On November 16th 2024, Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Dan Boyle visited the future site for the erection of the sculpture of Mother Jones in Chicago.

Above: Margaret Fulkerson, Brigid Duffy (members of the Chicago Mother Jones Statue Committee), Kathleen Farrell, (one of the lead sculptors along with Kathleen Scarboro), Cork Lord Mayor Dan Boyle, Rosemary Feurer, (project director) Ireland’s Consul General for Chicago and the Midwest Brian Cahalane, and Nathan Mason, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events representative. The group is standing in front of the Water Tower and near the site of the future sculpture.
Photo courtesy of the Mother Jones Heritage Committee.

The Lord Mayor had returned to the city where he was born and he was welcomed by members of the Mother Jones Heritage Committee along with one of the sculptors, Kathleen Farrell who are in the final planning stage of erecting this landmark sculpture near the famous Chicago Water Tower.

Rosemary Feurer, project director who attended the first festival in Cork in 2012, in welcoming the Lord Mayor pointed out that the sculpture of Mother Jones project was initiated following her visit to this festival in Shandon, close to the birthplace and baptism of Mary Harris in Cork. The strong connections between the Mother Jones committees in Chicago and Cork have been strengthened over the past decade and both groups have worked to promote the story and the spirit of the inspirational Mother Jones, whose heritage we share.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Dan Boyle with Brigit Duffy and Ireland’s Consulate General, Brian Cahalane. Photo courtesy of the Mother Jones Heritage Committee.

The Lord Mayor expressed the view that the efforts of the Chicago Committee will also be an inspiration to the Cork City Council in relation to celebrating the spirit of Mother Jones in Cork itself. He stated that he has a portrait of Mother Jones in his office, this portrait also hangs in the Irish Consulate General’s office in Chicago which commissioned the painting from artist Lindsay Hand.

The Mother Jones Heritage Committee, through effort and commitment, is having a statue of Mother Jones erected at a key city centre location in Chicago. I was delighted to hear of the support of Chicago City Council for this project and the inspiration given to the Chicago group by the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival in Cork. Cork should be similarly inspired to further acknowledge Mary Harris/Mother Harris in her native city.

Sculptor Kathleen Farrell with the Cork City Librarian, Patricia Looney. Photo courtesy of the Mother Jones Heritage Committee.

The sculpture is expected to be erected in Chicago during 2025 and should be a fitting monument to the Cork woman who as an emigrant during the Great Hunger went on to become “the most dangerous woman in America”.

Project Director: Rosemary Feurer, on the Bells of Shandon during the inaugural Mother Jones Festival 2012. Photo courtesy of the Cork Mother Jones Archive.

There are many activities and ongoing events in the USA with connections to Mother Jones and the Irish emigrant diaspora.

Some wonderful news is that the Chicago Monuments Commission has issued a report and among the projects which it has decided to fund is the Chicago Statue/Sculpture Campaign which seeks to erect a monument to Mother Jones in a prominent location in Chicago. This additional $50,000 funding from the Commission gives the campaign a fantastic boost and it is hoped to announce the location of the monument very soon. Fundraising continues and the latest trade union contribution of $5000 from the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts was also most welcome. The Committee’s cherished dream of a lasting and permanent monument to the Cork woman looks like being realised shortly.

Image of Proposed Mother Jones Statue in Chicago

The Mother Jones Heritage Project has also received news that its application for the erection of a road marker in southern Indiana to Mother Jones has been approved. It will be placed in Evansville, a city with a rich Labour and coal miners heritage where Mother Jones rallied striking textile workers in 1901 and later in 1916 when she addressed a crowd of some ten thousand at a Labor Day picnic. A former coal miner and local historian Steve Bottoms worked with the Indiana authorities and with fundraising to make this memorial to Mother Jones happen.

The Mother Jones Heritage exhibition, Dangerous Women, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and Francis “Fannie” Sellins, at the St. Louis Public Library’s Carnegie Room continues until January 7, 2023. The exhibit was funded in part by an Emigrant Support Grant of the Irish Government through the Chicago Consulate. Fannie Sellins was born Fannie Mooney and this union activist also had deep Irish emigrant roots.

Finally the Mother Jones Heritage Project invites everyone to join them on Saturday September 3rd in Chicago as Mother Jones leads the Labor day Parade. So come out and honour Mother Jones. For details visit www.motherjonesmuseum.org

Meanwhile down in Leadville in Colorado the construction of a monument is underway to remember the many Irish immigrants, over 1300, many of them young miners and their families from Allihies in West Cork who lie buried in unmarked graves in the Evergreen Cemetery.

The local Colorado committee under Professor James Walsh expects to have Phase 1 of the memorial completed this year and there will be a celebratory event in Leadville on Saturday September 17th 2022 to mark this achievement. The full unveiling of the spectacular monument will be held in 2023 when the glass panels with the names of those who lie buried there will be on display. Fundraising is continuing and donations towards the completion of the monument are most welcome.

Proposed Immigrant Memorial in Leadville, Colorado.

For details. https://www.irishnetworkco.com/celebration-of-the-completion-of-phase-1-of-the-leadville-memorial/

Mother Jones Helped Celebrate Leadville/Cork Twin City Ceremony

The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival

Shandon, Cork City, Ireland

Tag Archives: Chicago Statue

Historic Visit by the Lord Mayor of Cork to the future site for the Sculpture of Mother Jones in Chicago.

American Events and Updates

There are many activities and ongoing events in the USA with connections to Mother Jones and the Irish emigrant diaspora.