On May 1, 1930 Walter and Lillian Burgess' home in what is now Adelphi, Maryland became the center of world-wide interest when Mother Jones celebrated her 100th birthday. Ms. Burgess, Mother Jones' friend and caregiver, conferred with Dr. Howlett of Silver Spring, who tended to Mother up until her death on Nov. 30, 1930.
"The biggest worry we had was about letting Mother go downstairs on the day of the party. She had insisted that she would do so, despite the fact that she was weak and not left her bed for months except to sit up in a chair for a few minutes."
As May 1st approached hundreds of letters and telegrams poured into the Burgess home from union leaders and admirers from around the country. Nearby towns donated bunting for the occasion and the Soldiers Home band from Washington arrived early to perform. They entertained guests playing Irish and American melodies.
Lillian helped Mother dress for the party and began to pin a corsage on her when Mother cried out, "take that damned thing off! I never did adorn myself with flowers, and I don't intend to now either."
Assisted by Mr. Burgess, Mother Jones made her way through a vast throng of guests to a chair on the front lawn under an apple tree. On a table next to her were 100 candles on a 50 pound birthday cake provided by the Building Trades Council of Washington, DC. Reporters in attendance estimated the crowd by the end of the day to have been over 1,000 people.
At one point during the party, a newsreel team from the Paramount movie company filmed Mother Jones who made a brief statement. This film contains the only known audio and moving image of Mother Jones in existence. (Click here.)
Sitting "as if a queen, yet with the heart of a peasant," Mother Jones greeted her many guests; at one point she remarked that she was disappointed at not hearing word from Gov. Young of California on her appeal to free Tom Mooney -- unjustly imprisoned for his alleged participation in San Francisco's Preparedness Parade bombing in 1916.
The most newsworthy birthday message came from her old foe, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "Please accept my heartiest congratulations on your one hundredth birthday anniversary," he wrote. "Your loyalty to your ideals, your fearless adherence to your duty as you have seen it, is an inspiration to all who have known you. "
"Well," Mother commented, "he's a damned good sport anyway. We
surely had some bitter battles.
But it was kind of him to remember me, but hell, I can't do him or anyone any harm for I'm out of the running now."
About this Mother Jones was wrong. Even at one hundred, her words could still inspire those at the birthday party and those in the generations to come.
And I long to see the day when Labor will have the destiny of the nation in her own hands and she will stand a united force and show the world what the workers can do. (from the newsreel.)
Note: Mary Harris, an immigrant, was born in Cork, Ireland. According to the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival she was born in Cork city in late July 1837 and was baptized on August 1, 1837 by Father John O’ Mahony in the local Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne. Later in life, Mother Jones claimed her birthday to be May 1, 1830. It wasn't until about 2001 that the exact date of her baptism came to light. (Thanks to the efforts of labor historian Elliot Gorn in Mother Jones, the Most Dangerous Woman in America.)
This article appeared in conjunction with the essay "Mother Jones' Final Sojourn : My Search for the House Where 'the Miners' Angel' Died" by Saul Schniderman (Labor's Heritage, Fall 2000/Winter 2001, George Meany Center for Labor Studies, Silver Spring, Md.) Much admiration and credit goes to Bob Reynolds, former editor of Labor's Heritage. Also see Talkin' Union, issue no. 2, Aug. 1981. Lillie May Burgess' unpublished manuscript is at the West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.
Much thanks to photojournalist Craig Simpson, Washington Area Spark and to Rosemary Feurer, Mother Jones Heritage Project.