Episodes on a path of discovery
Happy birthday!
Happy 162nd birthday to Mary! Born Mary Kenney on January 8, 1864 in Hannibal, Missouri, this daughter of Irish immigrants went on to organize factory workers, demand women’s rights in the workplace and the voting booth, co-found the Women’s Trade Union League, and hold industries accountable as a factory inspector. Mary is one of my…
What must it have been like? Speculative fiction about Mary Kenney O’Sullivan
Mary Kenney’s rise to fame, or perhaps notoriety, within women reformers’ circles, was fairly well documented due to her connection with the Hull House in Chicago, her move to Boston to work with the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, and her marriage to labor leader and activist Jack O’Sullivan. But after Jack’s death, there is…
Mary at the 1893 Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World’s Fair)
Reading through the digitized version of Mary Kenney O’Sullivan’s unpublished autobiography provides more than a glimpse of her personality. Her sense of humor, her passion for justice, and her fearlessness are apparent. Several times while reading her anecdotes, I thought, “this woman was afraid of NOBODY.” While she admitted to feeling intimidated by upper class…
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My heroines - amazing women in history 