A life-size image of Mother Jones in our Mount Olive Museum, from a photograph of her attending the 1915 hearings of the federal Commission on Industrial Relations at the New York City Hall, New York City. Originally published by Bain News Service. …

A life-size image of Mother Jones in our Mount Olive Museum, from a photograph of her attending the 1915 hearings of the federal Commission on Industrial Relations at the New York City Hall, New York City. Originally published by Bain News Service. https://www.loc.gov/item/201469820

Letter from Mother Jones to the miners of Mt. Olive, from the Mt. Olive Public Library collection. Click image to enlarge it.

Why Is Mother Jones Buried in Mount Olive, Illinois?

Mt. Olive, Mother Jones, and May Day

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones wrote a special request to the miners of Mt. Olive in 1923 asking to be buried in the Union Miners Cemetery in, “the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives on the hills of Virden.” Her request was granted.

Mother speaks during the Miners' Day celebration on October 11, 2020 in Union Miners' Cemetery, the only union owned cemetery in the USA.

Today, 90 years after Mother Jones was buried, we celebrate the legacy of Mother and her brave boys on May first, the traditional day for honoring workers.

Mary Harris Jones survived the potato famine in Ireland, the Yellow Fever epidemic that took the lives of her husband and all their children, and the loss of her business in the Chicago fire. Her courage was forged in tragedy, and she recognized that same courage in our miners.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this May Day we could not hold hands around her monument and sing Solidarity Forever. 

But we can all take a moment to remember the families who risked all to come to America, the women, men, and children whose labor fueled progress in our country, whose sacrifices built unions and the middle class. 

We will remember and take a solitary walk or drive through the Union Miners Cemetery or past the Mother Jones Museum on Main Street in the evening and look at the Mt. Olive Coal sign shining in the window. 

We must remember that Mother Jones chose Mt. Olive as the place to lie at rest. Her story is our story of courage remembered and courage witnessed.

The Friends of the Mother Jones Museum at Mt. Olive and the Union Miners Cemetery Board salute Mt. Olive past and present on this and every May Day.

Overflow crowd at the Church of the Ascension, Mt. Olive for Mother Jones’ funeral in 1930. Photo from newspaper in the Mt. Olive Library collection.