Carrie Katherine "Kate" Richards O'Hare (March 26, 1876 – January 10, 1948) was an

American Socialist Party The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

activist, editor, and orator best known for her controversial imprisonment during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Biography

Early years

Carrie Katherine Richards was born March 26, 1876, in Ottawa County,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. Her father, Andrew Richards (c. 1846–1916), was the son of slaveowners who had come to hate the institution, enlisting as a bugler and drummer boy in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

at the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1861."Andrew Richards," ''St. Louis Labor,'' whole no. 806 (July 15, 1916), p. 8. Following the conclusion of the war he had married his childhood sweetheart and moved to the western Kansas frontier, where he and his wife Lucy brought up Kate and her four siblings, raising the children as

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

from an early age. O'Hare briefly worked as a teacher in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

before becoming an apprentice machinist in her native Kansas. After being moved by a speech by labor activist

Mary Harris Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

, she became drawn into socialist politics. She married fellow socialist Frank P. O'Hare.

Political career

She unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in Kansas on the Socialist ticket in 1910. In the pages of the ''National Rip-Saw'', a

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

-based socialist journal in the 1910s, O'Hare championed reforms in favor of the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

and toured the country as an

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

. In 1916 the Socialist Party of Missouri named O'Hare its candidate for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, heading the Socialist ticket in the state. After America's entry into

in 1917, O'Hare led the Socialist Party's Committee on War and Militarism. For giving an anti-war speech in

Bowman, North Dakota Bowman is a city and county seat of Bowman County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 1,470 at the 2020 census. History Bowman was founded in 1907 at about the same time the railroad was extended to that point. The city took its na ...

, O'Hare was convicted and sent to prison by federal authorities for violating the

Espionage Act of 1917 The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...

, an act criminalizing interference with recruitment and enlistment of military personnel. With no federal penitentiaries for women existing at the time, she was delivered to

Missouri State Penitentiary The Missouri State Penitentiary was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri, that operated from 1836 to 2004. Part of the Missouri Department of Corrections, it served as the state of Missouri's primary maximum security institution.Lombardi, George ...

on a five-year sentence in 1919, but was pardoned in 1920 after a nationwide campaign to secure her release. In prison, O'Hare met the

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

and Gabriella Segata Antolini, and worked with them to improve prison conditions. After her release and the war's end, support for the Amnesty movement waned. In April 1922, to free America's "Political Prisoners" she led the "Children’s Crusade", a cross country march, to prod Harding to release others convicted of the same 1917 Espionage act she had been convicted. With support of the fledgling ACLU, the women and children stood at the gates of the White House for almost two months before Harding met with them, ultimately releasing many of the prisoners of conscience. O'Hare, unlike Socialist Party leader

Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate of the Soc ...

and other prominent socialists at the time, was a supporter of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

, and penned a 1912 pamphlet titled ''"Nigger" Equality,'' which attempted to appeal to Southern voters.Kate Richards O'Hare
''"Nigger" Equality''
St. Louis, MO: National Rip-Saw, 1912.

Later years

Kate O'Hare divorced Frank O'Hare in June 1928 and married the engineer and businessman Charles C. Cunningham in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in November of the same year. Despite her continued involvement in politics, much of O'Hare's prominence gradually faded. O'Hare worked on behalf of

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in seve ...

's radical populist campaign in the 1934 California gubernatorial election, and briefly served on the staff of

Wisconsin Progressive Party The Wisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a political party that briefly held a dominant role in Wisconsin politics. History The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of the famous Wisco ...

politician Thomas R. Amlie in 1937–38. Esteemed as a

penal reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes. ...

advocate, she served as an assistant director of the California Department of Penology in 1939–40.

Death and legacy

O'Hare died in Benicia, California, on January 10, 1948.

References

Works

* ''Americanism and Bolshevism''. St. Louis, MO: F. P. O’Hare, 1919.
"How I Became a Socialist Agitator,"
''Socialist Woman'' irard, KS October 1908, pp. 4–5. * ''In Prison''. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1923. (Internet Archive

''"Nigger" Equality.''
St. Louis, MO: National Rip-Saw, 1912. * ''Socialism and the World War''. St. Louis, MO: F. P. O’Hare, 1919. * ''The Sorrows of Cupid''. St. Louis, MO: National Rip-Saw, 1912.

External links

Kate Richards O'Hare Letters.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. *Lubna A. Alam and Elizabeth I. Perry

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, womhist.alexanderstreet.com/—Document collection. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohare, Kate Richards 1876 births 1948 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American women politicians Activists from Kansas American anti–World War I activists American political activists American political writers American prisoners and detainees American socialists People from Ottawa County, Kansas People convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Recipients of American presidential pardons Socialist Party of America politicians from Kansas Socialist Party of America politicians from Missouri Wisconsin Progressives (1924) Women in Kansas politics American women non-fiction writers