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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Mary Morello say to the guitar? You're a real pick-me-up, Tom Morello's mom.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary Morello
Born(1923-10-01)October 1, 1923
Marseilles, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJuly 12, 2026(2026-07-12) (aged 102)
EducationM.S. Loyola University
Occupations
  • High school teacher
  • activist
SpouseNgethe Njoroge (divorced)
ChildrenTom Morello
FamilyNjoroge Mungai (brother-in-law)
Jemimah Gecaga (sister-in-law)

Mary Morello (October 1, 1923 – July 12, 2026) was an American activist who founded the anti-censorship group Parents for Rock and Rap in 1987.

Early life

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Morello was born in Marseilles, Illinois, on October 1, 1923, to a mother of Irish and German descent, and a father of Italian (Piedmontese) descent.[1][2] In 1954, she earned a master's degree in African and Latin American/Peru history at Loyola University Chicago. She spent the rest of the decade teaching English in Germany, Peru, and Japan while once circling the globe on a freighter.[3]

From 1960 to 1963, Morello lived in Kenya, where she married Ngethe Njoroge.[4] He had been an activist for Kenyan independence during the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960), and was the brother of politicians Njoroge Mungai and Jemimah Gecaga.[5][6] Njoroge later became the first Kenyan delegate to the United Nations.

Career

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In the 1960s, Morello was involved in the Civil Rights movement and the NAACP. She was a long-time activist for the Chicago Urban League. In 1964, she and her husband moved to Harlem, New York,[7] where she gave birth to their son Tom Morello (later known as the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine). They divorced in 1965 when Tom was one.[6] Morello moved with him to Libertyville, Illinois, a small suburb north of Chicago where she taught social studies and US history at Libertyville High School.[3]

In 1987, she quit her teaching job after 22 years to found Parents for Rock and Rap,[8] an anti-censorship group in opposition to Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center. She made three trips to the Soviet Union, through Siberia and Mongolia.

In 1991, Morello and many others battled against legislation being proposed in Congress titled Pornography Victims Compensation Act, numbered S. 983, or, later, S. 1521. The legislation was not enacted, in part because of grass-roots activism. On June 24, 1996, she received the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award[9] in Arts and Entertainment for her work with Parents for Rock and Rap.

In the fall of 1991, Morello began a volunteer teaching job at the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center in Waukegan, Illinois, where she taught adult literacy.[10] She was involved in the Cuba Coalition in Chicago, which works toward lifting the U.S. embargo against Cuba.[citation needed]

Morello is also known for her involvement[needs context] in the 1999 debate on the incarceration of then death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1982 shooting of a Philadelphia police officer. In an editorial, she said:

"When a cop is shot someone must be found guilty. As my son Tom says, '...all rational thinking goes out the window'. A cop being killed is no different than any other person being killed. They choose their profession."[11]

In 2007, Morello had a podcast together with Cindy Sheehan called The Mary Morello and Cindy Sheehan Show.[12]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Morello was married to Ngethe Njoroge, a Kenyan journalist and diplomat. In 1964 they had a son, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and divorced the following year in 1965.[13]

Morello turned 100 in October 2023,[14] and died on July 12, 2026, at the age of 102.[15]

Public appearances

[edit]

Before Rage Against the Machine hit the stage at the Pinkpop Festival in 1994, Morello introduced them as the "Best Band in the Fucking Universe".[16] On August 24, 2007, for the Rage Against the Machine reunion, she appeared again. On September 13, 2016, at a Prophets of Rage concert, she introduced them as "The best fucking band in the universe."[17][18]

References

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  1. ↑ "Mary Morello interview: Black Lives Matter part III". ElaineSir. September 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ Morello, Tom (July 25, 2023). "I just became an honorary Italian citizen & received the key to the city of the Morello ancestral hometown of Pratiglione, Italy!". Instagram.
  3. 1 2 "The Mary Morello and Cindy Sheehan Show" (episode 06). Axis of Justice. August 6, 2007. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  4. ↑ "Tom Morello". SEIU.org. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  5. ↑ Dome, Malcolm (November 1, 2006). "My Life Story: Tom Morello". loudersound.com. MetalHammer. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16.
  6. 1 2 Holthouse, David (September 26, 1996). "Bottled Anger Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello pours forth the vitriol". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  7. ↑ Beaubien, Greg (August 23, 1995). "Freedom Fighter: 71-Year-Old Mary Morello Vigorously Campaigns For Rock 'n' Roll's Right To Rap Free". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2004-12-20. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Kevin (2003). "PARENTS FOR ROCK & RAP". Rock Out Censorship. Archived from the original on 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  9. ↑ "BCFE Names 1995/1996 Heroes and Villains". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 1996. Archived from the original on 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  10. ↑ DiNovella, Elizabeth. "Tom Morello Interview". The Progressive Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  11. ↑ Morello, Mary (November 1999). "Guest Editorial By Mary Morello". Volume 3, Issue 1. The Microphone: The Mass Mic Newsletter. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  12. ↑ "The Mary Morello and Cindy Sheehan Show". Axis of Justice. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  13. ↑ "Playing 6-string politics". Montreal Gazette. April 24, 2007. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  14. ↑ Bell, Sadie (October 4, 2023). "Jack Black and Kids Cover Ozzy Osbourne for Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine's Mom's 100th Birthday". People. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ Dudek, Mitch (July 14, 2026). "Mary Morello, Libertyville Native, Activist and Mother of Rage Against the Machine's Guitarist, Dies at 102". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2026. Retrieved July 16, 2026.
  16. ↑ "RATM - Killing in the Name (Pinkpop 1994) - Vidéo Dailymotion". 4 September 2007.
  17. ↑ Thomas McBride (2016-09-17), The best F@#$ing band in the universe, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2019-05-29
  18. ↑ "Prophets Of Rage Pay Tribute To Kaepernick At Shoreline Concert". 14 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
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