After her husband and four children died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1867, Mary Harris Jones (1837 - 1930) lost her dress shop to the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Rather than despair, she responded by becoming a political activist. Jones joined the Knights of Labor, precursor to the Industrial Workers of the World, and began staging strikes and protests on behalf of laborers. A devout Catholic, Jones believed good wages for working men would allow women to stay home with their children, who should be in school and not forced to work in factories.
By 1897, at age 60, she had assumed the persona of "Mother Jones" by claiming to be older than she was, wearing outdated black dresses and referring to the male workers that she helped as "her boys".
Jones is remembered for her fight against child labor, particularly the Children’s Crusade. The march began in Philadelphia on July 7, 1903, to protest the lack of effective child labor laws in PA mines and textile mills. Over 250 children and adults made the trek with her, and when they passed through towns along the way, she would stop to give public speeches about the evils of child labor. At that time, almost 20% of the American workforce was below the age of 16. The march led them to New York City and then on to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt on Long Island. Roosevelt refused to see her, but the publicity brought to light the appalling conditions that children endured in factories and mines throughout the country. The work was hard and dangerous, wages low and hours long. Roosevelt referred to “Mother” Jones as “the most dangerous woman in America.”
At that time, children in Pennsylvania mills were paid about $2.50 (about $75.00 today) for a sixty + hour work week. Many children never went to school, owing to the long hours working. Philadelphia had about 600 garment factories and textile mills; in many, the majority of the workers were children, some as young as seven.
The crusade began with a rally at City Hall where she held up the mutilated hands of multiple children, declaring that “Philadelphia’s mansions were built on the broken bones, the quivering ears and drooping heads of these children…Some day the workers will take possession of you city hall, and, when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit.”
Despite their failure to meet with the President and pass national legislation regulating child labor, Mother Jones felt that the crusade had been successful in drawing the nation’s attention to the plight of child workers and launching a nationwide movement against child labor. It wasn't until 1915 that Pennsylvania enacted a new child labor law setting the minimum age at fourteen. It took another 20+ years for the federal government to pass national child labor laws.
City Hall Rally
Comments