Mother Jones on parade! On picket lines as well as "just practicing" pickets. At the Illinois State Fair. And on Labor Day 2023, we participated in a number of parades, including Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, Labor Day Association celebration in Evansville, Indiana, and in the Reno, Nevada LaborFest. On September 9, she will be at Nashville, Tennessee. We'll update our page on that one. Images by Margaret Fulkerson and Rich Leschina. Chicago: The Chicago Tribune ran 4 images that included Mother Jones and the Labor Day Parade. More images below. Princeton Indiana hosted the 137th Labor Day Association Event. Over 4000 people attended. IBEW's Kim Musgrave designed these great T-shirts and brochure about Mother Jones. It's the oldest type of event, started by the Knights of Labor in 1886. Lots more images here of the Chicago Parade. Click arrow at left to see them all. Below: At Rockford, Illinois Below The RenoNevada LaborFest added Mother Jones again, and this time added a board to tell a little of her history!

On July 7, 2023, we organized a March of the Mill Children 130th commemoration in coordinating with the Pennsylvania Labor History Society and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO. Here are some scenes of that event.

On May 17, 2023 a crowd of over 75 people gathered at the Shirley James Plaza in Evansville, Indiana to dedicate a marker to Mary Harris “Mother Jones” and her activism in Indiana. The marker text points to important issues of the early labor movement. And this is the first official Indiana marker that concerns the labor movement struggles of Indiana workers. All photos below are courtesy of Steve Shofstall, Labor Day Association photographer, and life member of Painters Local 156 (23 years as Business Manager), unless otherwise credited. The front side of the marker reads: Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. Irish-born activist Mary "Mother" Jones organized workers across the U.S., demanding fair wages and safe working conditions. In Evansville, she rallied striking textile workers in 1901. She returned to Indiana often to speak on behalf of laborers and their families into the 1920s, including at the annual conventions of the United Mine Workers of America in Indianapolis. The back side of the marker reads: Activism in Indiana. Revered by Evansville's labor leaders, Mother Jones fought for child labor laws and advocated for miners here. In 1916, she spoke before 10,000 people at the Labor Day picnic in the city. Organizing throughout Indiana, she addressed a steel strike in Gary in 1919. She believed workers deserved the full value of their labor and control of their workplaces. She died in 1930. At the bottom: Installed 2023 Indiana HIstorical Bureau, Mother Jones Heritage Project, Bil and Kim Musgrave, Labor Day Association, IBEW LU 16, Teamsters LU 15, USWA 104, Indiana PSO We began this project in 2021, after a conversation with Steve Bottoms, pictured above on the right. Steve is an old friend of our project. We initiated the marker application with the Indiana State Historical Bureau, which is in charge of the complex process of official approval. While there were many locations that would have been appropriate in Indiana for placing a marker to Mother Jones, Casey Pfeiffer advised us that areas such as Evansville, which had not had as many markers as other areas, would make it more likely to gain approval. We also argued that labor unions are an underrepresented group in the Indiana Marker program. Mother Jones visited Evansville a number of times, and this was where miners were concentrated in Indiana, and so it was an easy decision to agree to try in Evansville. But these kind of markers don't go up without a community of support. This marker’s genesis was due to our friendship and solidarity with the union people involved with the Evansville Labor Day Association. Steve Bottoms is a former miner activist who reads labor history avidly and has sought to build historical consciousness in his role there and as a member of the Operating Engineers. The Labor Day Association is the oldest existing such association. Its origins go back to 1886 and the Knights of Labor. I’ve spoken at the Labor Day Association a few times, and have recruited other labor historians to speak there, including the late James Green of Boston University and Lisa Phillips of Indiana State University. I've met wonderful people at these events, people who surprised and motivated me with their beautiful commitments to keeping a sense of labor history and its connections to broader issues. The initial text that we submitted was vetted and approved tentatively shortly thereafter, but later there was more discussion and the text was changed a few more times. Mother Jones visited Evansville several times. The first time we've found her is in 1897, and there she was meeting with socialists and trade unionists. In 1916 she spoke for two hours to 10,000 people. We went through three different potential locations for the marker in Evansville, but they all did not work out for one reason or another. This is a lot of work, and we couldn't have had a closer friend to the project than Steve, who kept at it until we had found one at the Gateway Plaza. This is a beautiful bike path along an old railroad line. Surely Mother Jones rode these trains on this coming into Evansville, so it was also appropriate historically. Steve also raised $1500 of the $3300 cost for us. He had checks in hand within about 5 days of asking. The donors are listed below. We are so grateful to all who joined in donating to the marker. In addition, we saved additional installation costs through volunteers with the Building Trades. While we were all set to go to dedicate this in early 2022, the marker company suddenly told us that there would be long delays due to COVID-related issues that had significantly delayed their manufacturing schedule. This is a very old company, which was around during Mother Jones' time, yet for the first time in its history, they were dealing with a long list. We had to wait almost a year to dedicate this marker. Below you can see some of the wonderful people who came to the event. These were an inspiring group of unionists and activists who care about this history, and for whom the history is not abstract. There were Teamsters, UMWA retirees, Iron Workers, IBEW members, political officials, historians and women's history champions. Click on any photo below to see a slideshow Steve commented a few days after the event: “So many people have told me how special this was, and I know it will inspire others." The program book was dedicated to Bil Musgrave, who as the photo below will attest, was a big fan of Mother Jones. When I was bemoaning all the work of this project one time, Bil told me he thought what we were doing, no matter all the hard work, matter a great deal to him. Bil was a United Mine Workers of America activist who contracted cancer from the toxins of his work, due to malfeasance and negligence. He was fighting cancer when I first met him in 2007, and yet somehow he persevered to the very end. He would have been proud of this marker, too.

