Labor Activist Mary Kenney O'Sullivan: Irish Women of Massachusetts

Mary Kenney O’Sullivan

(1864-1943)

Nationally acclaimed union organizer Mary Kenny was born in Missouri to Irish immigrants. She worked in Chicago and New York as an organizer before moving to Boston’s South End in 1893. She organized rubber makers, shoe makers and garment workers, shops where women were paid poorly and suffered bad working conditions. When her husband John O’Sullivan died, she continued her work, creating the National Women’s Trade Union League and taking part in the Bread and Roses Strike in Lawrence, MA. The Massachusetts State House has a plaque entitled Hear Us, honoring Kenny and five other women.

Mary Kenney O'Sullivan is part of BITA's 2019 Irish Women of Massachusetts series in celebration of Irish Heritage Month and Women's History Month.

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