•Shaped by Hardship•
Mary Harris was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1837 [1]. Throughout her life, she repeatedly witnessed grave disparities between social classes. After a series of tragedies caused her to lose her homeland, family, and livelihood, Mary devoted her life to defending the working class, becoming known as Mother Jones.
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Irish Potato Famine
In the 1840s, potato crops were destroyed by a fungus, leaving working class Irish families a choice: emigration or starvation. Mary's family, like many others, made the difficult journey to North America in search of a better life [2].
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Yellow Fever Epidemic
Mary was living in Memphis, Tennessee, with her husband and four children when the yellow fever epidemic of 1867 struck. The disease devastated working class neighborhoods since the poor could not afford to flee or hire nurses. Mary’s entire household was killed [3].
"All about my house I could hear weeping and the cries of delirium. One by one, my four little children sickened and died. I washed their little bodies and got them ready for burial. My husband caught the fever and died. I sat alone through nights of grief. No one came to me." —Mother Jones [4]
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Great Chicago Fire
Mary moved to Chicago and opened a dress shop, putting her in a position to see disparities between the social classes. In her autobiography she wrote, "The contrast of their condition with that of the tropical comfort of the people for whom I sewed was painful to me. My employers seemed neither to notice nor to care." After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed her business, she dedicated her life to taking a stand for marginalized groups [5].
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"My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression. Sometimes I am in Washington, then Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado. My address is like my shoes: it travels with me." —Mother Jones [6]
Hobie Noble, "Mother Jones," 2011.
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