We loved seeing the packed house at the Irish American Heritage Center for our Mother Jones May Day Birthday Party--the biggest one yet. Brendan McKinney set the tone for the annual event with a rousing bagpipe solo. From there, we were treated to performances by virtuoso musicians such as world renowned fiddler Liz Carroll and and Irish Traditional Band consisting of Brendan McKinney, Siobhan McKinney and Jim Dewar. They performed tunes that Mother Jones would have heard in her early years in Cork, as well as in Chicago of the nineteenth century. Kathy Cowan sang two songs, "James Connolly, the Union Man," and "School Day's Over." Sarah Keating, Ireland's Vice Consul to Chicago and the Midwest, assured us that Mother Jones and our statue will elevate the role of immigrant women in the Irish diaspora. We heard from Sarah Bowden, a Northwestern University graduate student union representative, tell about the campaigns for unionization at Northwestern and University of Chicago. She told us of the overwhelming pro-union sensibility of her cohorts, and drama of standing up for rights in higher education. Brigid Duffy performed Mother Jones and the March of the Mill Children to rousing applause and shouts of "fight for the living." Karen White, deputy executive director of the National Education Association gave a speech that connected the March of the Mill Children to current attacks on public education. You can listen to it below. Kathy Cowan and the SAG-AFTRA singers led us in a rousing rendition of Solidarity Forever, e are so grateful to the performers who donated their services, which allowed us to raise funds for the statue campaign. Photos by Elliott Gorn Bakers Local 1 came through again with a delicious cake from Vasecky's Bakery. Vasecky's is an old bakery that was around in Mother Jones' day. It served 300 people and not a piece was left over. Thanks to those who donated ads for our booklet. We will be sending out booklets to all who have donated. Please see the ads below from those who were so generous. Want a booklet? Ask for one through motherjoneslives@gmail.com. Karen White's speech: https://vimeo.com/822583771... Ads from our supporters--

