Mother Jones: Children’s Crusade and life

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, celebrated in my backyard and worldwide

Aren’t we lucky?

Anybody in the DC metro area can visit this marker and pay respects to a labor giant, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who spent her last years and died in Adelphi in nearby Prince George’s County. As the marker near the well-traveled Riggs Road and Powder Mill Road notes, this spectacular woman spent her life—up into her 90s!—championing workers of all kinds treated unfairly.

She’d travel to worker and their families scourged by poverty from heinous jobs in coal mines and steel and textile mills, living among them in freezing tents and tenements. Like the fiercest mother, she’d fight for them, going toe-to-toe with the most powerful, from the local mine owner and their fat-cat corporate bosses to lawmakers, from local mayors going up the President.

For decades, Mother Jones commanded headlines across the US (and world) and was known as “The Most Dangerous Woman in America,” as is titled her excellent biography by Elliott J. Gorn.

Saul Schneiderman made Mother public here.

When I see PUBLIC history about an amazing human I admire, I am thrilled, and I’m grateful to those who made that public history public so that folks know about the true s/heroes who’ve made our communities better. Thanks to labor historian Saul Schneiderman, cofounder of the Labor Heritage Foundation and supporting labor organizations for this marker and for work to keep alive the history and legacy of Mother Jones!

For me, there’s nothing better than visiting and bearing witness to a spot where awesome people did awesome things. I’m planning a short caravan to a few sites in the whereabouts of Mother Jones’s Adelphi marker, including our elementary school named after Mother Jones; message me if you’re interested. And of course, if you don’t know much about this epic woman, do check out these greatoverviews.

Heard of the Children’s Crusade?

Mother Jones and the “Mother’s Army” set out from Philadelphia.

I was delighted to pilgrimage to several Mother Jones activism sites recently when my husband and I drove up to Long Island to visit family. We stopped at some spots where Mother Jones led her inspiring and ingenious Children’s Crusade march in 1903. “Mother’s Army,” a band of kids and adults, marched and educated folks along the way from Philadelphia to Long Island, where President Teddy Roosevelt retreated to his summer mansion. Mother Jones was 66 years old as she led this long slog!

Many thanks to the Mother Jones Museum folks, who made my trip destinations easy to find. Check out their treasure trove of info about the life and journeys of Mother Jones. And thanks to the great info about Mother Jones and many other labor s/heroes at We Never Forget: The Labor Martyrs Project.

But before I start my Children’s March foray, a bit more about the life of Mother Jones.

Everyone should know about Mother Jones!

Soon in Chicago: “We Shall Rise”

Many, many Americans have no awareness of Mother Jones and her work. That’s why it’s so important that highly visible markers and monuments keep on coming. Cheers to Rosemary Feurer and others at the Mother Jones Museum for this statue of Mother Jones and a child—titled “We Shall Rise”—at their iconic Water Tower. It’s scheduled to rise next year; you can make sure it does by donating toward the cause.

Mother marches in Chicago’s St. Pat parade

Chicago fans, particularly the Irish, have kept her memory thriving over many years. She and her legacy are celebrated at events such as this float at the 2025 St. Patrick’s Day parade.

And anyone can make her public by bringing a representation of her to actions and events, such as a Mother Jones Museum cardboard Mother that makes the rounds at various activities such as strikes and protests.

Keeping Mother vibrant in her birthplace

Mother Jones love pours out in her native Cork, Ireland, where she is beloved and celebrated year-round with a huge festival and summer school in late July around Mother’s birthday.

And the Cork folks keep her work going with Mother Jones annual awards to labor sheroes and heroes.

This year the Mother Jones award winner is Phil Ní Sheaghdha, leader of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization and president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, for her exemplary work for better healthcare.

She’s honored for leading a national nurses strike for better pay and and staffing; protecting front-line nurses during Covid-19; and fighting for healthcare and hospital conditions for all people.

Natch, Mother Jones is central to this Feminist Walk of Cork! And because I’m also addicted to walking where s/heroes did awesome things and inviting others to join me, I appreciate this way the Cork feminists frame walk activism.

MoJo magazine: Fearless for 50 years

And then there’s the exemplary and essential Mother Jones magazine, now celebrating its 50th year! They named themselves after Mother Jones and continue to carry out her mission of fearless independent reporting to right wrongs.

Learn how Mother Jones magazine pushed for needed change over the years, such as getting dangerous cars off the road, revealing the insidious grip of Big Tobacco, and more in this fascinating podcast with Monika Bauerlein, CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting, which produces Mother Jones, as well as the public radio show Reveal and its sister podcast, More To The Story.

A motto well-lived: “Pray for the Dead and Fight Like Hell for the Living”

Mary was born near this Cork, Ireland, marker.

Here’s the Mother Jones story from her birth around August 1, 1937 to death on Nov. 1, 1930. (Her baptismal date is August 1; later in life, she adopted International Worker’s Day as her May 1 birthday.) Mary Harris was born to tenant farmers near Cork, who left behind the potato famine to immigrate to Toronto.

Mary taught school in Toronto and then in Chicago, where she also supported herself with dressmaking. In both professions, she was angered by the disparity between poor and rich children and the fancy women who bought her dresses and the poor women like her who made them while living in distressing conditions.

When she moved to Memphis at age 24, she met and married George Jones, an iron molder. George was a leader in his union, and the union members kept their pay and working conditions better than most workers. Mary ran the household and tended their four young children.

In 1867, yellow fever took all the children: Catherine, 5; Elizabeth, 4; Terence, 2; and baby Mary. Shortly, George caught the fever and died. Thousands died in a yellow fever wave that hit many cities, particularly in the South. But it hit the lower class hardest, such as those living in Mary’s neighborhood surrounded by a stagnant bayou that bred mosquitos and germs.

Mary lost all four children and her husband; the death cart took them away.

Mary was left alone, grieving through long nights listening, as she writes in her autobiography, to “the grating of the wheels of the death carts.” She returned to Chicago and dressmaking. Horror struck again after four years: Her house and shop burned to the ground in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, and she had to start over again.

She started going to meetings of the Knights of Labor and joining in actions. She befriended Knights of Labor leader Terence Powderly, who with spouse Emma would invite her to share their Washington, DC, home when Mother was old.

Mary upped her labor activism steadily and she became sought out for her organizing skills. Over the years she was a paid and valued organizer for the United Mine Workers and the Socialist Party, who were wowed by her successes, such as growing the UMW from 10,000 to 300,000 members. Her organizing wages let her minimize her dressmaking for support.

Working people loved “Mother Jones,” as she became known, because she personified the best of motherhood: Loving yet firmly encouraging and pushing people through daunting times toward necessary goals. She’d be sweet and protective of “her boys,” but she’d also challenge them sharply them to stay the course for family and union.

Her speeches were thrilling and stirring, and her humor tart and targeted. She’d skewer John D. Rockefeller as “Oily John” John D. Rockefeller as “Oily John” and Governor William Glasscock of West Virginia as “Crystal Peter.” She was a wizard of engaging stories and jabs that spread like old school memes. “I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes,” she once said. “I said if he had stolen a railroad, he would be a United States Senator.”

She’d enlist women to support their men in “mop and broom” brigades to harass scabs and bosses. While she’s most identified with organizing men, she’d often help women labor activists, and they looked up to her as a mother and ally.