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Leonora O'Reilly (1870-1927), a noted Progressive Era labor reformer, was celebrated in her day as an inspirational orator. Born into working class poverty on New York's Lower East Side, she is most remembered for her career as a paid organizer and recruiter for the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) during the years from 1903 to 1915. She was a tireless advocate for the working class during her life, and along with activism in other areas, most notably suffrage, she remained committed to the cause of labor reform.
O'Reilly is unique as a historical figure for many reasons, not the least of which is her career as a working class female public speaker. Her career came during a time period when women's public roles were still very much proscribed. While the Progressive Era gave rise to the expansion of many aspects of women's lives, public speaking was not seen as a "suitable" career for women. Furthermore, in the early days of "big labor," women were looked upon as expendable to the work force and therefore not worth organizing.
To this point, very little has been published dealing specifically with O'Reilly and her rhetoric. Many historians and women studies scholars have investigated the WTUL, and have noted O'Reilly's importance to the League (Tax, 1980). Most have agreed that she served as the "conscience" of the League during its early years, never wavering in her commitment to the workers, and never letting the upper-class "allies" forget the worker's plight.
O'Reilly's life and rhetoric warrant investigation for several reasons. First, she was a member of the working class operating in a milieu largely dominated by middle- and upper-class educated women. It has been well-documented that those active in the settlement house movement and other causes of the Progressive Era were, for the most part, from the first generations of college educated women in America. O'Reilly left school at the age of eleven, and while she did later complete a course of instruction as an industrial sewing teacher, her formal education was almost non-existent. She worked for pay almost her entire life, an experience not shared by many reformers of this time. Her papers, diaries, and letters provide us with a unique perspective, heretofore largely ignored, of a working woman.
