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A festival and summer school dedicated to the memory of Mary Harris/Mother Jones and to inspirational people everywhere who fight for social justice. Cork Mother Jones Committee & Shandon Street Festival www.motherjonescork.com 2019 Luke Dineen is a regular contributor to the Spirit of Mother Jones Summer School. He has an interest in labour issues. He completed his PhD in the School of History at UCC. He highlights the vast contribution of the trade union movement to Irish society and has published on the history of trade unions. John Barimo is an educator, coastal ecologist, writer, advocate of social justice, and adventurer. He earned a doctorate in Marine Biology and subsequently lectured at socially disadvantaged third level institutions in the US Virgin Islands and Miami. He currently resides in Cork City where he writes and is actively working with local environmental groups. Séan Ó Tuathaigh was born in Sligo. He is a Trinity graduate in creative writing. Having taught English in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2016 he moved to the US for 18 months, where he worked as a refugee biographer in a resettlement agency. His experiences there have resulted in his first book Outlanders – Stories of the Displaced. Sean will tell the incredible human stories of the refugees he met. www.facebook.com/OutlandersBook Lorraine Starsky is a public health nurse and a member of the Pennsylvania Nurses Association Local 802. In the 70s she became involved in the women’s rights movement, the Vietnam War, trade union issues and tackling racism. Lorraine has Irish roots and a special interest in Mother Jones and American labour struggles. Kieran Groeger is a retired teacher, cyclist and avid Francophile. His books include The Trial and Execution of James Cotter, The Little Book of Youghal and now his most recent publication The much-maligned Mary Pike. He writes on local issues and reveals the truth beneath the layers of history. Michael Kingston is a respected international maritime lawyer from West Cork. His father Tim died in the Whiddy Island disaster of January 7 th /8 th 1979 where 50 seafarers and workers died. Michael highlights the ongoing injustice for families of victims by campaigning for improvements in regulations in maritime industries and the introduction of the legal offence of corporate manslaughter. He is Vice President of the French-Irish Association of Relatives and Friends of the Betelgeuse. Briege Voyle is the daughter of Joan Connolly. Joan was shot dead by the British Army in Ballymurphy in Belfast on Monday August 9 th 1971, the day internment without trial was introduced in Northern Ireland. Joan had rushed to assist 19 year old Noel Phillips who lay wounded. Briege has campaigned for decades for the full truth behind the Ballymurphy Massacre. Taking Part Saturday 3 rd August Wednesday 31 st July to Anne Twomey is a teacher and member of the Shandon Area History Group. She is a regular speaker on local history topics. Her vivid accounts of women from Cork has led to a growing recognition of their vital role in the history of Cork. The Group’s 2016 exhibition Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times has contributed to increased interest and research in this subject. Tom MacSweeney worked with The Irish Press/Examiner/Evening Echo/Southern Star and RTE in Dublin, Belfast and Cork. He was RTE’s first regional correspondent and marine correspondent. He currently presents This Island Nation maritime programme on radio, is deputy editor of The Marine Times and columnist with The Echo and Afloat. He challenges State attitudes to Ireland’s maritime sector. Joe Creedon from Inchigeelagh in Uibh Laoire is immersed in local history and heritage issues. He is organiser of the annual Daniel Corkery Summer School in July each year. An accomplished painter, a wonderful story teller, he often breaks into song and verse when mere words fail to describe his ancestors, community and life. Elliott J Gorn teaches history at Loyola University in Chicago and is the author of Mother Jones - The Most Dangerous Woman in America (Hill and Wang 2001). He has written several books on American history including Let the People See: The Story of Emmett Till (Oxford University Press 2018). Elliott attended the initial Cork Mother Jones festival in 2012. Frameworks Films is an independent Cork based film production company run by Emma Bowell and Eddie Noonan. Working in collaboration with local communities and groups, they seek to tell their stories by creating film documentaries, some of which have been shown at the Spirit of Mother Jones festival. Documentaries include The Limerick Soviet, Fords – Memories of the Line and Mother Jones and her Children. www.frameworksfilms.com ANNUAL FESTIVAL Shandon Cork Message from the Cork Mother Jones Committee Welcome to the 8 th annual Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and Summer School. Over 30 events will take place over four days and nights in the Shandon Historic Quarter. All events are free, thanks to the support of our sponsors. The aim of this independent voluntary committee is to honour Cork’s Rebel daughter, Mary Harris, known as Mother Jones. The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival is a community based happening. We seek to hold events which are relevant, interesting and challenging and active participation is encouraged. Enjoy the 2019 festival! March of the Mill Children Pageant at Shandon Plaza This pageant will be performed on Wednesday 31 st July at 12:30 p.m. with the assistance of Cork Community Art Link and Foróige Group Blarney Street to celebrate the historic March of the Mill Children. Organised by Mother Jones, it began on 7 th July 1903 from Philadelphia to New York City and lasted over 3 weeks. It sought to highlight and to abolish the exploitation of young children in the mills, mines and factories across America. This may be the first re-enactment outside of the USA. Mother Jones - “I’m a HELLRAISER!“ Mary Harris was born in Cork city in July 1837 and was baptised at the North Cathedral on 1 st August. After the Great Famine, the Harris family emigrated to Canada. Mary qualified as a teacher and a seamstress. She married a union man, George Jones, in 1861. She lost her husband and four young children in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic in Memphis. Mary became a labour and union activist from the 1890s onwards. She was one of the toughest organisers for the United Mine Workers of America. She also organised the March of the Mill Children in 1903 to highlight the exploitation of young children in mines and factories. Then known as Mother Jones, she attended the first meeting of the IWW in 1905 and knew James Connolly. Best known as a hellraiser for her fiery speeches against the exploitation of miners, she was described as “the most dangerous woman in America”. Mary’s exploits in the mining wars of West Virginia and Colorado, where she was regularly imprisoned, made her a feared and admired figure. Her cry of “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” still reverberates through history. Her autobiography was published in 1925. She died in 1930 and is buried at Mount Olive Union Cemetery in Illinois. Her spirit is alive and well wherever in the world there is a fight for justice. The Cork City Council recognises August 1 st as “Mother Jones Day”. Mother Jones was inducted into the Irish American Hall of Fame in 2014. A museum has been opened in Mount Olive. A plaque by visual artist Mick Wilkins to commemorate the 175 th anniversary of her birth was erected in 2012 in Shandon. This festival celebrates the rebel Spirit of Mother Jones in the streets of her childhood. The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival www.motherjonescork.com Tel: 086 3196063 086 1651356 087 9031282 [email protected] 021 4500006 Firkin Crane Cathedral Visitor Centre Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Anne Maldron Hotel Shandon Bells & Tower St. Anne’s Church Shandon St Dominick St John Redmond St Cathedral St Church St Upper John St Roman St Chapel St
