Marietta Boggio Botto
Image courtesy of the American Labor Museum, Haledon, NJ
Marietta Boggio Botto (1870-1915) immigrated to New Jersey from Biella, Italy, with her husband in 1892.
The Botto home in Haledon, New Jersey was a mass meeting place for striking silk workers during the industry-wide silk strike of 1913. The second-floor balcony of the Botto home, visible in this photograph, was a platform from which labor leaders such as Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Bill Haywood, and John Reed could address the crowds that assembled there on Sundays during the strike. Botto provided room and board for strike leaders.
Questions to Explore
How did Marietta’s life in Italy impact her influence in the silk workers strike?
What did the striking silk workers accomplish?
Additional Resources
Burstyn, Joan N.. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. United States: Syracuse University Press, 1997.