On Wednesday October 28th the Mother Jones Heritage Project will hold an official ceremony to break ground at the site of the memorial to Cork born, Mary Harris known to the world as Mother Jones. This ceremony will be held at East Wacker Drive & North Wabash Avenue in Chicago at 11:00 am and will be performed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. Also in attendance will be representatives of the Chicago Department of Cultural and Special Events (DCASE) and Chicago Federation of Labour along with Ireland’s Chicago Consulate and Alderman Brendan Reiilly.

The memorial will consist of a bronze statue depicting iconic Labour activist Mother Jones in a pose which echoes the March of the Mill Children in July 1903 in which she highlighted the exploitation of young children working in the mines, mills and factories of America. Her efforts on this march made national headlines across America and exposed the abuse of young girls and boys who worked in often appalling conditions when they should have been in school and receiving an education.

Actress Brigid Duffy and Logan James Cervantes of Chicago World Language Academy, the model for the sculpture will re-enact the striking pose of the statue’s figures entitled “We Shall Rise” which will soon be erected on the site near the Chicago Riverwalk, which will be renamed the Mother Jones Plaza.

“We Shall Rise” and the Mother Jones Plaza will come to represent a fitting tribute to this Cork woman and to the generations of working people of every nationality and their unions whose labour and resilience helped to shape Chicago itself.

The design team of Kathleen Farrell, Kathleen Scarboro and Dante Di Bartolomo have sent the sculpture to the foundry. On behalf of the Cork Mother Jones Committee we wish to congratulate all involved in the Mother Jones Heritage Project for their massive effort in bringing this landmark project to fruition and look forward eagerly to the day when Mother Jones rises over the great city of Chicago.