Great cheer as our team was able to meet with County Cork visitors in the lead up to their delegation to the St. Patrick’s day parade on Saturday. This years theme is Workers Rights and Tim Drea of the Illinois AFL-CIO is the Grand MarshallThis year's Chicago Downtown St. Patrick's Day, March 11, 2023. And some from Sunday's Southside parade. Before that we met with County Cork Visitors. Details below. Mary Harris Adler and Joe Hill Adler in the stroller joined the march with us. We met these folks a couple years ago at the parade and are delighted they joined us again with their children. Photo credit: Joe Rathke We Shall Rise! Photos by Charlie McBarron Photos by Charlie McBarron Photos by Charlie McBarron and Maya Shenoy Photos by Joe Rathke and Charlie McBarron Filmed by Charlie McBarron The Irish American Heritage Center also had a float featuring Mother Jones (Brigid Duffy and elements of the display from our exhibit at their center . Photo Credit: Charlie McBarron and Suzy Brack Photos of Irish American Heritage Center Float which included SAG_AFTRA singers. Brigid Duffy and Suzy Brack, who were part of our recent play Table For Two are here! Photos by Suzy Lynn Petriccio. Then on Sunday, Mother Jones was part of the Southside parade with Roofers Local 1. Photo by Michael Womack Photo by Michael Womack Photo by Michael Womack Earlier in the week our team was able to meet with County Cork visitors in the lead up to their delegation to the St. Patrick’s day parade on Saturday. In Center is Cork Mayor Danny Collins. Others in the image include Kevin Byrne, Chicago's Consul General to Chicago and the Midwest, Cork Concillors and Statue and Museum board members, Rosemary Feurer, Stephanie Seawell-Fortado, Sheila Gainer, Margaret Fulkerson, Brigid Duffy, Bill Fraher. This years theme is Workers Rights and Tim Drea. left, of the Illinois AFL-CIO was the Grand Marshall

We've been waiting to announce this officially for too long. Our statue/sculpture of Mother Jones will be placed at Chicago's historic Water Tower. There have some negotiations and some wrinkles . But we did it, indeed. Chicago's Water Tower is the most iconic old Chicago site in the city, and one of the most visited. Yet the park around it is small, intimate. This sculpture will signal that Chicago is a union town, that immigrants and working class built the city, and that we are part of a tradition of struggle. It's taken us a long time to get here. We started fundraising with only a proposed location, and you had faith that we would come through. We accomplished this by organizing. The protests over statues and memorials in the city put new policies into place through the Chicago Monuments Project. We had to revise our tentative agreements with the city. One element was agreeing to a new vetting process for artists to submit proposals. Our new schedule calls for the final artistic renditions to be completed by this summer. After that, it will be just a short time. The official name of the project is Mother Jones "We Shall Rise". The completion of the project will be a joint effort of the MJHP and the Chicago Monuments Project. We will never forget that you donated without a definite location. Keep the faith, we said. We need your help to fulfill our fundraising targets. We still have a ways to go. The time to donate is now! The Water Tower and Mother Jones The Water Tower survived the Great Chicago Fire, just like Mother Jones. The tower was being built when Mother Jones returned to Chicago after she lost her husband and children to yellow fever. After the Great Fire of 1871, Mother Jones found a new purpose by becoming part of Chicago’s multi-ethnic immigrant-based labor movement. The site is still a place that protests are launched. When asked how she came to identify as an agitator against the conditions of the poor and oppressed workers, she replied “I first began to think of it after the Great Fire of Chicago, when I saw all the relief which had been sent the distressed did not reach the source for which it was meant.” She began to read, think and act. By 1900, she was widely known as Mother Jones, a fearless labor organizer. But Chicago remained her base all the way up until the year she died, when she hoped to return there to be honored by working class Chicagoans. The sculpture will now represent labor history, women’s history, the history of immigrants, and the long struggle of people before profit. It will be the first sculpture of Mother Jones. It's long overdue, we say.

