Leonora O'Reilly

Leonora O’Reilly
Born	February 16, 1870 New York City
Died	April 3, 1927 Brooklyn, New York City
Occupation	Labor leader
Children	Alice O'Reilly (Adopted 1907, Died 1911)
Parent(s)	John O'Reilly (father), Winifred (Rooney) O'Reilly (mother)

Biography

Leonora O’Reilly (February 16, 1870 - April 3, 1927) was an American feminist, suffragist, and trade union organizer.^[1] O'Reilly was born in New York state, raised in the Lower East Side of New York City. She was born into a working-class family and had left school at the age of eleven, to then begin working under a sewing instructor. Leonora O’Reilly’s parents were Irish Immigrants escaping the Potato Famine; father, John was a printer and a grocer, passing away while Leonora was at the ripe age of one, forcing her mother, Winifred ‘Rooney’ O’Reilly to work more hours as a garment worker to support Leonora and her younger brother.^[2]

O’Reilly worked from 1903-1915 an Organizer and Recruiter for the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL). O’Reilly was well documented for her volunteerism and paid labor for her political activism, as she was paid for writing magazine articles, printing her opinions in newspapers. Speaking on the streets of New York, O’Reilly spoke in public for labor reform and women’s suffrage; her skills were able to represent the women in a Senate Committee on Suffrage as well as in various public meeting halls.^[3]

O’Reilly as a woman speaker was thought to be out of place for women at this time in New York’s history. Some historians claim that city folk would often question O'Reilly and the few paid women public speakers’ feminine essence, as if their profession exclusively requires male labor, making assertive actions that go against the social norms, sparking change, and making room for more females to rise up in O’Reilly’s wake.^[3]

Personal and Family Life

Family Life

Leonora O'Reilly was the daughter of John O'Reilly, a printer and member of the Knights of Labor, and Winifred (Rooney) O'Reilly, an Irish-born dressmaker. John O'Reilly died when Leonora was one year old.^[3] Upon his death, Winifred O'Reilly supported herself and the child by sewing and taking in boarders.

O'Reilly accompanied her mother to meetings at Cooper Union and her father's friend, Victor Drury, helped instill in her an appreciation for the Italian nationalist Mazzini. O'Reilly counted among her influences radical Catholic priest and social justice advocate Fr. Edward McGlynn and anarchist Peter Kropotkin.

Leonora and Winifred O'Reilly both made their home in Brooklyn.

In 1907, Leonora O'Reilly, who never married, adopted a child, Alice. Alice passed away in 1911.^[4]

Personal life

Leonora O’Reilly would go to the streets, set up her tree stump in an area for an audience to gather, and she would speak to anyone who was willing to listen to her progressive political agenda. Her notable dialogue would change the way people perceived women as people, workers, citizens, and the legitimate cause behind their words preached.^[3]

At age 16, O'Reilly joined the Comte Synthetic Circle, a self-education group in the Lower East Side of New York. Through this group, O'Reilly met her mentor to be, Victor Drury. Drury was a French born intellectual, Knights of Labor activist, and anarchist; he had introduced O'Reilly to many books which helped compensate for her lack of formal education.^[2]

In 1898, Leonora O’Reilly took art courses at the Pratt Institute in New York, there she received her degree in 1900.^[2]

In 1910, O'Reilly became a member of the Socialist Party of New York.^[4]

O’Reilly founded the Wage Earners Suffrage League, a more radical wing of the National Woman’s Party and had called for more fair wages, which many upper-class women were not as likely to support. O’Reilly had an ‘equal pay for equal work’ plan for the movement after they had made a dent in their efforts.^[3] O'Reilly served as the president of the Wage Earner’s Suffrage League from 1911-1912.^[1] In this capacity she served as a volunteer investigator to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.^[1]

In 1912, O'Reilly was appointed as the Chair of the Industrial Committee of the New York City Women Suffrage Party.^[4]

Nicknamed as 'the agitator', O'Reilly would work to empower the voice of women workers, rather than supporting their interests on the public platform alone. When speaking about the disenfranchised women workers, she would frequently refer to them as ‘intelligent women’ and ‘thinking women’ because that is how O’Reilly perceived them, as the patriarchal social-norms at the time did not think as highly of the women.^[3] This was made evident throughout her speeches, but notably in her 1896 speech titled, 'Organization' where she put heavy emphasis on providing the unprivileged class of workers a sense of class-consciousness against the big industries, who O’Reilly and felt had exploited their hard labor.^[3]

In 1915, O'Reilly served as the Trade Union Delegate for the International Congress of Women.^[4] At this time O'Reilly was around the age of 45, and she began to suffer from the early stages of heart disease, which would slowly trump her ability to be an energetic activist.^[3]

In 1919, O'Reilly again served as the Trade Union Delegate, this time for the International Congress for Working Women^[4]

In 1925 and 1926, O'Reilly taught courses at New York's New School for Social Research; these courses were on topics related to 'the theory of the labor movement'.^[3]

In 1927, O'Reilly died around the age of 56 due to heart disease.^[2]

