Inaugural International Mother Jones Festival celebrates legendary Labor leader and fighter for workers’ rights

By CARL GREEN
Illinois Correspondent

MT. OLIVE, IL – As a Labor leader, May 1 was a special day for Mary Harris “Mother Jones.” Now the day will always remain associated with her.

The first Mt. Olive International Mother Jones Festival was celebrated on Sunday, May 1, at the Mother Jones monument at Union Miners Cemetery just outside of town and at the Mother Jones Museum in downtown Mt. Olive.

An estimated 150 people, with many unions represented, came to the small city about 50 miles north of St. Louis along Interstate 55 to honor the woman who battled back from tragedy to become the symbol of workers’ rights in the U.S. and the world.

‘IMPORTANT THAT WE LIVE UP TO OUR VALUES’
Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, came from Springfield to speak at the event and pointed out that May 1 is now known as International Workers Day.

“It was even more important this year to celebrate the life of Mother Jones,” he said.

Drea noted that United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, a great fan of Mother Jones in his long career and who has been to Mt. Olive on numerous occasions, has often been jailed for his protests on behalf of workers, and that the rest of us need to emulate his dedication.

“It’s important that we live up to our values,” Drea said. “If we have to go to jail for justice, that’s what we have to do.”

A good start, he said, would be enshrining the right to collective bargaining and a safe workplace for all time in the Illinois state constitution.

COMMEMORATIVE BENCH
Event organizer Joann Condellone of Edwardsville, a member of both the cemetery and museum boards, had hoped to be able to display a commemorative bench being made for Mother Jones’ gravesite to honor the husband and children she lost in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic.

But the American granite to be used in the $5,400 bench did not become available in time, and the board rejected the company’s proposal to use Chinese stone. Instead, the company sent a prototype of the bench to display at the festival.

“It was pretty swell of them, because you can’t dedicate a hole in the ground!” Condellone said.

The family members were husband George Jones, who was 32 when he died, and children Catherine, 5; Elizabeth, 4; Terence, 2; and Mary, 1.

The bench will read, “In memory of the family of Mary Harris Mother Jones. The husband and children of Mother Jones died during the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. They were buried among strangers in unmarked mass graves in Memphis, Tennessee. Only God knows where they lay. We pray they rest in peace together now and forever.”

DOWNTOWN FESTIVAL
After the 90 minutes of events at the cemetery, the festival moved downtown to the City Hall area, where the Mother Jones Museum continues to improve in its displays and accessibility. It is now open on weekdays along with the adjacent city offices.

Condellone said it now has new wall displays and banners. “It’s more full and museum-like,” she said.

The festival continued all afternoon. Boy Scouts served lemonade, locally roasted coffee was available, a food truck offered tacos, three different musical groups performed, and a committee of historical writers discussed their works about early coal miners’ unions and Mother Jones.

The writers also visited nearby Virden, the location of the historic Battle of Virden, where union miners exchanged gunshots with soldiers guarding scab workers on a train passing through town. When the town would not provide burial honors to the union dead, the cemetery in Mt. Olive was established to provide a resting place, becoming the only Labor-owned cemetery.

Also speaking was United Mine Workers District 12 Vice President Steve Earle. Greetings from city leaders in Cork, Ireland, where Mother Jones was born and raised, were read aloud.

Condellone declared the festival a success that the cemetery and museum boards will seek to continue in years to come.

MOTHER JONES MUSEUM
The Mother Jones Museum is open during business hours at 215 East Main Street in Mt. Olive, which is on Illinois Route 138, just east of Interstate 55. To find the monument, take Lake Street north from the town to the Union Miners Cemetery.