co-authored with Charlie McBarron; Photos courtesy Charlie McBarron Hundreds packed the Erin Room at Chicago’s Irish American Heritage Center on November 13, for the world premier of Larry Kirwan’s one-act play, A Table For Two at The Dill Pickle. We were at capacity for this event. The audience reception was fantastic. The play imagines a meeting of early 20th century labor icons Mother Jones and Big Jim Larkin at a Chicago pub in 1919, The conversation is about the struggle for worker's rights and an end to child labor, but it’s both funny and bittersweet, as Larkin pines to return home to his family in Ireland and Jones continues to grieve for her family, which was wiped out by a yellow fever outbreak. Veteran Chicago actors Brigid Duffy and Will Casey played Jim Larkin and Mother Jones, respectively, while Suzy Brack played the waitress at the event. The play came to life after two visits to Chicago Irish consulate events. About a year ago, we were honored to be invited to a meeting with Ireland's Ambassador to the U.S. Dan Mulhall. Seeing our statue committee member Brigid Duffy, who has played Mother Jones for our project, he quipped, "We should put on a show where you play Mother Jones and I play Big Jim Larkin!" Shortly after that meeting, Brigid was one of the attendees at the premier of the Broadway-bound Paradise Square, and she mentioned the proposal to Larry Kirwan, who conceived that show. Kirwan generously agreed to write the one-act play . Brigid did the work of bringing together the actors with director Kay Martinovich. What a team, and a great combination Will Casey and Brigid made. A well-deserved enthusiastic standing ovation followed. Great performances by quintessential professionals. We gratefully acknowledge their work, and the approval of Actors Equity for producing this as a non-profit production. Learn more about the Dill Pickle and other background history to the play in the playbook, below. We also had bonus performances by Gavin Coyle, who started us off with a powerful There is Power in the Union, and then a masterful version of Larry Kirwan/Black 47's The Day They Set Jim Larkin Free. Brian Weddington brought a virtuoso performance as A. Phillip Randolph. I had suggested a speech by Randolph from 1919, and then he took it, adding touches that brought it to life and were relevant to the present. It was stunning and brought another standing ovation. Weddington & Gavin performances were arranged by Bill Fraher, a statue committee member. The program was a fundraiser for the campaign to erect a statue of Mother Jones in her adopted hometown of Chicago. The statue has beep approved by the City of Chicago and the work on the statue its expected to begin in 2023. At the event, we announced the new location, to wild cheers of the audience. Here is the playbook, where you can take a closer look at the talent and background of the performers and learn more about the talent that brought this staged reading performance together. We wish to thank the Irish American Heritage Center for providing this venue to us. A special shout out to Meg Ryan and specifically the contributions of Martin Quirk. We thank all those volunteers listed who helped us make this happen.

