Mary ‘Pickhandle’ Fitzgerald - Rediscovering a Lost Icon by Frances Hunter has just been published by Just Done Productions
(RRP) R160
GENRE: Biography, South African History
Keywords: Feminism, Labour, Women in South Africa, Trade Unions, Mining, History of Johannesburg
This first biography of Mary Fitzgerald, who made an enormous contribution to the early history of Johannesburg, brings out of obscurity her extraordinary life.
Arriving in Johannesburg in 1902, when a woman’s place was in the home, she chalked up an amazing list of achievements.
Against the backdrop of early industrial conflict, she became South Africa’s first trade union organizer, a rabble-rousing orator, and a strike leader and leader of women’s commandos, viewed by the authorities as an agitator.
Fiery and fearless, she stood up to Minister of Mines - Jan Smuts, the police, local and British troops, and scabs alike.
She was a suffragist long before women had the vote and became the first woman elected to public office in South Africa when voted onto the Johannesburg Town Council, where she also served as Deputy Mayor.
She also published articles from her printing works advocating women’s enfranchisement, racially integrated trade unions, and revolutionary socialism; she helped to found the country’s Labour Party, attended its international conferences, and she was active in work for children.
Her private life was scandalous, and mystery surrounds the reasons she was forgotten for so long.
A plaque in her memory was unveiled in the Mary Fitzgerald Square, Johannesburg on the 24 September 2005. “At the ceremony, her son Archie, then aged eighty-one, expressed the family’s appreciation for the unveiling of the plaque and the naming of the square. He said that Mary, a courageous woman, had loved working in the city of Johannesburg and if she were still alive she would be satisfied with the rights enshrined in the Constitution, especially the rights of workers. He added that she would support workers’ rights to ensure a non-racial and non-sexist society.”
Frances Hunter lived in Johannesburg from 1968 to 1994. When working as a journalist, she heard about Mary Fitzgerald, who was unknown to most people, and knew that Mary deserved to have her rightful place in the history of South Africa. This book is the outcome of years of research.
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Lulu ID 7785793
ISBN 13: 978-1-920315-43-6
Cover Type: Paperback
Binding: Perfect Bound
Black and White photographs
Publication Date: 14 October 2009
Size:A5
No of pages: 153
SA: Order online http://www.justdone.co.za
If you are ordering for the first time, please register and follow the instructions…Contact us if you have any problems publish@justdone.co.za or fax 086 505 2478
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Shirene Dovey
Just Done Productions
http://www.justdone.co.za
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GENRE: HISTORY, MILITARY, WAR
Binding: Perfect Bound + paperback
