I'm Alexandra Solomon Curious City Editor, and I'm here in Chicago's Belmont-Cragan neighborhood,

and I've just come inside Lucy Parsons Park.

It's a small park with a playground, with a swing set, and a slide.

Not a lot of kids out today. It's pretty quiet.

I asked several people who've walked by whether they'd ever heard of Lucy Parsons,

and nobody had any idea who she was.

The Park District describes her this way.

Nationally important for her role in labor reform and the efforts for women's rights.

Born of a mixed Native American, African American,

and possibly Hispanic heritage,

she married Albert Parsons, a labor organizer who became one of the martyrs

who was executed after the Haymarket Riot.

She was a prolific writer on issues related to socialism and labor reform,

writing for publications such as the socialist.

Though involved in anarchism and often portrayed as, quote, a dangerous woman, she was defended

by important Chicago leaders like Jane Adams. But as we'll learn in this Curious City episode,

this description's only partially true.

And Lucy Parsons wasn't entirely who she claimed to be.

That's coming up.

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