Upcoming Events

Cork | Health / Disability Issues

no events match your query!

New Events

Cork

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Labour Must Halt its War on Pubs Tue Sep 09, 2025 19:30 | Will Jones
One pub is closing every day. And Labour's 'banter ban' ? Clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill ? is only going to make it worse as pubs are left with the escalating bills to cover their legal costs.
The post Labour Must Halt its War on Pubs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link What Has Gone Wrong With Books About How-Everything-Has-Gone-Wrong-and-What-To-Do-About-It And What ... Tue Sep 09, 2025 17:48 | James Alexander
Ben Ansell, in Why Politics Fails, outlines "five traps of the modern world and how to escape them". Professor James Alexander wonders how he can escape yet another book that tries to save the world with Left-wing dogma.
The post What Has Gone Wrong With Books About How-Everything-Has-Gone-Wro... And What To Do About Them appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical Tue Sep 09, 2025 15:46 | Will Jones
The African Union's demand for colonial reparations is an act of cynical opportunism that ignores that slavery was already endemic in Africa, and African kingdoms resisted abolition even as the British forced it on them.
The post The African Countries Demanding Reparations Are Astonishingly Hypocritical appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Brighton Council Ignores Van With Palestine Flag for Months ? But Tows it Days After St George?s Fla... Tue Sep 09, 2025 13:04 | Will Jones
Brighton Council has been accused of "two-tier" hypocrisy after ignoring a van with a Palestine flag for months only to tow it days after a St George's flag was added.
The post Brighton Council Ignores Van With Palestine Flag for Months ? But Tows it Days After St George’s Flag Added appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Jim Ratcliffe?s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids Tue Sep 09, 2025 11:13 | Will Jones
Jim Ratcliffe's energy empire, Ineos ? one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers ? is ending all investment in Britain and diverting it to the US over Labour's tax raid on oil and gas producers.
The post Jim Ratcliffe’s Energy Empire Ends All Investment in Britain Over Labour Tax Raids appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Mother Jones Epidemic

category cork | health / disability issues | opinion/analysis author Monday September 07, 2020 01:50author by Michael Donahue Steinberg - Black Rain Pressauthor email blackrainpress at hotmail dot com Report this post to the editors

During this Labor Day weekend here the US, we're number 1 in Covid deaths and have millions out of work consequently, Here in San Francisco, as fires rage and smoke overwhelms, we're supposed to stay inside with our windows shut and have no fun. In light of all this, I thought I'd share Cork-born labor heroine Mother Jones' experience of surviving the epidemic of her day.

Autobiography of Mother Jones Chapter 1 Early Years

I was born in the city of Cork, Ireland, in 1830. My people were poor. For generations they had fought for Ireland's freedom. Many of my folks died in that struggle. My father, Richard Harris, came to America in 1835, and as soon as he became an American citizen he sent for his family. His work was as a laborer in railway construction crews took him to Toronto, Canada. Here I was brought up but always as the child of an American citizen. Of that citizenship I have always been proud.

After finishing common schools, I attended the Normal school with the intention of becoming a teacher. Dressmaking, too, I learned proficiently. My first position was teaching in a convent in Monroe, Michigan. Later I came to Chicago and opened a dressmaking establishment. I preferred sewing to bossing little children.

However, I went back to teaching, this time in Memphis, Tennessee. Here I married in 1861. My husband was an iron moulder and staunch member of the Iron Moulder's Union.

In 1867, a yellow fever epidemic swept Memphis. Its victims were mainly among the poor and workers. The rich and well-to do fled the city. Schools and churches were closed. People were not permitted to enter the house of a yellow fever victim without permits. The poor could not afford nurses. Across the street from me, ten persons lay dead from the plague. The dead surrounded us. They were buried at night quickly and without ceremony. All about my house I could hear could hear weeping and the sounds of delirium One by one, my four little children sickened and died. I washed their little bodies and got them ready for burial.My husband caught the fever and died. I sat alone through nights of grief. No one came for me. No one could. Other homes were as stricken as was mine. All day long,all night long, I heard the grating of wheels of the death cart.

After the union buried my husband, I got a permit to nurse the sufferers. This I did until the plague was stamped out.

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy