Born: 8 January 1864, United States
Died: 18 January 1943
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mary Kenney
The following is republished with permission from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
After an earlier association with Chicago’s settlement house, Hull House, labor organizer Mary Kenney O’Sullivan (1864-1943) worked for a time at Denison House. She lived there with her husband, John F. O’Sullivan, labor editor of the Boston Globe, and their three children. After his sudden death in 1902, she managed a model tenement and continued her labor organizing activities. She was one of the principal founders of the National Women’s Trade Union League at Faneuil Hall in 1903. O’Sullivan supported many union activities, including the 1912 Lawrence textile strike. She was a strong supporter of woman suffrage and opposed the entry of the United States into World War I, joining the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1914, she became a factory inspector under the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries.