Cork's Mother Jones to be honoured in Chicago with new statue 

Mother Jones was a relentless activist for workers and the poor in the US. Picture: RTÉ.

A celebrated Cork-born trade unionist is to get a statue in her honour in Chicago after a sustained campaign to recognise the “most dangerous woman in America”.

Mother Jones, who was born Mary Harris in Shandon, Cork City, in 1837, was a relentless activist for workers and the poor after her family emigrated to Canada and the US in Famine-era times.

While living in Memphis, yellow fever struck the city. 

“One by one, my four little children sickened and died”, she recorded. “I washed their little bodies and got them ready for burial. My husband caught the fever and died."

She was in Chicago then on October 8, 1871, when a great fire swept through the city, making her homeless. She then became engrossed in the labour movement, becoming a fearless and formidable fighter for workers’ rights and the welfare of the poor in society.

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Encouraging workers in a range of industries to form unions, they fought against the wealthier class, earning her the nickname of a “modern Joan of Arc”.

In the Irish-American Heritage Centre in Chicago, a small exhibition to Mother Jones pays tribute to her as an “Irish Rebel”. It said:

When she was mocked as the ‘grandmother of all agitators’ in the US Senate, Mother Jones replied that she would someday like to be called the great-grandmother of all agitators.

The issue of statues to commemorate figures in public places has been a source of controversy in Chicago in recent years. 

In the wake of public protests in 2020, the city removed three statues to Christopher Columbus, and it prompted a re-examining of the placing of public statues while campaigners were pushing for the Mother Jones statue.

After the news came through that a statue had been given the green light, the campaign group that had long been calling for it said: “We've been waiting to announce this officially for too long. Our statue of Mother Jones will be placed at Chicago's historic Water Tower.

“Chicago's Water Tower is the most iconic old Chicago site in the city, and one of the most visited. This sculpture will signal that Chicago is a union town, that immigrants and working class built the city, and that we are part of a tradition of struggle.” 

Mother Jones is still venerated for her impact in Cork, with the 13th Spirit of Mother Jones Festival to be held in Shandon this July.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, on the final day of his trip to the US in Chicago, told reporters it was a serious compliment to a famous Cork woman.

“She has a great story,” he said. “It just shows the global reach of Cork.”

Mother Jones.