Marietta Boggio Botto and Her family, ca. 1910
Courtesy, American Labor Museum

"Maria" Botto (1870-1915) is pictured here ca. 1910 on the front porch of her Haledon home (standing top center) with other members of her family. She immigrated to New Jersey from Biella, Italy, with her husband in 1892. The Botto home 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. Maria Botto provided room and board for strike leaders.