Conboy, Sara

Conboy, Sara (Agnes McLaughlin)

(1870–1928) labor leader; born in Boston, Mass. She started factory work at age 11 and became a skilled weaver. She led a carpet factory strike (1909–10) and became an organizer, and later the secretary-treasurer of the United Textile Workers. She was one of five women who were appointed to the Council of National Defense in World War I. She was the first woman to be an American delegate to the British Trades Union Congress (1920) and the first woman bank director in New York State (1923).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.