"In her seventies (and I guess this was one of the reasons she was called Mother, because she was old enough to be the mother of almost everybody who was working), she was organizing miners in West Virginia, and then Colorado. She was so colorful and so dramatic, and she looked like a schoolteacher, wearing her bonnet over her white hair. She was a fiery speaker. She did very dramatic things, like bringing the children of striking miners in Pennsylvania on a march to New York, to Theodore Roosevelt's house, to demand an end to child labor. They were carrying signs saying WE WANT TIME TO PLAY…She was jailed many times. Nothing daunted her. She was brought into courts and she would defy the judge. She inspired miners and other workers all over the country."
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Immigrants to the United StatesLabor activistsWomen activists from the United StatesDemocratic socialistsWomen from Ireland
Original Language: English
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Sources
Howard Zinn, Truth Has a Power of Its Own (2022)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mother_Jones
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Mother Jones
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930), born in Cork, Ireland, was a prominent American socialist, labor and community organizer, and a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World.
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Mother Jones →
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