Dangerous Women: Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and Frances “Fanny” Sellins exhibit at the Carnegie Room, St. Louis Public Library. The exhibit calls for a historical marker at the site of 13th & Washington to honor Sellins, who was murdered by enemies of the labor movement. The exhibit is looking for a new home in 2023. This new exhibit opened on July 5, and so far, the response to it has been fabulous. The exhibit was funded in part by an Emigrant Support Grant from the Government of Ireland. I want to thank the Chicago Consulate for this support. At NIU, I worked with brilliant undergraduate Emma Flynn Barton-Norris, who was funded by a Student Engagement Fund grant by NIU. The staff of the library is working with us for some programming. We'll update on this site when we have those dates ready to announce. The folks at OC Creates (OCCreates.com) have been wonderful to work with on the graphic design, including posters that we were invited to add to the exhibit at the last minute. Leslie Latimer created this and was a dream to work with. OC Creative's Brian Oster gave us a huge in-kind donation for their work as well and the entire staff cared about the project. We can't thank them enough for their hard work and innovative contribution. We commissioned two works of art for this project from the funds from the grant, one by Kathleen Scarboro-- the centerpiece mural. I worked initially with Kathleen Farrell and Kathleen Scarboro but Scarboro initiated this work. The colors in the piece are embedded in the exhibit board as well. We've posted previously about Lindsay Hand's work for this exhibit, and it's great to pair her portrait of Fannie Sellins with the 2017 Mother Jones painting that was originally commissioned for the Mt. Olive museum, but is now part of this exhibit. At the last minute, project friend Jim Schoppman came through with a frame for this new Sellins portrait. It's been great working with the staff of the St. Louis Public Library. Cathy Heimberger and Barbara Higgins facilitiated and installed this exhibit, paying for the production of most of the exhibit boards. Here is a sneak peak at the exhibit: The Intro Board: The exhibit connects Mother Jones and Fannie Sellins, but also tells the story of the way that law and threats were used to reinforce the hierarchies of the workplace. It tells the story of Marx & Haas, where Fannie Sellins organized with others to contest that hierarchy. On the Library main level, you will find these poster kiosks, with 16 posters. Thanks to Dave Dowling for these images. Below: Sara Dowling produced this Fannie Sellins stand up, and Leslie Latimer of OCCreative completed it. We paired it with the Mother Jones stand-up and two images from Kate Klimut, who helped in numerous ways to initiate this project. The exhibit seeks to draw connections between Mother Jones and Fannie Sellins, portray the violence in the law and policing of these times, and profile their attempts to build a multi-ethnic solidarity. For the first time it gives a fuller explanation of how Fannie rose from the St. Louis movement, and why she was not remembered there after she died. The exhibit also seeks to generate a historical marker at the site of the sweatshop where Fannie Sellins worked and fought back. Fannie, as leader of the garment workers, was prohibited from picketing or visiting Marx & Haas, the largest clothing maker in the city at the time, at 13th & Washington (now called the Knickerbocker Lofts). See motherjonesmuseum.org/fanniesellins to donate for this marker. The exhibit has some great items in the vitrine cases, including the delegate badge seen in this photo below! Below: The exhibit connects past and present. Mother Jones took May Day as her birthday, and this recent version of the May Day vision by Christen Alqueza is displayed next to the one from her era. Thanks to all who helped to make this exhibit. In addition to those named below, Jim Schoppman and Sara Gene Dowling assisted after this panel was completed:

So many wonderful people gathered for a festival of solidarity at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. These images and videos illustrate the wonderful celebration that was accomplished by our great volunteers. Special thanks to Marc Ritterbush who completed the graphic artistry for our substantial commemorative booklet. If you would like a copy of this booklet, we will send you 1-2 copies for a $10 donation (motherjonesmuseum.org/donate) while supplies last. Sara Nelson, President of Association of Flight Attendants- CWA, AFL-CIO speaking at the Mother Jones May Day Birthday Party, May 1, 2022. (You need facebook to view the videos). And Sara even sang Happy Birthday to our own Brigid Duffy! We are grateful to Paddy Homan, who sang this great rendition of Joe Hill at the event, as well as other songs from his repertoire Below Sara Nelson with Mary Lou Edwards, who presented the tribute to Helen Ramirez-Odell, pictured in one of the ad tributes to her from the May Day event. Helen was a leading member of the statue committee, whose loss we mourn. Helen was a leader in the fight for a statue, inspired us all, was our steadfast friend, a leader in the CTU women's committee. Seated on the right is Helen's daughter Moira, who also lost her father this week. We extend our heartfelt sympathies and we will remember Helen as we move forward. We thank everyone for honoring Helen's memory, and we will continue to honor her as we go forward. We awarded fine art giclee reproductions of Lindsay Hand's "Chicago March, 1915" at our May Day Birthday Party event (wrapped in protective covering). We are so grateful to these large donors, including Chicago Painters District Council 14Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers ADC 1 of IL, Chicago Teachers Union #1, Chicago Federation of Labor, United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers Local 11 Sprinkler Fitters 281. We are grateful to all our donors. And so glad that by spreading this art, we spread knowledge of Mother Jones. Thanks Lindsay Hand and the Consulate General of Ireland, Chicago for the grant that funded the original oil art. Lindsay Hand was unable to join us as originally planned, but she sent personal greetings for all the recipients.

