We are proud to announce our new I-55 Southbound Coalfield Marker and indoor exhibit. The new marker is intended to draw attention to the vital history that exists in what might seem like an ordinary stretch of the interstate highway. The marker and indoor exhibit at the Coalfield Rest Area pay tribute to the role of Illinois coal miners and highlight how miners and their families fought for the eight-hour day, against child labor, for a living wage and against wage theft. Both the marker and exhibit highlight the important role of Illinois coal miners’ heroine, Mother Jones, a Cork-born Irish immigrant.
The marker, unveiled. Joe Rathke photo.
The indoor interpretive. Mike Sheridan Photo.
Dedicated during a Dec. 11 ceremony, the marker is located on I-55 southbound at the busy Coalfield Rest Area (mile marker 65), about 15 miles south of Springfield on a stretch of the interstate that is also alongside historic Route 66. Over one million people stop here every year. It is equipped with picnic grounds and a walking path.
It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the collaborations and contributions of others, to give credit to those who steps we follow as well as those who did the hard work for this project and celebration.
How it Happened
The coalfield marker was suggested years ago by Dave Rathke (my spouse), Mother Jones Heritage Project board member . Dave’s creativity and commitment to public history and specifically to this marker idea kept this project going. Dave is constantly thinking about the relationship of history to movement building. Salute, and credit, goes to him. Of course, millions of people went to that rest area, but only Dave felt it was possible and he also aimed to make it happen.
I doubt I would have pursued it if I had not attended to the 2012 inaugural Spirit of Mother Jones Cork Festival. Along with Elliott Gorn, Marat Moore, and Kaiulani Lee we helped to dedicate the marker in Cork. Just before the festival, Margaret Fulkerson of the Working Women’s History Group and Illinois Labor History Society went to Cork, and she brought back the cast of their marker. Margaret, Marat, and Elliott are on the Mother Jones Heritage Project board, a testament to the formative role of Cork in our own development, which continues a trans-Atlantic cultural cooperation for the promotion of knowledge about Mother Jones and the history of social and economic justice that shaped both countries. Our board member Saul Schniderman, (also Labor Heritage Foundation board member) continues to school me and our board on the critical cultural importance of markers. He located and placed the Maryland marker to Mother Jones. Making culture, he tells us, is an activist project.
After the 2012 inaugural Spirit of Mother Jones Festival, I came back and with the vital encouragement of Margaret Fulkerson, Marat Moore, Saul Schniderman, decided to pursue this as a public history project, and so Cork became a catalyst for what became the Mother Jones Heritage Project.
A grant from Northern Illinois University’s Great Journeys Program got the project off the ground. This grant funded a graduate student to help me explore how best to pursue this as a public history project. Museum, trails, markers, better website? We researched the best means and came up with an extensive plan. Most evidence suggested Chicago as the best place to do this project, but I was committed to working with people in the area in which Mother Jones was buried. I was so lucky to have the bright and talented Robert Glover as a paid graduate assistant because of NIU’s Great Journeys funding. As part of that work, Robert produced the initial application for a marker and indoor exhibit for both the Southbound and the Northbound Coalfield Rest areas. He did so much more work on the infrastructure and research of this project in a year’s time. So I thank NIU for helping to make this happen.
We thank the Illinois Department of Transportation for granting the permanent license for both the indoor exhibit and outdoor marker at both North and South I-55, and especially Michael Staab who has worked with us through this process.
The advent of a Mt. Olive-based Mother Jones Museum caused us to put off the coalfield rest area as we engaged in fundraising and development of the museum. We also deferred attempting funding through what then existed, Illinois tourism grants, because one was needed for the cemetery restoration. But this year we decided this marker’s time had come.
Marker Funders, Sponsors, and Touchstones
Dennis Surgalski, who is a retired schoolteacher on a modest income, demonstrated a commitment to this history; his generosity is a major reason we were able to produce the marker. He is the son of an immigrant coal miner, Benjamin Surgalski, who met Mother Jones when he was a boy and whose memory he carried forth.
