Betsey Means, WomanLore: Performing Women in History
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1830-1930) was a labor leader - a spectacular, controversial woman in an occupation and a time filled with danger. America was just becoming an industrial nation when Mother Jones began her involvement in the labor movement. The majority of working people put in 12-14 hour days for wages that were pitifully low, and workers were struggling with conditions that amounted, she said, to slavery. In 1903, 100,000 workers including 16,000 children had left their jobs at 600 mills in the Philadelphia area. Mother Jones considered child labor the worst of industrial sins, and seized upon the idea of marching the mill children from Kensington, PA to President Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay, Long Island some 125 miles away. Join Betsey Means as she publicizes her thoughts on the unspeakable crime of child labor.
Thursday, May 8, from 1 until 2 p.m. Cost is $10 member; $13 non-member. Please call 847/784-6030 to register. Website www.nssc.org.