Career and Political Activism

O'Reilly began working in a factory at age 11 as the assistant to a seamstress in New York.^[2]

Leonora O’Reilly early in her life became engaged with the labor reform and women’s suffrage movements, at 16 she joined the Knights of Labor with her mother Winifred O'Reilly who soon followed her daughter's lead.^[3] Leonora belonged to many organizations composed of both working class and elite men and women. Mentors helped further her education. After attending the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, O'Reilly and her mother became residents at the Asacog House, a settlement in Brooklyn. She also taught at the Manhattan Trade School.^[1]

After being formally introduced to labor rights efforts, in 1886 O'Reilly formed the Working Women’s Society.^[4] At this time, Louise Perkins, a women’s activist and philanthropist had taken interest into O’Reilly’s work, inviting her to membership to New York’s Social Reform Club, as this group would often speak on the contemporary issues surrounding the political economy.^[2] Only with the financial support of elite women such as Louise Perkins was O'Reilly able to give up manual labor and become a full-time labor organizer with the Women's Trade Union League.^[1]

O’Reilly organized the local women’s United Garment Workers of America faction in 1897, and she spoke publicly on the group’s behalf. In 1901, she had given an address to the National Society for Women Workers, advertising and increasing access/awareness for women seeking opportunities in the civil service.^[3]

In 1903, O’Reilly along with other labor activists had co-founded the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), this was the popular women’s group which led to O'Reilly’s political fame. In 1903, she served as the WTUL Vice President, and paid as a full-time organizer. After O’Reilly had become a paid full-time organizer for the Women’s Trade Union League, she would be active in speaking in meetings/public, recruiting, event organization, networking connections to support the cause, and a spokesperson for the press.^[2][3] O’Reilly also served the WTUL by being a member of its executive committee.^[4]

The Women’s Trade Union League was a non-prejudice club which was included many working class women, but also those from middle and upper class families; WTUL also was open to women of all races as their diverse membership included Italian, Eastern European Jews, Irish, and Native American women.^[3] The WTUL reported in the year between 1908-1909, the young activist O'Reilly had officially given 32 speeches credited to her name alone, while between 1909-1913, reports suggest she gave speeches nearly every day.^[3]

In 1909, O’reilly was a part of the New York Shirtwaist Strike of 1909, also known as the ‘Uprising of 20,000’, over 370 speakers and activists were arrested at this event.^[3] New York women workers had demanded fairer wages and worker rights in this mass protest, co-sponsored by the Women’s Trade Union League, as well as the group later to be known as the National Woman's Party.^[3] This same year, O’ Reilly joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), outwardly supporting minority rights, she also was supporting peace efforts, speaking critically of World War I.^[2]

O'Reilly served as the president of the Wage Earner’s Suffrage League from 1911-1912.^[1]

An ardent socialist, Leonora O'Reilly was a delegate to the 1915 Hague Women's Peace Convention, sailing through mine-laden waters aboard the MS Noordam. She also cooperated with Indian independence organizations. Around 1918, O'Reilly stopped working on behalf of labor and devoted herself to the radical section of American Irish nationalism in 1918.^[1]

In her later years, in 1919 O’Reilly spoke at the International Congress for Working Women, this was in Washington D.C. Despite O’Reilly’s lack of formal education, she was given the opportunity to teach a course at New York’s New School for Social Research on ‘the theory of the labor movement’ in 1925 and 1926.^[3]

International Women's Day

The first International Women's Day (IWD) was declared and celebrated on February 23, 1909,^[5] The American Socialists declared IWD to be on the last Sunday in the month of February. This holiday was set by the 'means by which to unite the popular community around a set of common goals', being human rights in the form of equal wages, social status, and voting rights for all women.^[5]

On February 23, 1909, n New York City's Murray Hill Lyceum at 34th and 3rd Avenue, Leonora O'Reilly spoke to over two-thousand audience members explaining the principles of equal rights and strongly demanding women's equal right to vote. This was the first official celebration of the holiday; leading a path towards historical accountability for women's rights all over the world. The holiday was not overly celebrated, as many socialists in America and Europe were taking a back seat to the suffragist movement, as the idea of promoting full women's rights was seen as subordinate/ of lesser importance than the economic advancement for male working class citizens.^[5]

There is some controversy between American and European historians and women's rights activist as to when the International Women's Day was first established. Some believe that the first American version of IWD was on March 8, 1907, a day marking the 50th anniversary of the New York Strike of Female Textile Workers. The European women's rights activists had declared their International Women's Day on March 18, 1911.^[5]

Footnotes

2. Weir, Robert (2013). Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 558–561, 851. ISBN 9781598847185.
3. Mattina, Anne F. (Spring 1994). ""Rights as well as duties": The rhetoric of Leonora O'Reilly". Communication Quarterly.
4. Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (2002). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications. ISBN 9780787637361.
5. Kaplan, Temma (March 1986). "On the Socialist Origins of International Women's Day". Celebrating Women World-Wide. Off Our Backs 16(3):1-2.