Elizabeth Flynn Rodgers
BornAugust 25, 1847 Edit this on Wikidata
Woodford Edit this on Wikidata
DiedAugust 27, 1939 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 92)
Wauwatosa Edit this on Wikidata
Resting placeMount Olivet Cemetery Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationLabor leader Edit this on Wikidata

Elizabeth Flynn Rodgers (August 25, 1847 – August 27, 1939) was an Irish-born American labor leader. One of the first women to hold an office in the Knights of Labor, Rodgers fought for women's rights in the workplace while raising her ten children. She led a small group of women to organize the Working Women's Union in the 1870s, the first labor union for women in Chicago. In her later years, she helped found a fraternal life insurance organization, the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters, leading the organization for over fifteen years.

Early life

Elizabeth Flynn was born in Woodford, Ireland on August 25, 1847.[1] She was the daughter of Robert Flynn and Bridget (Campbell) Flynn.[2] The family moved to Canada when Flynn was a child and she was raised and educated in London, Ontario.[3]

As a young woman, she married socialist and union organizer George Rodgers.[4] They both agitated for worker's rights and were blacklisted by companies, forcing them to move several times to find work.[3] To make ends meet for their growing family, Rodgers took in boarders while George looked for work as an iron molder.[3]

Work in labor organizing

The family settled in Chicago in the early 1870s and Rodgers took on more work in the labor movement along with her husband.[3] Despite making up around 18% of the labor force, women were not initially welcome in the Knights of Labor.[5] In response, in 1878 Rodgers led a small group of women to form the first woman's union in Chicago, the Working Women's Union.[6] The WWU was made up primarily of non-wage earning women along with seamstresses and domestic servants, and its members included Lucy Parsons, Lizzie Swank, and Alzina Stevens.[3] The union leadership worked to inform workers of their rights and joined the eight-hour day campaign.[3]

In 1881 the Knights of Labor opened its membership to women.[3] Rodgers was made a "Master Workman" (president) of District Assembly 24 in 1886, covering all of Chicago except the Stockyards.[7] She was the first woman to hold that position in the Knights.[8] Rodgers helped promote women's involvement in the Knights of Labor.[9][4]

Rodgers gave birth to ten children during her years of activism.[4] She attended the Knights of Labor national convention in 1886 with her two-week-old baby, who The New York Times reported was the only non-delegate allowed in the meeting room.[4] She was politically conservative, arguing that all Socialists were "good for is to agitate mischief".[5][4] At the same time she was a dedicated feminist; when her husband asked her to resign her post, she said "knowing my duty to my sex, I thought it was an opportunity to show our brothers how false that theory is that women are not good for anything."[4] Rodgers declined a nomination for the post of general treasurer, however, saying she could not effectively serve in that role while caring for her children.[4]

Later life and death

Rodgers' grave at Mount Olivet Cemetery

In 1887, as the Knights of Labor declined in membership and power, Rodgers left the organization, becoming a partner in Leavell and Rodgers Printers from 1889 to 1892.[4]

She later went on to a career in insurance. Because the Catholic Order of Foresters did not permit women members, in 1891 she helped found the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters, allowing female workers to be covered by life insurance.[5] She also served as the organization's leader, High Chief Ranger, until 1908.[10][11] The Women's Catholic Order of Foresters eventually became well-established across the United States, providing financial protection for Catholic families.[5]

She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the home of one of her daughters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on August 27, 1939.[12] She was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Weir, Robert E. (1999). "Rodgers, Elizabeth Flynn (1847-1939), labor leader and social reformer". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1501061. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  2. ↑ Gallick, Judith O'Sullivan; Rosemary (1975). Workers and Allies: Female Participation American Trade Union Movement, 1824-1976. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 78. Retrieved October 15, 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Arnesen, Eric, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of U.S. labor and working-class history. New York: Routledge. pp. 1204–1205. ISBN 9780415968263. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Litoff, Judy Barrett; McDonnell, Judith, eds. (1994). European immigrant women in the United States : a biographical dictionary. New York: Garland Pub. pp. 250–251. ISBN 9780824053062. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Mageean, Deirdre; Knothe, Maria Anna; Matovic, Margareta (1997). Peasant Maids, City Women: From the European Countryside to Urban America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 249. ISBN 9780801483950. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford; Cantlon, Marie (2006). Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780253346858. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  7. ↑ Kleinberg, S. J. (August 23, 1999). Women in the United States, 1830-1945. Basingstoke: Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 9781349276981.
  8. ↑ "A Woman Master Workman". The New York Times. Chicago. August 31, 1886. p. 1. Retrieved May 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Kennelly, Karen (1989). American Catholic Women: A Historical Exploration. Macmillan. p. 162. ISBN 9780029173022. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Catholic Women in Fight; President of Foresters Pushes Priest from the Rostrum". The New York Times. Detroit, Michigan. October 1, 1908. p. 1. Retrieved May 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Woman Contests Election; Forrester, Defeated by One Vote, Charges Intimidation by Priests". The New York Times. Detroit. October 10, 1908. p. 5. Retrieved May 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. 1 2 James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S.; College, Radcliffe (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 187–188. ISBN 9780674627345.
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