Cecil E. Roberts John L. Lewis Mother Jones UMWA Mines Posters
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, The Miners’ Angel
Mary Harris Jones was a powerful UMWA organizer and workers advocate in the early 1900s. She was fearless in standing up to corporate executives, governors and gun thugs. She was thrown into jails and vilified by the public press for advancing the cause of coal miners and other workers.
Because of her courage and indefatigable spirit, she became known as the Miners’ Angel. Wherever the miners were on strike, there you would find Mother Jones, giving the miners inspiration and advice. She was involved in the Lattimer strike in Pennsylvania in 1897, the Ludlow strike in Colorado in 1913, and the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek strikes in West Virginia in 1920.
Mother Jones died in 1931 at the age of 100 after fighting for workers for more than half a century.
As a past featured speaker at the Labor Day Celebration in Boonville, IN in 2000, Karen Vuranch portrayed the dynamic Mother Jones.
