Anarchist, Labor Organizer. Modern scholarship concludes the probability that she was born as a slave in Virginia, though she later claimed to be the daughter of a Mexican mother and a Creek father, denying any black heritage. She met and married Albert Parsons, a former Confederate soldier, around 1871. The racially mixed couple was forced to flee Texas and settled in Chicago in 1873. They became involved with Marxist socialism and the Workingmen's Party of the United States. She wrote and and lectured for the organization's paper, Socialist. In 1883, they helped found the anarchist group International Working People's Association. She wrote regularly for their weekly paper The Alarm, encouraging acts of violence against the rich. In May 1886, when she and her husband led a strike calling for an eight-hour work day, the rally at Haymarket Square ended with a bomb thrown at police, killing four. Albert Parsons was one of those tried and executed for the murders. In 1892, she published the short lived paper Freedom. In 1905, she was among those who founded the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1927, she became a member of the National Committee of the International Labor Defense and began working for the Communist Party. She died in a house fire at age 89. She variously called herself Lucy Gonzalez, Lucy Gonzalez Parson, Lucy Parsons, Lucy Waller.
Anarchist, Labor Organizer. Modern scholarship concludes the probability that she was born as a slave in Virginia, though she later claimed to be the daughter of a Mexican mother and a Creek father, denying any black heritage. She met and married Albert Parsons, a former Confederate soldier, around 1871. The racially mixed couple was forced to flee Texas and settled in Chicago in 1873. They became involved with Marxist socialism and the Workingmen's Party of the United States. She wrote and and lectured for the organization's paper, Socialist. In 1883, they helped found the anarchist group International Working People's Association. She wrote regularly for their weekly paper The Alarm, encouraging acts of violence against the rich. In May 1886, when she and her husband led a strike calling for an eight-hour work day, the rally at Haymarket Square ended with a bomb thrown at police, killing four. Albert Parsons was one of those tried and executed for the murders. In 1892, she published the short lived paper Freedom. In 1905, she was among those who founded the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1927, she became a member of the National Committee of the International Labor Defense and began working for the Communist Party. She died in a house fire at age 89. She variously called herself Lucy Gonzalez, Lucy Gonzalez Parson, Lucy Parsons, Lucy Waller.
Bio by: Iola
Gravesite Details
About 2 gravestones to the right of the Haymarket Monument
Family Members
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