Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was one of the youngest woman activists in the world, beginning her fight for workers’ rights at the age of sixteen years old. Through her immigrant father’s eyes, she saw the treatment of workers take a dramatic decline, brought by the age of industrialization and American consumer economy. Both a communist and a socialist, Flynn made major impacts on 1900s’ ideologies. She was paralleled by other famous women activists of the Progressive Era’s fight for workers’ rights like Emma Goldman, Mother Mary Jones, and more. Her main claim to fame was that she was nicknamed the “Rebel Girl” because of her iconic speeches at such a young age; the press was quick to cover such an astonishing impact by someone so young. She became affiliated with two major organizations: first was the Industrial Workers of the World then later on she founded the American Civil Liberties Union. Her role at the IWW was to be their full-time organizer, in which she was able to mobilize workers of different industries to strike or protest against the factory bosses. This was her first official outlet she was able to use during her activist legacy. In 1920, she founded the ACLU initially to take a stance against the imprisonment and deportation of anarchists, communists, and radicals who were under public scrutiny as a result of the Red Scare. The main goal of the ACLU shifted under her leadership to the more broad objective of protecting citizens from all civil liberty violations. Her roles as a powerful orator and organizer had many key moments that are prevalent in US history. The Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912, better known as the “Bread and Roses” strike, was key to her fame and some might even credit her with its success because of her work to organize the remainder of the strike efforts. She even had a song dedicated to her called “The Rebel Girl,” written and sung by Joe Hill. Her contribution to the workers of the United States was profound in many ways, but overall she served as a voice for young women and industrial workers.