The Mother Jones Heritage Project has been extremely busy in Chicago planning for the landmark monument to Mother Jones in the city. It is hoping that the statue will be erected during 2024. Fundraising continues and we ask our supporters and friends to contribute, if possible.
The Mother Jones Heritage Project in Chicago wishes to thank all who helped to ensure Mother Jones took part in many parades for Labor Day, including Reno Nevada, Chicago, Rockford, Princeton Indiana’s huge LaborFest, and Nashville Tennessee’s upcoming parade. More photos here.
Brigid Duffy (Chicago’s Mother Jones) appeared in costume for many of the events.
At the March of the Mill Children 2023. Credit (Mother Jones Heritage Project).
On July 7 2023, the Mother Jones Heritage Project organized a 130th commemoration of the March of the Mill Children at City Hall in Philadelphia, where the dramatic 1903 march was launched . Amidst concerns over the growing number of children in dangerous jobs, this issue is as relevant as ever. See the full story.
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.
Old Copper Mine in Ailihies, West Cork.
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.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 