12 Facts About Denis Kearney

Denis Kearney was a California labor leader from Ireland who was active in the late 19th century and was known for his anti-Chinese activism.

Denis Kearney started an employment agency where he worked until his health began to fail around 1900.

That same year, Denis Kearney entered into the public arena when he challenged a city-backed monopoly on carting and hauling.

For several years the Workingmen's Party would provide a forum for Denis Kearney to speak before growing crowds of unemployed people in San Francisco.

Denis Kearney thought of himself as a "workingman's advocate", although he remained highly critical of unions throughout his life and frequently denounced strikes.

Denis Kearney never attended school, but he was a prolific reader and loved to engage in debates.

Denis Kearney attended a club in San Francisco known as the Lyceum of Self-Culture, where he sharpened his speaking skills at weekly forums.

Denis Kearney frequently urged people to take immediate retribution on politicians who broke promises.

In 1878, Denis Kearney traveled to Boston to carry his message against the Chinese to eastern audiences.

Denis Kearney sought the vice presidential nomination, although Butler never offered it to him.

Denis Kearney sometimes crossed paths with Chinese-American civil rights activist Wong Chin Foo.

Denis Kearney faded from the public's eye by the early 1880s, leaving as his legacy only the anti-Chinese laws that the Workingmen's Party had passed at the 1879 California Constitutional Convention.