Lucy Parsons

Lucy Parsons was a leader in the radical labor movement for over 60 years (1870s - 1940s). Her activism doesn't fit neatly into any one box.

In 1870s Chicago, she and her husband became highly effective anarchist organizers for the labor movement. Lucy wrote for multiple anarchist publications and organized marches for working women in the city. In 1886, they led 80,000 workers down Michigan Avenue for the world's first May Day parade to demand an 8-hour workday.

She was a powerful orator and was harassed by the Chicago Police Department who arrested her on phony charges to prevent her from speaking. She advocated for both radical tactics, "Learn the use of explosives!" and nonviolence (which would have broad meaning for future protest movements). She was one of two founding women members of the International Workers of the World (IWW or affectionately known as the Wobblies). She was in conflict with other civil rights and feminist activists for her focus on class politics over race and gender struggles. She believed that fighting capitalism was more important since sex and race are facts of existence that are manipulated by employers to justify greater exploitation. She also advocated for sex workers when most activists were ignoring their plight completely.

When she died in a house fire, police confiscated her vast library and personal writings and never returned them.