A woman ahead of her time, Lucy Parsons was an early American radical who defied all the conventions of her turbulent era. Born in 1853 in Texas, she was an outspoken black woman, radical writer and labour organiser. Parsons led the defence campaign for the 'Haymarket martyrs,' which included her husband Albert Parsons and remained active in the struggles of the oppressed throughout her life. This is the unique and inspiring story of a woman described in the 1920s by the Chicago police as 'more dangerous than a thousand rioters'.
From a prize-winning historian, a new portrait of an extraordinary activist and the turbulent age in which she lived Goddess of Anarchy recounts the formidable life of the militant writer, orator, and agitator Lucy Parsons. Born to an enslaved woman in Virginia in 1851 and raised in Texas-where she met her husband, the Haymarket "martyr" Albert Parsons-Lucy was a fearless advocate of First Amendment rights, a champion of the working classes, and one of the most prominent figures of African descent of her era. And yet, her life was riddled with contradictions-she advocated violence without apology, concocted a Hispanic-Indian identity for herself, and ignored the plight of African Americans. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, Jacqueline Jones presents not only the exceptional life of the famous American-born anarchist but also an authoritative account of her times-from slavery through the Great Depression.
Edited and introduced by Gale Ahrens, here, for the first time, is a hefty selection of the writings and speeches of the woman the Chicago police called 'More dangerous than a thousand rioters!' "Lucy Parsons' writings are among the best and strongest in the history of US anarchism. ...Her long and often traumatic experience of the capitalist injustice system - from the KKK terror in her youth, through Haymarket and the judicial murder of her husband, to the US government's war on the Wobblies - made her not 'just another victim' but an extraordinarily articulate witness to, and vehement crusader against, all injustice." [from the introduction by Gale Ahrens] "Lucy Parsons personae and historical role provide material for the makings of a truly exemplary figure.....anarchist, labor organizer, writer, editor, publisher, and dynamic speaker, a woman of color of mixed black, Mexican and Native American heritage, a founder of the 1880s Chicago Working women's Union that organized garment workers, called for equal pay for equal work, and even invited housewives to join with the demand of wages for housework; and later (1905) co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which made the organizing of women and people of color a priority....For a better understanding of the concept of direct action and its implications, no other historical figure can match the lessons provided by Lucy Parsons." [from the Afterword by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz]
A new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents—includes photos. When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island’s wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons’s husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents—and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.
From one of our most important scholars and civil rights activist icon, a powerful study of the women’s liberation movement and the tangled knot of oppression facing Black women. “Angela Davis is herself a woman of undeniable courage. She should be heard.”—The New York Times Angela Davis provides a powerful history of the social and political influence of whiteness and elitism in feminism, from abolitionist days to the present, and demonstrates how the racist and classist biases of its leaders inevitably hampered any collective ambitions. While Black women were aided by some activists like Sarah and Angelina Grimke and the suffrage cause found unwavering support in Frederick Douglass, many women played on the fears of white supremacists for political gain rather than take an intersectional approach to liberation. Here, Davis not only contextualizes the legacy and pitfalls of civil and women’s rights activists, but also discusses Communist women, the murder of Emmitt Till, and Margaret Sanger’s racism. Davis shows readers how the inequalities between Black and white women influence the contemporary issues of rape, reproductive freedom, housework and child care in this bold and indispensable work.
On the night of May 4, 1886, during a peaceful demonstration of labor activists in Haymarket Square in Chicago, a dynamite bomb was thrown into the ranks of police -trying to disperse the crowd. The officers immediately opened fire, killing a number of protestors and wounding some two hundred others. Albert Parsons was the best-known of those hanged; Haymarket is his story. Parsons, humanist and autodidact, was an ex-Confederate soldier who grew up in Texas in the 1870s, and fell in love with Lucy Gonzalez, a vibrant, outspoken black woman who preferred to describe herself as of Spanish and Creole descent. The novel tells the story of their lives together, of their growing political involvement, of the formation of a colorful circle of "co-conspirators"-immigrants, radical intellectuals, journalists, advocates of the working class-and of the events culminating in bloodshed. More than just a moving story of love and human struggle, more than a faithful account of a watershed event in United States history, Haymarket presents a layered and dynamic revelation of late nineteenth-century Chicago, and of the lives of a handful of remarkable individuals who were willing to risk their lives for the promise of social change.
This book offers a fascinating insight into the lives of the hobos who roamed America during the early 20th century. Based on extensive interviews with hobos, the book reveals their experiences and provides a unique glimpse into the social and economic conditions that gave rise to this subculture. With a compelling narrative and vivid descriptions of life on the road, Hobohemia is a must-read for anyone interested in America's social history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
