World Premiere of New Mother Jones Play Opens Oct. 12
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The Theater of the First Amendment will present the world premiere of “Can’t Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones at Washington, D.C.’s Atlas Performing Arts Center beginning with preview performances Oct. 12 and 13 and running through Oct. 30.
OBIE Award-winner Kaiulani Lee portrays Mother Jones in a riveting solo performance about the early days of the American Labor Movement. Mother Jones was called “the most dangerous woman in America,” and “educated, agitated, and organized” on behalf of child laborers, coal miners, steel workers, and all working people.
Through an artful blend of history, biography, and a liberal dose of Mother Jones’s famous wit, “Can’t Scare Me” brings out some urgent issues of yesterday and today in a riveting, passionate, and fiery solo performance.
The Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) and the Labor Heritage Foundation (LHF) are co-sponsoring a special matinee on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for the matinee but because there is a union discount the fee will be $20.
Only Known Video/Audio of Mother Jones
Wow. I’m blown away. The only-known video and audio recording of Mary Harris ”Mother” Jones is in the clip at left. Recorded in 1930, on what possibly was her 100th birthday (historians aren’t sure of her year of birth), it shows even at an advanced age, she hadn’t lost any of the spark that fueled her life-long activism on behalf of improving the lot of workers.
After much personal tragedy, Mother Jones went on to become a union organizer, and was so effective, the Mine Workers (UMWA) sent her into the coalfields to sign up miners. She was banished from more towns and was held incommunicado in more jails in more states than any other union leader of the time. In 1912, she was even charged with a capital offense by a military tribunal in West Virginia and held under house arrest for weeks until popular outrage and national attention forced the governor to release her.
Indiana Deputy AG Fired
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Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller this afternoon fired the deputy attorney general who tweeted that “live ammunition” and “deadly force” should be used to disperse protesters in Madison, Wis.
The Indianapolis Star reports that Jeff Cox was dismissed late this afternoon. Cox also made several other inflammatory statements via twitter, according to a Mother Jones reporter. Click here and here for more.
‘Live Ammunition’ Comments by Indiana Deputy AG Spark Probe
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The Indiana deputy attorney general who reportedly tweeted that “live ammunition” and “deadly force” should be used to disperse protesters in Madison, Wis., demonstrating against Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) move to eliminate public service workers’ right to bargain for middle-class jobs is under investigation.
WRTV 6News in Indianapolis reports that Deputy Attorney General Jeff Cox faces an internal investigation. Cox also made several other inflammatory statements via twitter, according to a Mother Jones reporter.
A statement from the Attorney General’s office today said it:
does not condone the inflammatory statements asserted in the ‘Mother Jones’ article and we do not condone any comments that would threaten or imply violence or intimidation toward anyone.
An immediate review of this personnel matter is now under way to determine whether the assertions made in the Mother Jones article about an employee are accurate. When that review is complete, appropriate personnel action will be taken.
‘Use Live Ammunition’ Against Wisconsin Workers?
If true, this is a really horrifying development. According to Adam Weinstein at Mother Jones, when the magazine’s staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep workers out of the Wisconsin Capitol building,
one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: “Use live ammunition.”
As Weinstein continues,
From my own Twitter account, I confronted the user, JCCentCom. He tweeted back that the demonstrators were “political enemies” and “thugs” who were “physically threatening legally elected officials.” In response to such behavior, he said, “You’re damned right I advocate deadly force.” He later called me a “typical leftist,” adding, “liberals hate police.”
Only later did we realize that JCCentCom was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana.
Read the full story here.
Tough Trek for 7-Ton Mother Jones and Friends
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Three flat tires couldn’t keep Machinists (IAM) Benny Adair and Hardy Williams from completing their monumental task—and Adair swears, “With all the trouble we had, not a single cussword was said.”
Adair and Williams volunteered their time, a truck and a trailer to transport the seven-ton state Workers Memorial stone 250 miles from the old Kentucky State AFL-CIO headquarters in Frankfort to its new home at the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO, because “we wanted to save the council some money.” Adair is council vice president and Williams is a delegate.
