-serving. She believed that she was moving the causes of unionism and socialism forward, and while she was prone to exaggeration, she stayed truer to her principles than most of her peers. No matter what valid criticisms lurk in her backstory, she did walk the coal fields and fight for justice, giving her life to the labor movement. No matter what flaws she may have had, Mother Jones was a hero, and heroes are always more interesting when you take a measure of what they actually did instead of looking at how they are remembered in myth and legend.
In "Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America," Elliot J. Gorn sets out with a clear mission: to measure Mother Jones the flesh-and-blood woman against Mother Jones the legend. Some divisive reviews show that there are readers, perhaps great admirers of Jones, who don't appreciate this approach. But, I think that Gorn's work ultimately does a service to the memory of the great labor organizer, as we can come to appreciate Mother Jones without falling in love with her mythology.
The most interesting material in the book comes when we see the power and the limits of Jones' self-mythologizing. Jones lied in her autobiography. She would often fudge her age and place herself at struggles she wasn't actually present for. She was also arrogant, condescending, and sometimes on the wrong side of history on certain issues (like women's suffrage). But, Gorn, and his readers, leave the book with greater sympathy, understanding, and respect for Jones, not less.
The myth making that Jones engaged in wasn't self-serving. She believed that she was moving the causes of unionism and socialism forward, and while she was prone to exaggeration, she stayed truer to her principles than most of her peers. No matter what valid criticisms lurk in her backstory, she did walk the coal fields and fight for justice, giving her life to the labor movement. No matter what flaws she may have had, Mother Jones was a hero, and heroes are always more interesting when you take a measure of what they actually did instead of looking at how they are remembered in myth and legend.
January 1, 2025
A well-researched and impartial biography of Mary "Mother" Jones, labor activist of the turn of the last century. I didn't really know much about her other than she was lumped together with Eugene Debs, Samuel Gompers, and the like and that she focused on coal mines. Her biography goes into details on all of her activism work with the coal workers unions, steel, textile mills, child labor, and more. Her speeches seem to be filled with hyperbole, name calling, cursing, and out-right lies. Her followers often erupted in violence after her speeches. She was easily manipulated by flattery. She hated to share the limelight. The same patterns we see with populists today. The difference was she truly had the people's interests at heart. I think there is a lot we will never know about her because of the gaps she purposefully never filled in and, maybe, we can truly never know her real motivation. Read this book if you want a full, factual picture of the woman.
January 25, 2025
An in depth study and biography of Mother Jones, the union organizer and activist. Born in Cork, Ireland, Mary Harris grew up in Toronto, Canada. She moved to Memphis, where she got married and had some kids. However, her family died from typhoid fever. Mary went to Chicago, where she became a school teacher for a few years, then started a job as a dress maker. Mary had a love and allegiance to the working class and became a fierce activist and union firebrand. She accomplished a lot in helping to alleviate child labor in the U.S. And she worked mainly for coal miners, organizing for the United Mine Workers Union. A socialist, she was friends with Eugene Debs and Emma Goldman. She took the name of Mother Jones, and thousands of workers looked up to her. She was a great orator, stirring her listeners to action and to take many strikes against big companies. Gorn has done a fine job of writing about the life of one the most important women in the history of the American left.
June 26, 2018
For all the power and energy of Mother Jones, and the intensity and tense energy of the events she inhabited, this book is disappointingly unengaging.
I’m not sure what happened, but where the history should grab you (say, when miners die in a shoot out with private detectives), the prose just doesn’t. Somehow, this is remarkable history written as unremarkable. That may be how it feels to the researcher who has lived so long in it, but it can’t be presented that way to someone coming to it for the first time.
In the end, this feels more like a compilation of decently pursued research than a narrative, a biography in its own right.
I’m not sure what happened, but where the history should grab you (say, when miners die in a shoot out with private detectives), the prose just doesn’t. Somehow, this is remarkable history written as unremarkable. That may be how it feels to the researcher who has lived so long in it, but it can’t be presented that way to someone coming to it for the first time.
In the end, this feels more like a compilation of decently pursued research than a narrative, a biography in its own right.
January 7, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this biography by Elliot J. Gorn. I feel I have a better understanding of Mother Jones's motivations her successes her failures her shortcomings. Also this book has helped me in my day-to-day grassroots labor worker activism. I recommend it to anyone who is a friend of the worker,interested in American history,Union history and looking for ideas,tactics and an overall guiding light on how to go about and what not to do and what to do when it comes to worker organizing. Solidarity with all Workers! ✊💪🍞🌹🇺🇸.
July 24, 2017
A tragic life. Loss of three children and husband which led to her fervor in seeking acclaim and power as a surrogate mother to the entire labor movement.
This biography was a perfect representation of a human life in contrast. If we were to write our own autobiography no doubt we would cast ourselves in the best light, as mother jones did in hers. But the outside perspective is a bit starker.
This biography was a perfect representation of a human life in contrast. If we were to write our own autobiography no doubt we would cast ourselves in the best light, as mother jones did in hers. But the outside perspective is a bit starker.
January 3, 2022
This book can get a little too detailed at times, but still a great read for a fascinating biography of a"reformer" or a "rabble rouser," however you want to define. People who think there has never been so much division in the country as there is today should give it a read and get an idea of why the labor unions really blossomed in the the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With apologies to today's feminists, this crusty old broad would make most of them look like wimps.
February 23, 2022
This was a fantastically written biography that highlights arguably one of the most important and brushed over female revolutionaries in American history. This book made me fall in love with a genuine side of American history. I gained a deeper understanding of the sweat and toil it took (and still takes) to have some of the rights we have today in the working class and as a US society.
