Lucy an Albert Parsons are remembered as some of the most famous anarchist partisans in American history. Their lives also present an amazing and inspirational story of ferocious dedication against the oppression of the world.
Albert was a a Confederate soldier and relative of George Washington. His experience in the Civil War led him to a total life transformation, turning from a Confederate volunteer into a radical who rejected slavery and discrimination of all kinds and worked for Reconstruction and the rights of emancipated slaves. He married Lucy Gonzales in Texas. Lucy was a Texas native, of African-American, Mexican, Native American and Caucasian ancestry. They were married in Austin and lived in Waco. Together and individually they published pamphlets and newspapers tied to the radical labor movement and anarchism.
Because of their marriage and politics, the Klan drove them out of Waco. They moved to Chicago where they became leaders in the radical labor movement tied to the Knights of Labor and the demandf for an 8-hour workday. Albert Parsons became a name in every history book when he was charged with conspiracy in the Haymarket Riots during a major strike by the Knights of Labor.
On May 1st, 1886, Alberts and Lucy Parsons and their two children led a march of 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue in Chicago in the first ever May Day labor parade. Over a quarter million workers joined in the strike over the next few days. Albert gave a stirring speech during a rally on the 4th. After he had left the scene, and as the crowd was dispersing, the police came and ordered the event closed. A bomb was thrown, killing four policemen. Seven labor leaders and anarchists were rounded up and blamed for the attack, despite a host of witnesses arguing against their involvement and the verified absence of several from the rally itself. Parsons went to Wisconsin for a month and then returned to Chicago, turning himself in to stand trial with his comrades. They were all found guilty despite total lack of evidence, 5 eventually dying (one by suicide before hanging and four by the noose). Albert Parsons was hung on November 11th, 1887.
The brutal repression of the labor movement that followed this event helped kill the Knights of Labor, the first strong national labor union in America, but Parsons and the Haymarket Martyrs have gone down in world labor history and had their deaths memorialized forever in the form of May Day, which became the international working class holiday celebrated by most unions in the world and every labor radical.
Lucy Parsons continued her agitation for the rest of her life (until 1942) publishing, working in the labor movement, helping found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and defending the civil liberties of trade unionists and unjustly accused African Americans.
Lucy has been called "Queen of the Hoboes" and was famously described by the Chicago police department as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters."
Links:
The Lucy Parsons Project
Lucy Parsons from the Handbook of Texas
Meet the Haymarket Defendents
Albert Parsons Archive
Lucy Parsons Archive