Illinois Labor History Society was also a financial sponsor of the marker. Mike Matejka of the ILHS spoke at the dedication ceremony of the need for more markers that profile workers story. Mike Matejka also helped save us the terrific installation cost by arranging with LIUNA Local 1084 (discussed below)
Mother Jones Foundation has for 33 years worked to promote this history and the folks there have provided a base of supporters for the our project and a resource for us. The recent work of Terry Reed, Jim Dixon, Jack Dyer, Jody Hogge, David Lasley, Al Pieper, Deb Russell, Don Green, James Hade have been a touchstone for our project. Mike Prehoda helped us with JULIE for the installation. The Mother Jones Foundation raised some funds for the marker project last year, but in an effort to help the museum, agreed to donate those funds to the museum. Nonetheless their support for this project deserves hearty thanks and recognition.
We are also grateful that the Illinois State Historical Society sponsored the marker as one of their marker series.
Terry Reed has been a friend and project resource, helping me to make sense of things many times. I want to give him a shout out for being there during a very tough year.
Design, Development, Installation
Kate Klimut worked as coordinator and designer for the project, and brought a fabulous spirit of humor and collaboration. Kate worked with artist Lindsay Hand to develop two of the images shown in the gallery below. There is a lot that goes into design, both technical and artistic, but also coordination, with attention to detail and multiple project skills, and we are grateful to her for the amount of time she put into this coordination. She colorized the photo of the miners on the indoor exhibit, vectored the images, and so much more. She worked on the initial indoor exhibit. She is a very talented person.
Lindsay Hand is in love with this project, and her enthusiasm bolsters all of our spirits. She did sketch work for a tiny stipend. We are truly grateful. The Mother Jones with children and iconic Mother Jones was here is taken from a woodcut print. We are hoping to use her Mother Jones Was Here in other applications in the future. Lindsay is excited to be a part of sharing labor history.
The outdoor marker text received feedback and revisions from board’s historian advisors Priscilla Long, Elliott Gorn, and our board members Marat Moore, Saul Schniderman, Dave Rathke, Margaret Fulkerson, Judy Simpson. We thank them heartily for that input. Kate Klimut also worked those words over.
Northern Illinois University funded the indoor exhibit production and checked and worked on the outdoor design as well in late stages. We worked closely with Sophia Varcados and Mariano Spizzirri of the Office of Creative Services. We are grateful for this institutional support.
Jim Schoppman installed the indoor exhibit, and we thank him for making that look easy. Credit: Kate Klimut
Jared Volkmar, Business Agent of Laborers International Union of North America Local 1084 agreed to organize a team to install the outdoor marker without charge. Thanks to Mike Matejka of LIUNA for this connection. Jared was supportive as we confronted the glitches that are sometimes determined to happen despite all our careful planning. When those glitches prevented installation, Jared put it on this temporary footing so that we could have our celebration. The marker will be on a 45 degree angle that abuts the round concrete planter when permanently installed. Photo Credit: Mike Matejka.
Illinois Humanities Funds Grant to Accompany Marker and Interpretive Exhibit
At the unveiling we gratefully announced that Illinois Humanities has awarded us an action grant for “Stories from the Coalfields,” and that is why they are listed on the indoor exhibit. This will make the small exhibit interactive, inviting stories about Mother Jones and the vibrant history beyond the highway. It will give access to material that can be downloaded in audio files and mini-tours. We will make an effort to tell the often very dramatic stories beyond this site, of the miners and their families, of stories that will engage and resonate, of women like Agnes Burns Wieck and Emma Cumerlato, as well as the even more hidden stories of African-American miners. We thank Illinois Humanities for their vote of confidence in our project and Matt Meacham for attending our dedication and for his assistance. Thanks to our board and Kate Klimut for suggestions and critical feedback on the application.
Irish Consulate Joins Dedication Celebration Special December 11.
