The Honourable Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford, known to friends and family as Decca (September 11, 1917–July 22, 1996), self-described muckraker and political radical, was one of the noted Mitford sisters, daughters of David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, the 2nd Baron Redesdale. September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... July 22 is the 203rd day (204th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 162 days remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... McClures Magazine (cover, Jan, 1901) published many early muckraker articles. ... The Mitfords were an aristocratic British family noted for their accomplishments in writing and their notorious lives, particularly of the daughters of the family, known as the Mitford sisters. ... Baron Redesdale is a peerage title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ...

Childhood and adolescence

Jessica and her siblings grew up in an aristocratic country house set-up not unusual for its time, with a tradition of noblesse oblige, emotionally distant parents, a large household with many servants, and a disregard for formal education. Girls were expected to marry young and well. Though her sisters Unity and Diana were well-known British supporters of Hitler and her parents were described as being "nature's fascists," Jessica renounced her privileged background at an early age and became an adherent of communism. Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is believed to base some of its details and atmosphere on the household in which Jessica Mitford grew up. For the Blur single, see Country House (song). ... In French, noblesse oblige means, literally, nobility obliges. Noblesse oblige is generally used to imply that with wealth, power and prestige come social responsibilities. ... The Hon. ... The Honourable Diana Mitford (The Honourable Lady Mosley) (17 June 1910 – 11 August 2003) was one of Britains noted Mitford sisters. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Fascism is a radical political ideology that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Brideshead Revisited, the Sacred and Profane Memories of Capt. ...

At age 19, Mitford met someone she had long known and admired from afar: her second cousin Esmond Romilly, the "red nephew" of Winston Churchill, who was recuperating from dysentry caught during a stint with the International Brigades defending Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. They immediately fell in love and decided to elope to Spain, where he picked up work as a reporter for the News Chronicle covering the conflict. After some legal difficulties caused by their relatives' opposition, they married. They moved to London and lived in the East End, then mostly an industrial slum area. She gave birth to a daughter, Julia, on 20 December 1937, in a home birth attended by doctor and nurse. (Her American births were in hospital and less pleasant.) All went well until the baby died in a measles epidemic the following May. Mitford rarely spoke of Julia in later life. The young Esmond Romilly Esmond Marcus David Romilly, (June 10, 1918–November 30, 1941), was a nephew of Winston Churchill. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Dysentery is a severe diarrhea illness often associated with blood in the feces. ... Flag of the International Brigades Blason of the International Brigades Fifteenth International Brigade redirects here. ... Location Location of Madrid in Europe Coordinates : 40° 23’N , 3°43′0″W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Villa de Madrid (Spanish) Spanish name Villa de Madrid Founded 9th century Postal code 28001-28080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 91 (Villa de... Combatants Spanish Republic CNT-FAI UGT POUM Soviet Union International Brigades Spanish State Falangists Carlists Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Commanders Manuel Azaña Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Francisco Franco Casualties Civilians killed/wounded = hundreds of thousands The Spanish Civil War, which lasted from July 17, 1936 to April... To elope, most literally, merely means to run away. ... The News Chronicle was a British Liberal newspaper which closed in 1960, being absorbed into the right-wing Daily Mail. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... The term East End is most commonly used to refer to the East End of London. ...

Life in America and Motherhood

In 1939, Romilly and Mitford emigrated to the United States of America. They travelled around, working odd jobs, perpetually short of cash. At the outset of World War II, Romilly enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force; Mitford was living in Washington D.C. and considered joining him once he was posted to England. After miscarriages, she gave birth to another daughter, Constancia ("Donk") Romilly on 9 February 1941. Her husband went missing in action on 30 November 1941, on his way back from a successful bombing raid over Nazi Germany. She took months to accept that he was dead. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was the air force of Canada from 1924 until 1968 when the three branches of the Canadian military were merged into the Canadian Forces. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Mitford threw herself into war work. Through this, she met and married the American civil rights lawyer Robert Edward Treuhaft in 1943 and eventually settled in Oakland, California. There the couple had two sons, the older of whom was killed in an automobile accident in 1955. She approached her motherhood in a spirit of "benign neglect", described by her children as "matter-of-fact" and "not touchy-feely". [[1]] She became closer to her own mother by letter over the decades. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Oakland, founded in 1852, is the eighth-largest city in California and the county seat of Alameda County. ... Look up mother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Mitford spent much of the early 1950s working as secretary of the local Civil Rights Congress chapter. Through this and her husband's legal practice, she was involved in a number of civil rights campaigns, notably the failed attempt to stop the execution of Willie McGee, an African-American in the Deep South accused of raping a white woman. The Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ...

Mitford's surviving daughter grew up to become an emergency room nurse, a counterpoint to her mother's self-declared uselessness at any practical occupation, and continued the activist tradition by marrying James Forman, the African American director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Mitford's surviving son, Benjamin, was estranged from his family for some time and developed bipolar disorder (manic depression), but later became a piano tuner and uses his skills to ship pianos to Communist Cuba. James Forman (October 4, 1928 - January 10, 2005) was an American civil rights leader. ... The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced snick) was one of the primary institutions of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. ... Bipolar disorder (previously known as Manic Depression) is a psychiatric diagnostic category describing a class of mood disorders in which the person experiences clinical depression and/or mania, hypomania, and/or mixed states. ...

