dress shop, which burned to the
ground in the Great Chicago Fire
of 1871, leaving her homeless
with thousands of others. The
suffering she saw moved her
to action. She saw that it was
the unions that were helping
the working poor. She decided
she would not open another
dress shop. She would take up
the work few women had done:
union organizing. It was hard
work, going to factories and
mines talking to workers about
standing up to the bosses to
demand safer places to work
or pay that was enough to feed
their families.
What she had to fight first
was fear. No matter how bad or
good things were, it was hard
to find people willing to talk
with her. They were afraid they
would be fired just for talking
to a union organizer. They were
afraid they would be fired if
they spoke up when they were
forced to work longer hours
than agreed to, or when they
weren’t paid what was promised.
Men were afraid they would be
fired if they spoke up about un-
safe mines that sometimes col-
lapsed on top of them. Women
were afraid they would be fired
if they spoke up about unsafe
factories where doors were
locked to keep workers from
taking breaks in the fresh air.
More than once, those locked
factories caught fire, burning
alive the women who had no
way of escape. Mothers and fa-
thers made such little money
that they sent their children to
work, and bosses gave them
jobs with dangerous chemi-
cals that scarred and sickened
them, or put them to work on
merciless machines that needed
small hands and little fingers.
Even so, families were terrified
to speak up because a lost job
otra tienda de ropa, que se
quemó hasta quedar carbonizada
en el Gran Incendio de Chicago
de 1871, dejándola sin casa jun-
to con otras miles de personas.
El sufrimiento la hizo actuar. Vio
que eran los sindicatos los que
estaban ayudando a los traba-
jadores pobres. Decidió que no
abriría otra tienda de ropa, sino
haría algo que pocas mujeres
habían hecho: organizar sindica-
tos. Era trabajo muy duro, ir a las
fábricas y minas, hablar con los
trabajadores acerca de enfren-
tarse con los jefes para exigir lu-
gares seguros de trabajo o pago
suficiente para dar de comer a
sus familias.
Contra lo primero que tenía
que luchar era el miedo. No im-
portaba qué tan mala o buena
fuera la situación, era difícil en-
contrar a alguien dispuesto a
hablar con ella. Los trabajadores
tenían miedo de ser despedidos
sólo por hablar con un sindica-
lista. Temían ser despedidos si
protestaban por trabajar más ho-
ras de las acordadas, o cuando
no obtenían la paga prometida.
Los hombres tenían miedo del
despido si hablaban acerca de
la inseguridad en las minas que
a veces colapsaban sobre ellos.
Las mujeres tenían miedo de ser
despedidas si hablaban acerca
de fábricas cuyas puertas eran
cerradas con llave para impedir
que las empleadas tomaran des-
cansos al aire libre. Más de una
vez esas fábricas se incendiaron,
quemando vivas a las trabajado-
ras que no tenían modo de es-
capar. Madres y padres tenían tan
bajos salarios que era necesario
mandar a sus hijos a trabajar, y
los patrones los hacían trabajar
con químicos peligrosos que los
enfermaron y dejaron cicatrices,
o con máquinas inmisericordes
que necesitaban manos y dedos
pequeños. Aun así, a las familias
