New St. Louis Mother Jones exhibit to be unveiled at Hershel Walker Peace & Justice Awards May 25

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Correspondent

Mother Jones Heritage Project Director Rosemary Feurer will be guest speaker

A new Mother Jones exhibit will be unveiled at the St. Louis Workers’ Education Society (WES) at the 27th Annual Hershel Walker Peace & Justice Awards Breakfast on Saturday, May 25.

The event, sponsored by WES, will be held at 2929 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis and begins at 9:30 a.m. Northern Illinois University Labor Historian Rosemary Feurer, director of the Mother Jones Heritage Project, will be the keynote speaker.

The Mother Jones Heritage Project collaborates with a network of partners to collect, interpret and preserve the legacy of labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, an Irish immigrant who became the movement’s leading organizer and who battled for workers’ rights and justice across America.

THE NEW EXHIBIT
The non-profit organization shares that legacy through museum exhibits, historic sites, tours and a website. The Mother Jones’ St. Louis exhibit at WES follows the organization’s December unveiling of a historic marker at a rest stop along Interstate 55 in Illinois, south of Springfield.

Feurer said Mother Jones started in St. Louis with some of her organizing. In an interview with St. Louis Public Radio, Feurer explained that before Jones was involved in the mineworkers, she was organizing domestic workers who were cleaning houses and taking care of domestic chores and were much abused.

ABOUT THE AWARDS
The Hershel Walker award ceremony honors local labor and community leaders for their work in creating a more just and equitable society. Walker was a St. Louis trade unionist and human and civil rights leader committed to the struggle for peace and justice. Award winners will be announced soon.

TICKETS
Tickets for the event are $25 per person or $200 for a table of 10. Advertising is also available in the program booklet. The rates are $500 for a full page, $300 for a half page and $150 for a quarter page. The advertising deadline is May 20, and ad copy can be mailed to Tony Pecinovsky at tony@workerseducationsociety.org.

Checks can be made payable to the St. Louis Workers’ Education Society and mailed to 2929 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, MO  63118. For more information, call Pecinovsky at 314-583-9152.