Mary Harris Jones may have been called "Mother" Jones, but the Irishwoman's demeanor often was anything but sweet and maternal.

Poet Carl Sandburg once called her "the walking wrath of God." In 1902, she was named "the most dangerous woman in America" for her successful organization of mine workers against oppressive owners.

In late middle age, the Irish-born former schoolteacher and dressmaker became a prominent labor representative and community organizer, coordinating major labor strikes, marching abused young mill working children to the home of president Theodore Roosevelt and co-founding the labor organization Industrial Workers of the World.

Mother Jones was exactly the kind of woman Chicago actress Betsey Means wanted to portray onstage.

"She didn't back down from anything and was thrown in prison for it," Means said. "She loved children and was deeply affected by children's labor. The miners considered her a saint. Yet a lot of people don't know who Mother Jones is today."

Means created a one-woman show about Mother Jones as part of WomanLore: Performing Women in History, a theatrical organization she founded with Chicago director and actress Eileen Vorbach. WomanLore offers one-woman, authentically costumed performances focusing on prominent female figures in history for schools, colleges, museums, libraries and other organizations.

The shows are adapted directly from journals, autobiographies, personal writings and speeches of such figures as Victorian explorer Mary Kingsley, social activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, author Gertrude Stein and poet Emily Dickinson.

Means will perform "The March of the Mill Children: a speech by Mother Jones" Monday at Ad Astra Books & Coffee House, 141 N. Santa Fe. The performance is sponsored by the Salina Area Workers Coalition.

Jones' presentation will be about an hour. She then will answer questions both as Mother Jones and as herself.

Great organizer

Means said Mother Jones believed child labor to be among the worst sins of the industrial age and wanted to expose the horrible conditions in which many of these children, some of whom were under the age of 10, worked.

"Some of these children would work from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening," Means said. "Some of the mills were being run by children. You saw horrific child abuse there."

In 1903, Jones organized more than 16,000 children working in mills and mines to join her in a "children's crusade": a march from Kensington, Phil., to Oyster Bay, N.Y., the home of president Theodore Roosevelt. Although Roosevelt declined to meet with Jones and her marchers, the event helped make a public issue of child labor abuses.

Means said much of Jones' passion for the welfare of children came from losing her own four children, all under the age of 5, to a yellow fever epidemic in 1867.

"She went so deep into her grief and came out the other side," Means said. "She was able to transform her suffering to help others."

Promotes education

Means' presentation is part of this year's Salina Area Workers Coalition Labor Day event. Past events have included music and poetry, soapbox talks and appearances by political candidates.

"Since 2012, we've done something every Labor Day," said member Joan Ratzlaff. "We try to be lighthearted and have a little fun."

The workers coalition, which meets the second Tuesday of each month at the Salina Labor Building Association, 2055 S. Ohio, was created to explore how workers contribute to the community and to promote the value of workers in our society, Ratzlaff said.

"We stress the importance of workers in our economy," she said. "We try to provide balance and promote education in labor history."

Coalition member Greg Stephens said he hopes the Mother Jones presentation not only will show the profound difference one person can make in society, but will "provide an effective way for people to start appreciating the issues of today."

"Mother Jones was a fierce, independent woman who argued strongly for people to stand up for their rights," he said. "And she did this in her later years, before women had the right to vote."