An excellent conversation with scholars and community activists about the new book profiling the practices and activism of public history. Please give a listen to the video below. The recording that was previously posted did not display correctly, so we have now posted it to youtube and seems to work better (August 20). Dozens of people attended this great event. We were unable to record with speaker view. . And consider purchasing this book which is available from University of Colorado Press. If you can't afford to purchase, consider asking your library to do so. “There is no book that does what this book does, that provides a strategy for doing this kind of work and illustrates that strategy with such a detailed and important example. That the case study here is such a controversial and divisive story makes this volume all the more valuable.” —Peter Rachleff, Macalester University

We were at the Chicago Parade and the Southside. Great to se the warm reception at both. You can can hear the crowd response in this video! From the Southside: More from Downtown. Thanks to Brigid Duffy and the SAG-AFTRA singers for coming out. Thanks to Hector Arellano and the Roofers Union, and others for marching with us.

Railroads offered special trains from Springfield and surrounding communities for Mother Jones’ funeral and burial on December 8, 1930. Some made a great effort to be there to be there, not only to honor her life, but to fight for the survival of their union as a fighting organization. One was Frank Keeney, (left) the former leader of West Virginia's District 17 of the UMWA, which had been decimated after the Blair Mountain uprising of 1921. He drove from West Virginia in heavy rains with Alexander Howat, (right) leader of the Kansas miners and, at the time, President of a rump UMWA group that was organizing in West Virginia. Also in the car on the way from West Virginia was Panama Illinois miner-organizer William Daesch. Howat wrote of the experience in a letter two days later, to Kansas UMWA secretary Peter Pierard: “Three of us drove here from Charleston, W. Va and spoke at a big miners meeting at Cedar Grove Sunday afternoon, then drove back from Charleston to Mt. Olive, Ill.. Sunday night and attended the burial of Mother Jones. The round trip was about 1250 miles. We never slept a wink Saturday and Sunday night. . . . Frank Keeney from West Virginia made the trip from here over there and on the return trip to Mt. Olive Tom Tippett came with us. Believe me we had a wild old ride in order to make it in time, and (the) car almost turned over at least a dozen different times. It was a wet pavement nearly all the way both ways, as it rained nearly all along the road. I never saw such a turnout of people in all my life as the crowd that turned out to attend the burial of Mother Jones.” Frank Keeney had been in Illinois regularly and became more radicalized in the years after the 1921 defeat. The funeral was not the first or last time he would visit Union Miners Cemetery. In 1931, Keeney was part of a call for a rank-and-file meeting in St. Louis to honor Mother Jones' memory. Tom Tippett (left) was from a family of Illinois miners. Their family had hosted Mother Jones in the Peoria, Illinois area. Tippett referred to Mother Jones as “the most wonderful woman in the world." When Tippett organized and reported with Keeney in West Virginia, he noted that West Virginia miners and their families reverently carried a flag Mother Jones had once held. In the mid 1930s Tippett won a grant from Guggenheim, and wrote an acclaimed novel about Illinois miners struggles, Horseshoe Bottoms. Left: A newspaper article from a West Virginia paper tells of the trip back to Illinois by the organizers of a renegade union effort. Notably, William Daesch mentioned here hailed from Panama, Illinois. That was John L. Lewis' home local. In 1929, the Panama local declared Lewis "unfit to be a member of the UMWA" and expelled him from local membership, withdrawing his card. Mother Jones' last bequest was giving $1000 from her autobiography proceeds towards funding this miners rump movement. Miners felt the stakes were high, and sought to use Mother Jones' memory to defeat a union leader who they argued was autocratic and corrupt. These are just some profiles of the thousands of people who sought to honor the spirit of Mother Jones by paying their last respects.