During the first four years of their marriage they had four children. There she met and married Robert Jones, an iron worker who was an enthusiastic member of the Iron Moulder's Union. She moved to Chicago to explore the possibilities of becoming a professional dressmaker, but, at age 30, returned to teaching, this time in Memphis, Tennessee. She became a teacher at a Catholic school in Monroe, Michigan, soon after graduation. Mary was an excellent student and she graduated with high honors from high school. The family first settled in Toronto, Canada, where Mary's father was working on one of the first Canadian railroads. Once he became a naturalized American citizen around 1840, he sent for his wife and daughter.

When Mary was five years old, her father came to America, where he went to work building canals and railroads, a job similar to the one he had held in Ireland. 'Mother Jones' was born in 1830, near Dublin, Ireland to parents who were eager to emigrate. She did this for seventy years as a trade union organizer, a feminist, and a campaigner against child labor in America. After losing her own family to yellow fever, Mary Jones found in the lives of the downtrodden a new family to nurture and support. Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones (1830–1930) is one of the great legends of American progressive politics. She was instrumental in the formation of the United Mine Workers union (UMW) in 1890 and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905.Īn important addition to feminist literature, the Autobiography of Mother Jones is also 'a great piece of working-class literature…probably the most readable book in the whole field of American labor history.' - Clarence Darrow.

She played a significant role in organizing mining strikes in West Virginia and Colorado, as well as the Pittsburgh steel strike of 1919. Widowed at the age of 30 when her husband and four young children died during a yellow fever epidemic, Mother Jones spoke out tirelessly and effectively for the rights of workers and unionists.

Among the most stirring works of labor history ever written, this autobiography of Mother Jones (née Mary Harris) chronicles the life of a woman who was considered a saint by many, and by others, 'the most dangerous woman in America.' A forceful and picturesque figure in the American labor movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mother Jones was a born crusader.

Mary harris jones autobiography