Mary kenny osullivan biography of abraham

We enjoyed doing things together. A superb embodiment of youth in the Mississippi Valley was Mary Kenny.

Mary kenny osullivan biography of abraham: Mary Kenney was born

Born in Keokuk, Iowa, of Irish immigrant parents, she had moved with her mother to a nearby brick tenement house, a distinguished three-story edifice in that region of drab one and two story frame cottages, in order to be a close neighbour to Hull House and participate in its efforts to improve industrial conditions. Tall, erect, broad-shouldered, with ruddy face and shining eyes, she carried hope and confidence wherever she went.

Her rich Irish voice and friendly smile inspired men, women, and children alike to do what she wished. A highly skilled printer, she was employed by a company which gave preference to union employees. As a numberer she earned fourteen dollars a week, supporting herself and her lovely old mother on that wage. Hers was the initiative in making of the brick tenement a cooperative house for working girls known as the Jane Club, a large part of the success of which was for many years due to the gentle sweetness of Mrs.

Kenny, who mothered the cooperators as though they had been her own. In I had, upon one of my visits to Chicago, met Mary Kenny, a member of the Bookbinders' Union, whom I found to be an intelligent union woman with more to learn and anxious to learn and anxious to be of service. As we accumulated a little money in the treasury of the Federation, I determined to inaugurate a special effort to organize women workers.

I wrote to Mary Kenny and asked her whether she would not spend several months in and around New York. She readily assented. She was anxious to help. I sent her a commission and with it a check to pay her immediate expenses. She came to New York and worked there for a few months. Mary Kenney proved a most valuable worker for the Federation and I made arrangements to send her to Boston.

I sent a letter to John F. O'Sullivan telling of my appointment of Miss Kenny and asking him to assist her in the work they later married. The old house is almost submerged. With its hooded top story of fanciful brick, and its large flanking of additions to right and left, there remain but the long windows and wide doorway to hint of the aspect that was its own in the long gone privacy of the estate of which it was an important and hospitable part of the quiet days before the invasion of crowd and hurry and competition.

These additions are more intrinsic than external - growing out of growing needs - and therefore present in themselves a kind of rough estimate of history of them. Thus, the most extensive area and the highest wall belong to the Children's Building, on the right flank, the corresponding smaller wing being used for lecture and class rooms, with dormitory space above.

She spent several months organizing women in various trades in New York and Massachusetts but had limited success, due in part to the ambivalence of the AFL regarding the unionization of women. Inthe Illinois legislation passed such a law, and O'Sullivan was appointed a deputy inspector. In Boston, she gave mary kenny osullivan biography of abraham to four children one of whom died in infancyand continued to organize workers and develop contacts with middle- and upper-class women who were interested in labor issues.

During the s, both O'Sullivans were leaders of the Boston trade union movement and part of the labor reform community based in Denison House, a Boston settlement. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, with the encouragement of her husband and the support of elite women reformers, organized women laundry workers, garment makers, and rubber workers. The League, which sought to organize women workers and agitated for protective labor legislation, included working-class, middle- and upper-class women in its membership.

O'Sullivan, the original secretary and an early vice-president, left the League in in protest over its lack of support for the striking textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Inshe became one of five women factory inspectors appointed to the newly created Massachusetts State Board of Labor and Industries. O'Sullivan was also an advocate of women's suffrage and an active pacifist.

Inshe traveled to Dublin, Ireland, as a delegate to the annual conference of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She retired at the age of 70 and died of heart disease nine years later, inat her West Medford home. Carson, Mina. Tax, Meredith. NY: Monthly Review Press, Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

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Mary kenny osullivan biography of abraham: O'Sullivan was an organizer

She held that position until she retired from labor organizing in During her years as an inspector she participated in many speaking events. O'Sullivan died at 79 years old in at her home in Medford, Massachusetts. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.

Wikidata item. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan. Jack O'Sullivan. Early life [ edit ]. Boston Labor [ edit ]. Lawrence Textile Strike [ edit ]. Later years [ edit ]. Tribute [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Pantheon Press, InMary and her mother moved to Chicago where Kenney started organizing women into trade unions.

Mary kenny osullivan biography of abraham: Discover life events, stories

Kenney and her fellow trade unionists held their meetings at the settlement house. InKenney established the "Jane Club," a six-apartment house that offered cheap room and board for women with lower wages. Kenney and other women of the Hull Housesuch as Alzina Stevensgave weekly lectures at the house, educating women of the need of social reforms.

InSamuel Gomperspresident of the American Federation of Labor invited Kenney to New York to become the first woman salaried organizer for the union. During her short stay in that position she helped organize shoe workers, binders, printers, and carpet weavers. InKenney joined Mary Morton Kimball Kehew in forming the Union for Industrial Progress, which had a goal to study working conditions in factories.

The law was, however, short-lived, as the Illinois Association of Manufacturers had the law withdrawn in The couple had three children.