Because in many ways we owe the marker inspiration to the Cork Festival, we are so pleased that Brian O’Brien, Ireland’s Consul General to Chicago and the Midwest USA, enthusiastically joined the dedication festivities.
Together with Brigid Duffy, a representative of the Chicago Irish American Heritage Center, he also made a wreath presentation at Mother Jones Monument in Mt. Olive. O’Brien expressed his gratitude to Mt. Olive for cherishing the memory of Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who chose to be buried there in tribute to the role of ordinary people in changing history. Photo Credit: Henry Fulkerson.
Above: Consul General O’Brien translated Mother Jones’ most well-known quote, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living,” into Irish Gaelic, to great applause from the dedication audience. He also talked about how important Mother Jones memory is in these times.
At the Rest Area, he quipped that Mother Jones’ presence would transform this rest area into a “DO NOT REST!” area. He said he appreciated that the exhibit and marker will allow “future generations to reflect on this great Cork-born activist” who “should not be forgotten either in Ireland or in the United States.”
O’Brien noted that while Illinois residents will be celebrating their Bicentennial, Ireland is celebrating its Centenary.
“One of the key figures of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising that established our country was James Connolly, who was for a time in the United States and became friends with Mother Jones,” he said, adding the connection to the Centenary history is important to Ireland.
O’Brien said Ireland is trying to live by values that Mother Jones would endorse, those of human rights and respect for diversity. He also applauded the growing ties between the Spirit of Mother Jones Cork Festival and the Mother Jones Heritage Project.
We extend our thanks to others who took the time to speak at or attend the dedication event, and whose commitment to this history we find strength.
Amy Rueff of the Illinois AFL-CIO expressed the idea that the marker would help those unfamiliar with Mother Jones and labor history to encounter it with their families.
William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society, discussed the new marker to Eugene Debs in Woodstock, Illinois, and the idea that these kinds of markers help us move toward a more vibrant “people’s history.”
Mike Matejka of the Illinois Labor History Society discussed the idea of sponsoring more markers to introduce this history.
Alimyon Allen of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office voiced the Senator’s support for the Mother Jones Heritage Project efforts.
UMWA District 12 President Steve Earle wanted to come to the event, but negotiations prevented his participation.We hope to have the UMWA for the dedication of the Northbound Marker.
Finally, we thank those who attended the Monument and Marker dedications. We were heartened that Rick Hargett (below with O'Brien) was inspired to donate $500 toward the Northbound marker. We are tallying up the mostly small contributions to that effort and will announce where we stand soon. We wish we could put all contributors on the marker, but we will give an update on that effort soon.
We were all in a celebration mood. Henry Fulkerson photo. Henry Fulkerson photo.
Thanks to Margaret Fulkerson (above, right, with Brigid Duffy) for working with the Irish American Heritage Center on representation and the Ireland Consulate, Ger O’Mahony for feedback on that process. Thanks to Brigid Duffy, below, for performing Mother Jones, including a jig! Photo credit: Henry Fulkerson
Photo Credit: Joseph Rathke
Thanks to Dave Rathke, Kate Klimut, Lisa Daub, Joseph Rathke, Margaret Fulkerson, Henry Fulkerson, for logistical arrangements for the celebration. Thanks to Ireland Consulate for much assistance in making arrangements. Thanks to Dennis Surgalski for last minute help.
And thanks to those who shared their photos: Henry Fulkerson, Carl Green, Mike Matejka, Mike Sheridan, Kate Klimut, R. Dale Hawkins, Joseph Rathke.
“Pray for the Dead, Fight Like Hell for the Living translated into Irish Gaelic, thanks to Ger O’Mahony of the Cork Mother Jones Festival. The wreath was donated by the Irish American Heritage Center. Henry Fulkerson photo.
Terry Reed of the Mother Jones Foundation speaks of their organizations years of work to keep the flame alive. Henry Fulkerson photo.
Rosemary Feurer and Kate Klimut. Credit: Mike Sheridan.
