Lucy Parsons

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Lucy Parsons

Lucy Parsons (1853-1942) was a radical labor organizer, anarchist and is remembered as a powerful orator. She was born in Texas (likely as a slave) to parents of Native American, Black American and Mexican ancestry.

In 1871 she married Albert Parsons, a former Confederate soldier, and both were forced to flee from Texas north to Chicago because of the intolerance caused by their interracial marriage.

Described by the Chicago Police Department as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters", Lucy Parsons and her husband became highly effective anarchist organizers primarily involved in the labor movement but also participating in revolutionary activism on behalf of political prisoners, people of color, the homeless and women.

In 1886, her husband Albert Parsons was executed by the state of Illinois for his participation in the movement for the eight-hour day during the Haymarket Riot (an event which marks the beginning of May Day).

In 1905, she participated in the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World, and continued her fight for liberty and equality until her death in 1942. The state still viewed Lucy Parsons as such threat to the status quo that after her death, police seized her library of over 1500 books and all of her personal papers.

[edit] Selected coverage in the New York Times

New York Times; March 8, 1942; page 36. Chicago, March 7, 1942. Lucy Parsons, 83 years old, noted anarchist whose husband was hanged for his part in the Chicago Haymarket riot in 1886, was burned to death late today when a fire broke out in her frame residence at ...