Overview

I am dangerous to the invisible government of the United States; I am dangerous to the special privileges of the United States; I am dangerous to the white slaver and to the saloonkeeper, and I thank God that at this hour I am dangerous to the war profiteers of this country who rob the people on the one hand, and rob and degrade the government on the other; and then with their pockets and wallets stuffed with the filthy, bloodstained profits of war, wrap the sacred folds of the Stars and Stripes about them and shout their blatant hypocrisy to the world. You can convince the people that I am dangerous to these men; but no jury and no judge can convince them that I am a dangerous woman to the best interests of the United States . With these words Kate Richards O'Hare defied the court at her 1917 sentencing for violation of the Espionage Act. Her oratory only served to infuriate the judge and land her a five-year prison sentence for publicly opposing America's intervention in World War I. Her opposition to the war was only part of her long history of social criticism. From her childhood in Kansas and Missouri until her death in 1948, O'Hare challenged virtually all of society's institutions. In From Prairie to Prison , Sally Miller reveals the story of this colourful and exuberant woman who spent her life fighting for equality and justice. As a young woman O'Hare was active in temperance and social service efforts, until she discovered socialism and thought it to be the cure for all the ills plaguing society. In 1902 she spent her honeymoon barnstorming across the country for the Socialist Party of America. Red Kate , as she was called, became the most celebrated socialist woman from the West and a close colleague of Eugene V. Debs. Billing her as the foremost woman orator and the busiest woman in America , her national lecture tours drew people by the thousands. Although O'Hare chose an untraditional path as a woman activist, she did marry and rear a family. Her husband stayed behind to take care of the children as O'Hare went on the road to fight for workers, farmers, child labourers, disenfranchised women and prisoners. Kate Richards O'Hare left behind an impressive record as a radical who took on the battles of every forgotten American. From Prairie to Prison chronicles the public and private life of a woman who serves as a model for generations to come.

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<p> Sally M. Miller corrects an historical injustice that had previously relegated the renowned socialist and prison reformer to a secondary position in American radical history. . . . Not only does Miller firmly establish O'Hare's significance to the American Socialist party, but she also brings O'Hare and her time to life with colorful details. -- Arkansas Historical Quarterly

A workmanlike biography from Miller (History/University of the Pacific) of leading socialist and antiwar activist Kate Richards O'Hare (1876-1948), who was imprisoned for her opposition to WW I. Shaped by her childhood in rural Kansas, O'Hare went on to become one of the leaders of America's Socialist Party. After graduating high school, she taught school and was active in the temperance and other service movements until an encounter with one of the legendary labor orators of the day, Mary Harris Mother Jones, gave a new direction to her activism. O'Hare enrolled in the first class of the International School of Socialist Economy - a school for socialist organizers founded by the influential journalist Julius Wayland. There, she not only studied parliamentary procedures and forensics but met her future husband, Frank O'Hare. The couple married and spent their honeymoon touring the region as agitators and organizers - a mix of travel, speaking, and organizing that became a way of life for O'Hare. Billed as not only the foremost woman orator but also the busiest woman in America, she also wrote regular columns for socialist journals, gave birth to four children, and, in 1913, traveled to Europe as a Socialist Party representative. Deeply affected by the plight of farmers as well as of women and child laborers, her fundamental commitment was to the working masses - a commitment appreciated more by the Socialist Party's rank and file than by its male leadership, who denigrated her oratory and organizing skills. When she spoke out against WW I, which she viewed as engineered by war profiteers, O'Hare was sentenced to five years in prison - an experience that led her to spend the rest of her life working for penal reform. Another forgotten woman deservedly brought to our attention - but in a work that's more a catalogue of her considerable accomplishments than a full portrait. (Kirkus Reviews)

<p>&quot;Sally M. Miller corrects an historical injustice that had previously relegated the renowned socialist and prison reformer to a secondary position in American radical history. . . . Not only does Miller firmly establish O'Hare's significance to the American Socialist party, but she also brings O'Hare and her time to life with colorful details.&quot;-- Arkansas Historical Quarterly

Author Information

Sally M. Miller is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She is author or editor of several books, including Kate Richards O'Hare: Selected Writings and Speeches and The Ethnic Press in the United States. The Missouri Biography Series, edited by William E. Foley

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