Who was Ammon Hennacy? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Ammon Ashford Hennacy

Died At Age: 76

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Joan Thomas, Selma Melms

father: Benjamin Frankin Hennacy

mother: Eliza Eunice Fitz Randolph

American Men Ohio State University

Died on: January 14, 1970

place of death: Utah

U.S. State: Ohio

Ideology: Anarchists

More Facts

education: Hiram College, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Childhood & Early Life

He was born on July 24, 1893 in Negley, Ohio to Quaker parents, Benjamin Franklin Hennacy and Eliza Eunice Fitz Randolph.

He was raised as a Baptist by his parents. But in 1909, when he heard the popular evangelist Billy Sunday preach, he became an atheist.

Shortly afterwards, he became a socialist and an ‘Industrial Workers of the World’ member.

In 1913, he attended Hiram College in Ohio for one year. Then, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1914.

In 1915, he became a student of Ohio State University for a year, marking the end of his formal education.

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Later Years

In 1917, he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in Atlanta, Georgia because of his refusal to register with his local draft board, in protest of World War I.

While in prison, he was allowed only one book, The Bible. Reading the Bible changed the outlook of the hitherto atheist and made him a Christian pacifist. He led a hunger strike which resulted in his solitary confinement for eight months.

He read the Bible repeatedly during his solitary confinement and concluded that the only way to follow Jesus' advice was to become a ‘Christian anarchist’ and launch a one man revolution.

After coming out of prison, he and his first wife traveled to all of the 48 contiguous states in 1921.

In 1925, he deliberately worked as a common-day laborer – picking cotton or other such field work because poverty was a way to avoid paying taxes. He felt that taxes funded the war efforts which he so strongly disapproved.

In 1931, he became a social worker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and organized a union for social workers.

Between 1942 and 1953, he worked as a migrant farm worker so that he would earn very little money and thus not have to pay taxes to the government.

In 1952, he was baptized as a Catholic by an anarchist priest, with Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert, as his godmother.

In 1953, he moved to New York and became an editor for the ‘Catholic Writer’ newspaper which helped him to refine his thoughts and writing skills.

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In 1954, he published his life story titled ‘Autobiography of a Catholic Anarchist’. Several years later, his next book, ‘The Book of Ammon’, was printed in 1965.

Along with Dorothy Day and other Catholic workers, he led the 1955 civil disobedience action against the compulsory air raid drills for which he was arrested and taken to jail.

In 1958, he participated in a 40 day fast against nuclear weapons testing.

In 1970, his last book, ‘The One-Man Revolution in America’, was published posthumously by his wife Joan Thomas Hennacy.

Major Works

He was a conscientious objector to both World War I and World War II, providing inspiration and courage to others who wished to do the same.

Through his work with the ‘Catholic Writer’ newspaper, he was profoundly influential in the Catholic Worker movement, which believed that the worth of every human being is guaranteed by God.

His work with homeless people in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a source of inspiration for social workers everywhere. In 1961, he founded the ‘Joe Hill House’ for the homeless and indigent.

He selflessly participated in numerous protests, pickets and fasts against the government and all war and violence, refusing even to defend himself.

Personal Life & Legacy

In 1919, he became the common law husband of Selma Melms. They were blessed with two children. But unfortunately the couple got divorced in 1964.

In 1965, he married Joan Thomas. The same year, he officially abandoned the Catholic Church, although he continued to consider himself a Christian.

In 1970, he suffered a heart attack while protesting the execution of two convicted murderers and died three days later on January 14, 1970 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

His body was cremated and the ashes scattered over the graves of the Haymarket anarchists in Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago.

After adopting the ideology of a Christian anarchist, he became a vegetarian. He claimed to own nothing and would always give up even his bed when needed by others. His unselfishness was legendary.

Ammon Hennacy Biography