Lucy Fox Robins Lang 1884 – 1962 A committed anarchist by age
fifteen, Lucy Fox Robins Lang participated actively in the labor
and free speech movements of early twentieth-century America.
She directed regional and national committees in support of
persecuted anarchists, antiwar activists, and labor organizers,
while earning her livelihood as a printer, waitress, vegetarian
restaurant owner, and real estate broker. Eventually, she moved
into the mainstream of the labor movement, becoming an adviser
to and confidante of Samuel Gompers, president of the American
Federation of Labor (AFL). Although her focus shifted, the
impulse behind Lang’s work remained constant. She credited her
activism to the legacy of her paternal grandfather, Reb Chaim
“the Hospitable,” who helped members of the Jewish community in
Kiev, Russia, deal with personal difficulties and conflicts with
the authorities. The eldest child of Moshe and Surtze Broche
Fox, Lucy was born on March 30, 1884, in Kiev, Russia. She grew
up in the nearby to