Three Pioneer Women Labor Leaders - Philip Foner

Sarah G. Bagley

Sarah G. Bagley was the first leader of the Female Labor Reform Association of Lowell, a pioneer woman labor editor and labor leader. Yet knowledge of her background and early life is scant. She was a native of Meredith, New Hampshire, and taught school before arriving in Lowell around 1836 or 1837. According to her own testimony, given in February, 1845, before the special committee investigating petitions for the ten-hour day, she had worked eight and one-half years in the Lowell Mills—six and one-half in the Hamilton Corporation and two in the Middlesex. In her December, 1840, Lowell Offering article, "Pleasures of Factory Life," she described herself as "having been engaged as an operative the last four years." It is known that for four of the eight years when she worked in the mills, she conducted a free evening school for her fellow female factory operatives.

Miss Bagley contributed considerably to the labor press and the daily press on issues involving the factory girls. It thus was not surprising that in May, 1846, Miss Bagley was selected as the logical person to take charge of the Voice of Industry when its editor, William F. Young, had to give up his work because of ill health. She edited and published the paper from May 15 through May 29, 1846. Her editorials are included below, as well as her other writings.

Miss Bagley's last piece of writing appeared in the Voice of Industry of October 2, 1846. After the issue of September 25 her name disappeared from the masthead of the paper, and no further mention of her was made in the labor reform movement. It was reported that Miss Bagley had suffered a breakdown. Actually, she was still active as the first woman telegraph operator in the United States, as well as in other activities.

Like those of the two other women pioneer labor leaders included in this section, some of Miss Bagley's writings appear elsewhere in the volume, under specific subjects. Here her (and their) writings cover the more general aspects of the causes in which they were engaged.

Text taken from Part 4 of Philip Foner's book The Factory Girls, pp. 159-160.

Huldah J. Stone

Mill operative Huldah J. Stone, secretary of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, was another of the pioneer women labor leaders of the 1840s. During most of the life of the Voice of Industry, she had charge of its Female Department. She attended all the meetings of the New England Workingmen's Association, participating in the discussions and serving on important committees. At the Manchester convention in March, 1846, she was chosen recording secretary, with a man as her assistant.

Miss Stone toured New England for the Voice of Industry, soliciting subscriptions by speaking at meetings of unions of male mechanics, and describing her experiences in letters to the labor paper. She also helped during her tours to organize Female Labor Reform Associations in several communities. Although less militant in her writings than either Sarah G. Bagley or Mehitable Eastman, she was a steady influence in the organizations of the factory operatives during the mid-1840s. When she was appointed a regular correspondent of the Voice of Industry by the Female Labor Reform Association, that paper said of her in its issue of July 31, 1845: "Miss Stone is an able writer, and conversant with the evils which affect the laboring classes, especially the operatives in our manufactories—their privations and requirements, and will lay them before the community through our columns. . . . This will be a valuable acquisition to our paper and we feel deeply indebted for this generous aid and acting interest. . . ." And on June 25, 1847, the Voice of Industry announced: "Miss H. J. Stone, a lady favorably known to many of our readers, will visit Methuen, Exeter, Haverhill, and other towns in that vicinity, to solicit subscriptions to this paper. We trust her labors will be well rewarded."

Text taken from Part 4 of Philip Foner's book The Factory Girls, pp. 178-179.

Mehitable Eastman

Mehitable Eastman was a Manchester, New Hampshire, factory operative and one of the organizers and prominent leaders of the Manchester Female Labor Reform Association. After Miss Bagley left the Voice of Industry, the name of Miss Eastman appeared on the masthead as co-editor. She contributed to the paper, and also went out on tours seeking subscriptions to keep it alive. Her letters to the labor paper from various villages she visited, written in a sprightly language, tell us much about her courage in overcoming existing prejudice against women speaking in public and becoming involved in public affairs. It is interesting that she obtained the greatest encouragement from workers and the most opposition from professionals as well as spokesmen for the employers. Her letters offer interesting insights into American social affairs in the late 1840s.

The section opens with what is, so far as is known, the first published piece by Miss Eastman, a challenge to Harriet Farley to prove that the Lowell Offering truly represented the factory operatives.

Text taken from Part 4 of Philip Foner's book The Factory Girls, p. 194. Spelling of her first name has been changed to "Mehitable" instead of "Mehitabel" as Foner spelled it.