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NOTABLE WOMEN IN LABOR
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type in Labor Movement, then use the drop down menu in "Where can
I learn about the labor activist."
ALZINA STEVENS was born in Maine in 1849. At the age of
thirteen she went to work in a local textile company and soon afterwards
lost her right index finger in a factory accident. She later told friends
that this missing finger became a perpetual reminder of her need to
improve working conditions and regulate child labour.
When Stevens was eighteen she moved to Chicago and found work in the
printing trade as a typesetter and proof-reader. And active trade
unionist, Stevens became one of the leaders of the Knights of Labor in
Chicago.
 ELIZABETH
GURLEY FLYNN was born in Concord, New Hampshire on August 7, 1890.
. . .
In 1907 Flynn became a full time organizer for the Industrial Workers of
the World (IWW). Over the next few years she organized campaigns among
garment workers in Pennsylvania, silk weaver in New Jersey, restaurant
workers in New York, miners in Minnesota and textile workers in
Massachusetts . . . . Flynn was arrested ten times during this period but
was never convicted of any criminal activity. . . . Flynn was particularly
concerned with women's rights. She supported birth control and women's
suffrage. Flynn also criticized the leadership of trade unions for being
male dominated and not reflecting the needs of women.
 FLORENCE
KELLEY, the daughter of United States congressman, William D.
Kelley, was born on September 12, 1859. She studied at Cornell University
and the University of Zurich . . . .
John Peter Altgeld was elected governor of Illinois in 1892, the following
year he appointed Kelley as the state's first chief factory inspector. . .
. In 1894 Altgeld and Kelley managed to persuade the state legislature to
pass legislation controlling child labour. This included a law limiting
women and children to a maximum eight-hour day. This success was
short-lived and in 1895 the Illinois Association of Manufacturers got the
law repealed.
In 1899 Kelley helped establish the radical pressure group, the National
Consumer's League (NCL). The main objective of the organization was to
achieve a minimum wage and a limitation on the working hours of women and
children. Kelley, the NCL's first leader, traveled the country giving
lectures on working conditions in the United States.
A strong supporter of women's suffrage and African American civil rights,
Kelley helped to establish the National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People in 1909.
MORE NOTABLE WOMEN IN LABOR
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