The following passage is adapted from an article entitled “Beyond Unsinkable” by Laura Harbold (2007 by Laura Harbold).
- Margaret Tobin Brown enjoyed
- the rumors people spread about
- her, says Kerri Atter, director of
- the Molly Brown House Museum
- in Denver, Colorado. “She knew
- they said she burned up money
- in her stove. But she just laughed
- it off. She said, “‘As long as they’re
- talking about me, I don’t care
- what they say.’”
- Brown’s fondness for the spotlight
- is the foundation of her outrageous,
- larger-than-life reputation. Most
- famous for surviving the Titanic
- disaster, Brown is often
- characterized as a brash social
- climber who stood out like a sore
- thumb.
- Even the name “Molly” is part of
- the legend, says Kristen Iversen,
- author of Molly Brown:
- Unraveling the Myth. In 1960,
- Richard Morris wrote a hit
- musical called The Unsinkable
- Molly Brown. “Her name was
- Margaret,” Iversen says. “They
- changed it to Molly because it
- was easier to sing.” The nickname
- stuck, and so did Morris’s
- refashioning of Brown as an
- uneducated gold digger who
- sings and dances her way to
- success.
- “She came from a background of
- equal rights for all,” Atter says.
- “She was always acting as an
- advocate for people who didn’t
- have a voice.” Brown used her
- wealth and influence to raise
- money and spark publicity
- about issues such as women’s
- suffrage, workers’ rights, and
- the juvenile justice system.
- In 1912, Brown was vacationing
- in Europe when she received
- word that her grandson was ill.
- Eager to return to his side, she
- booked a ticket for the
- Titanic’s maiden voyage. When
- the ship struck ice, Brown was
- herded into a lifeboat with
- twenty-three other passengers.
- She and her fellow survivors
- rowed through the night until
- they were rescued.
- Amid the chaos and confusion,
- Brown organized the distribution
- of blankets and food, compiled
- a list of survivors, and raised
- more than ten thousand dollars
- from first-class passengers.
- After she described the Brown
- luck, she got the nickname
- “The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown.”
- Brown’s newfound fame allowed
- her to wield increasing influence
- in national politics, particularly
- in the area of workers’ rights.
- Having experienced the
- precariousness of mine work in
- the early years of her marriage,
- she never lost compassion for
- the workers and their families.
- In 1913, tensions between
- workers and mine owners boiled
- over in Ludlow, Colorado. When
- Ludlow mine owners refused to
- negotiate with the Miners’ Union
- about inadequate food and
- housing, more than eleven
- thousand workers went on
- strike.
- When the Miners’ Union refused
- to surrender two petty criminals,
- the National Guard fired into the
- crowd. That night, the Guard
- doused the miners’ tents in oil
- and burned them to the ground.
- Nearly a dozen children were
- killed. The events, which came to
- be known as the Ludlow
- Massacre, outraged the nation
- and compelled Brown to act.
- She poured her energy into
- fundraising, sending nurses,
- shoes, and clothing to Ludlow.
- She spearheaded an
- investigation into the miners’
- deaths and pleaded with John
- D. Rockefeller Jr. to resolve
- the dispute.
- In 1914, six years before women
- received the right to vote in the
- United States, Brown announced
- her candidacy for a seat in the
- Senate. “Some people laughed at
- her, but she wasn’t doing it for a
- lark,” Atter says. “She had
- certainly thought about what she
- was doing.”
- Brown’s Senate bid never came
- to fruition. The Great War
- descended on Europe, and Brown
- was called abroad to serve as
- director of the American
- Committee for Devastated
- France. She oversaw the work
- of female ambulance drivers and
- aid givers and organized the
- distribution of food and clothing
- in bomb-ravaged villages.
- “The myth is that Brown was an
- uneducated hillbilly-type person,
- but that’s simply not true,”
- Iversen says. Characterizations
- like Morris’s The Unsinkable
- Molly Brown are a product of
- women’s changing roles in the
- 1950s and 1960s, Atter says.
- “Women were moving back
- into the home, so they
- recharacterized Brown as a
- woman who was trying to
- create the perfect domestic
- sphere. But she wasn’t just a
- grand woman who did things
- in a vacuum. She was one
- of us. ”