Mt. Olive International Mother Jones Festival – May Day Program

The Mt. Olive International Mother Jones Festival – May Day Program features Speeches by Tim Drea, AFL-CIO and Steve Earle, UMW District 12. The event begins at Noon on May 1st.

Also, there will be a dedication of the Mother Jones’ Children Commemorative Bench The husband and children of Mother Jones died during the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. This bench is the world’s first commemorative site honoring Mother Jones’ lost family. Join us as we remember Mother Jones’ husband and children lost in the yellow fever epidemic of 1867 in Memphis, Tennessee, with the placement of a commemorative bench at the Union
Miners Cemetery, Mt. Olive, Illinois, burial place of Mother Jones.

More activities:

Greetings from Cork, Ireland, birthplace of Mother Jones.

Speeches by General Bradley and Mother Jones

Music by Wildflower Conspiracy and Nick Krumwiede

Downtown Mount Olive Street Festival   May 1   –  2 to 5 pm

Visit the Mother Jones Museum    Children’s Activities   Magician Randy Thompson

Off the Wall Tacos Food Truck     Labor Songs    Fire Truck Rides

Three authors will discuss coalmining, immigrants, and labor strife:

Elizabeth Rodenz will discuss her book Josephine, about coalmining in western Pennsylvania and Mother Jones’ involvement in the 1910-11 strikes.

Ginny Savage Ayers will discuss her book: Never Justice, Never Peace: Mother Jones and the Miner Rebellion at Paint and Cabin Creeks

Dr. Fawn-Amber Montoya, editor of Making an American Workforce, will discuss her oral history work with immigrant families in the coal fields.

Mother Jones Hellraiser Kazoo Co. Coffee and Cookies from B & K Bakery