The 10-foot gray granite shaft is etched with a portrait of labor pioneer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and honors workers killed on the job.
When the state AFL-CIO headquarters was sold, the council asked for the monument, and state labor leaders approved the transfer. When it was time to move the monument last year, Adair says:
It took about four hours for us to drive to Frankfort to get the monument. The return trip took about twice as long.
The tire troubles started near Elizabethtown on the four-lane Bluegrass Parkway when Adair spotted a pothole.
Mother Jones Takes to the Stage
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“Eighty years after her death, Mother Jones’ howl for safe mines and responsible corporations still echoes,” writes LA Weekly’s Amy Nicholson in a review of the play, “The Most Dangerous Woman in America: Machine Guns, Coal Dust, Mother Jones and the Making of the American Dream.”
Written by David Christie and performed by Actors’ Equity (AEA) member Therese Diekhans, the one-woman drama won the Best Solo Show award at the Hollywood Fringe festival in June.
It’s now set for two more performances in Everett, Wash., (just a 26-mile shot from Seattle, straight up I-5) next weekend, Sept. 11 and 12. The performances are half-price for union members and free for union members on strike (location info here).
Writing in the LA Theater Review, Kat Primeau says Diekhans’ charming, studied performance:
playfully brings to life 15 characters, from children mill workers to John D. Rockefeller, as the audience learns the true cost of Big Business cost-cutting in early 20th century mining towns. Mother Jones’ rallying speeches on apathy and revolution are particularly poignant amidst contemporary woes.
Visit Diekhans’ website here.
We’re Still Mourning the Dead and Fighting for the Living
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A century ago, many immigrant coal miners worked long hours at low pay in jobs that threatened their lives and limbs.
George F. Baer didn’t care. As he said:
“They don’t suffer. Why, they can’t even speak English.”
Baer was the chief spokesman for the Anthracite coal trust in 1902, when Pennsylvania hard coal miners, immigrant and native-born went on strike. The miners sought a pay hike, shorter hours, safer working conditions and recognition of their union, the Mine Workers. The strike was settled after President Theodore Roosevelt intervened.
The coal trust was made up of a group of railroad and mining companies that controlled nearly all of the Anthracite mines. Baer was president of the Reading Railroad.
He rates only a few lines in most history books. Even so, Baer is worth remembering.
Help Honor Mother Jones with a Commemorative Stamp
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Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mantle and Mickey Rooney have been honored with commemorative stamps by the U.S. Postal Service. So have obscure diplomats, comic book heroes, authors, architects, motorcycles and love birds.
All occupy a niche of American history and culture. Now labor historians and social activists say its time to honor someone who significantly improved the lives of America’s workers: Mary “Mother” Jones.
Mother Jones was a fearless fighter for workers’ rights:
Once labeled “the most dangerous woman in America” by a U.S. district attorney, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones rose to prominence as a fiery orator and fearless organizer for the Mine Workers during the first two decades of the 20th century.
Nearly anywhere coal miners, textile workers or steelworkers were fighting to organize a union, Mother Jones was there….She was banished from more towns and was held incommunicado in more jails in more states than any other union leader of the time.
Mother Jones Online Museum and More Highlights at AFL-CIO Cool Tools
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The real life working-class hero Mary “Mother” Jones now has her own virtual museum that documents the struggles, victories and history of the woman once dubbed “America’s Most Dangerous Woman.”
The online Mother Jones Museum is the featured item in our newest collection of Cool Tools—the latest selection of books, DVDs, websites and other media with a working-class bent. Cool Tools also highlights three books and a DVD on Latina sweatshop workers’ struggles and victories.
The Mother Jones Museum describes itself as a “virtual museum and curricula about the amazing labor agitator.” It includes links to her entire autobiography and other documents about militant labor history. As the site states:
We believe that she still has something to teach us after all these years.
One page features my favorite Mother Jones quote:
I asked a man in prison once, how he happened to be there, and he said he had stolen loaf of bread. I told him if he had stolen a railroad, he’d be a U.S. senator.