Communism

Mitford and Treuhaft also became active members of the Communist Party and, in 1953, they were both summoned to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Both refused to testify about their participation in radical groups. Feeling that in the current political climate they could do more for social justice outside the party and disillusioned by the development of Communism in the Soviet Union, Mitford and Treuhaft resigned from the Communist Party in late 1958. Evidently Jessica had to become a United States citizen or she would have been unceremoniously deported, regardless of her husband's citizenship. In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical ideology based on Marxism. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA) (1938–1975) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ...

In 1960 Mitford published her first book Hons and Rebels (also published as Daughters and Rebels), an autobiography covering her youth in the Mitford household and her first marriage.

Civil Rights activism

In May 1961 she travelled to Montgomery, Alabama while working on an article about Southern attitudes for Esquire. While there, she and a friend went to meet the arrival of the Freedom Riders and became caught up in a riot when a mob lead by the Ku Klux Klan attacked the civil rights activists. After the riot, Mitford proceeded on to a rally at a church led by Martin Luther King, Jr.. This too was attacked by the Ku Klux Klan and Mitford spent the night barricaded inside the church with the group until the violence was ended by the National Guard. Coordinates: Country United States State Alabama County Montgomery Incorporated December 3, 1819 Mayor Bobby Bright Area    - City 404. ... Southern United States The states shown in dark red are usually included in the South, while all or portions of the striped states may or may not be considered part of the Southern United States. ... Cover of an issue of Esquire magazine. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Freedom rides. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Seal of the National Guard Bureau Seal of the Army National Guard Seal of the Air National Guard Seal of the National Guard Missile Defense The United States National Guard is a component of the United States Army (the Army National Guard) and the United States Air Force (the Air...

Investigative journalism

Through his work with unions and death benefits, Treuhaft became interested in the funeral industry and persuaded Mitford to write an investigative article on the subject. Though the article, "Saint Peter Don't You Call Me" published in Frontier magazine, was not widely disseminated, it caught considerable local attention when Mitford appeared on a local television broadcast with two industry representatives. Convinced of public interest, Mitford wrote The American Way of Death, which was published in 1963. In the book Mitford harshly criticized the industry for using unscrupulous business practices to take advantage of grieving families. The book became a major bestseller and led to Congressional hearings on the funeral industry, and suggested to some that Evelyn Waugh's 1947 novel The Loved One might not be a satire. Underwater funeral in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea A funeral is a ceremony marking a persons death. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... The Loved One was also a short movie directed by wrestler Mick Foley chronicling the rise to success of his character Dude Love. ...

After The American Way of Death Mitford developed a name for her investigative journalism. She published The Trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchel Goodman, and Marcus Raskin, an account of the five men's experiences in front of the HUAC in 1970 followed by a harsh critique of the American prison system entitled Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business in 1973. Her next book, A Fine Old Conflict, was a second autobiography published in 1977. Investigative journalism is a kind of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, often related to crime, scandals, government corruption, or white collar crime. ... Dr. Spock (l) with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Rev. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC (or, rarely, HCUA) (1938-1975) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ...

In addition to writing and activism, Mitford also tried her hand at music as singer for "Decca and the Dectones." She performed at numerous benefits, opened for Cyndi Lauper on the roof of the Virgin Records store in San Francisco, and recorded two short albums, one of which consisted of two duets with close friend and poet Maya Angelou. Jessica Mitford died of lung cancer, aged 78. Cyndi Lauper CD single Stay, 2004 Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (born June 22, 1953), better known as Cyndi Lauper, is a Grammy Award-winning singer and Emmy Award-winning film, television and theatre actress. ... Virgin Records is a British recording label founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nik Powell in 1972. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterized by the presence of malignant tumours. ...

Quotations

• "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty."
• "Objectivity? I've always had an objective."
• (On seeing the Pyramids) "Now there is a society where the funeral industry got completely out of control."
• On being prompted by Evlyn Waugh for a clear attidude to death - "I'm opposed to it."

Trivia

• Author J. K. Rowling has indicated that Jessica Mitford is a heroine of hers, and that her daughter Jessica Rowling Arantes is named after Mitford.

Joanne “Jo” Rowling, OBE (born July 31, 1965[1]) is an English fiction writer who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling. ...

Bibliography

• Hons and Rebels aka Daughters and Rebels (1960)
• The American Way of Death (1963)
• The Trial of Dr. Spock, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchel Goodman, and Marcus Raskin (1970)
• Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business (1973)
• A Fine Old Conflict (1977)
• The Making of a Muckraker (1979)
• Poison Penmanship: The Art of Muckraking (1979)
• Grace Had an English Heart (1988)
• The American Way of Birth (1992)
• The American Way of Death Revisited (1998)
• Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford, edited by journalist Peter Y. Sussman (2006) (ISBN 0375410325)

External links

• Jessica Mitford memorial site
• The Mitford Institute
• Peter Y. Sussman's main page on Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford
• Don't Quit Your Day Job Records info page on Jessica Mitford
• Albion Monitor page on Jessica Mitford

References

• [[2]]
• [[3]]