Jones, Mother, 1837-1930

Union activist Mother Jones was born Mary Harris in Ireland and immigrated to the United States. She was a school teacher and married George Jones and had four children. By 1867, Jones had lost her family to a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee. By the 1870s, "Mother" Jones began her long involvement in the labor struggle, by participating in various strikes such as the Pittsburgh Labor Riots (1877), the Western Virginia Anthracite Coal Strike (1902), and the Colorado Coal Field and Arizona Copper Field organization movements. She also led the Children Textile Workers March from Philadelphia to Teddy Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, Long Island (1902).

She helped found the International Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905 and was particularly associated with the United Mine Workers and the Socialist Party of America. She gained prominence while organizing men, women, and children which contributed to long-sought reforms in child-labor and mine safety. She was active into the 1920s and published The Autobiography of Mother Jones in 1925. She died 30 November 1930 in Silver Spring, Maryland.