From Prairie to Prison: The Life of Social Activist Kate Richards O'Hare

"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, blood-stained 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 (1877-1948) 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 a long history of social criticism by this forty-one-year-old mother of four. From her childhood in Kansas and Missouri until her death in 1948, O'Hare challenged virtually all of society's institutions. In this biography, the author reveals the story of this colorful and exuberant woman who spent her life fighting for equality and justice.