October 22, 2020
I read her autobiography many years ago when i first started to be interested in child labor laws. This was interesting and filled in a lot. The analysis was a little heavy handed although I can't say I disagreed with anything.
February 10, 2024
I love the story of Mother Jones and her many adventures through the evolution of the Labor Movement. There's no wrath quite like a mother's and by God does she show it.
I felt as though the book drags on in a few spots and it really curbed my interest in reading but then it always picked back up!
I felt as though the book drags on in a few spots and it really curbed my interest in reading but then it always picked back up!
August 27, 2019
A
A book about a little known radical of the early 20th century
A book about a little known radical of the early 20th century
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2023
I appreciated the writing style which I found both honest and inspirational
March 12, 2025
A brilliant book about a little-remembered icon of leftism in America-an absolute queen.
March 28, 2014
She saw starvation, illness, and death all around her as a child in Ireland and on the ship to North America. After her arrival, she saw grinding poverty and discrimination against the Irish immigrant population. Her family managed to get her a little education and she became a schoolteacher, an achievement uncommon for first generation immigrants of her time and place. She moved to Memphis, TN, married an iron worker and had four children. He was a good union man and they had a happy life. Then he and all four of their little children got sick with yellow fever and died. After his union burial, she stayed to nurse the sick until the plague had been stamped out. She then moved to Chicago and became a dressmaker, but about four years after her family's death, the Great Chicago Fire burned down her dressmaking shop, destroyed all of her personal belongings, and would have killed her, too, if she hadn't outran it to the river.
She had been very involved in the labor movement already, but after the fire, she threw herself into it completely and it became her whole life. She traveled, gave speeches, and organized people. She had absolutely no concern for her own personal safety. She was tireless and didn't slow down until her nineties. It was really amazing how much bloodshed there was in those old union battles, too, and she was there right in the middle of it.
One time she went into a town in West Virginia that had a particularly iron-fisted company ruling over it. She had been warned that she'd come out in a body bag if she attempted to go in. She went in, organized the workers, and came out alive. There were a lot of battles she lost, too, but during her decades of helping workers in their fight, many of them fought and won better pay, safer working conditions, and more humane hours.
She wasn't perfect. She was in favor of woman's suffrage earlier in her career, but came out against it when it was gaining steam because she thought that it was a distraction from the labor movement. She had pretty traditional social values and thought that in general, women should stay home to raise the children and take care of the household. Also she occasionally said some racist stuff in personal correspondence, and even publicly said some crude things against letting in immigrants from Asian countries. BUT! She really emphasized unity across ethnic and language divides because it was so important in the struggle. Companies tried to exploit any kinds of tensions among the workers and she was very aware of that. She advocated for equal pay for marginalized groups like Black workers and recent immigrants.
It's interesting that she was super famous, but then became kind of forgotten outside of Appalachia and people into labor history until sometime in the 1970's. Right after she died, publications like the New York Times wrote obits lauding her, but they kind of defanged her and domesticated her image while they were doing it. Even today, many people think of her like a kindly old magic elf person with a twinkly-eyed grandmotherly smile. Really though, she was a BAMF.
She had been very involved in the labor movement already, but after the fire, she threw herself into it completely and it became her whole life. She traveled, gave speeches, and organized people. She had absolutely no concern for her own personal safety. She was tireless and didn't slow down until her nineties. It was really amazing how much bloodshed there was in those old union battles, too, and she was there right in the middle of it.
One time she went into a town in West Virginia that had a particularly iron-fisted company ruling over it. She had been warned that she'd come out in a body bag if she attempted to go in. She went in, organized the workers, and came out alive. There were a lot of battles she lost, too, but during her decades of helping workers in their fight, many of them fought and won better pay, safer working conditions, and more humane hours.
She wasn't perfect. She was in favor of woman's suffrage earlier in her career, but came out against it when it was gaining steam because she thought that it was a distraction from the labor movement. She had pretty traditional social values and thought that in general, women should stay home to raise the children and take care of the household. Also she occasionally said some racist stuff in personal correspondence, and even publicly said some crude things against letting in immigrants from Asian countries. BUT! She really emphasized unity across ethnic and language divides because it was so important in the struggle. Companies tried to exploit any kinds of tensions among the workers and she was very aware of that. She advocated for equal pay for marginalized groups like Black workers and recent immigrants.
It's interesting that she was super famous, but then became kind of forgotten outside of Appalachia and people into labor history until sometime in the 1970's. Right after she died, publications like the New York Times wrote obits lauding her, but they kind of defanged her and domesticated her image while they were doing it. Even today, many people think of her like a kindly old magic elf person with a twinkly-eyed grandmotherly smile. Really though, she was a BAMF.
October 18, 2014
This was an interesting book showing how much Mother Jones was really playing a role. She often elaborated on her stories to make them fit her narrative as a mother and hell raiser. She was incredibly talented as a speaker and motivator. It was fascinating seeing her relationships with various labor and political leaders. She was mostly on the UMW payroll even though she disagreed with leadership more often than not. She didn't win many battles but she roused the working class consciousness of many. Around 1920 she was considered one of the most famous women in America. And she accomplished this all in her 60s-80s!
December 15, 2013
Some of the best ideas for my next read come from used book stores. Obviously someone thought that a particular title was interesting enough to purchase. I was familiar with Mother Jones only as the title of a magazine, but never knew much about her other than that. Elliot Gorn has written a good seemingly impartial appraisal of this labor activist, leaving holes in her story where there is insufficient information, clearly pointing out exaggerations and untruths, and including additional to certain periods and events for greater understanding. Highly recommended.
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