This revelatory and inclusive book âunearths the stories of the peopleâfarm laborers, domestic workers, factory employeesâbehind some of the labor movementâs biggest successesâ (The New York Times) from independent journalist and Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly.
Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate Americaâs civil rights movement. These are only some of the heroes who propelled American laborâs relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law.
The names and faces of countless silenced, misrepresented, or forgotten leaders have been erased by time as a privileged few decide which stories get cut from the final copy: those of women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, sex workers, prisoners, and the poor. In this definitive and assiduously researched âthought-provoking must-readâ (Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president), Teen Vogue columnist and independent labor reporter Kim Kelly excavates that untold history and shows how the rights the American worker has todayâthe forty-hour workweek, workplace-safety standards, restrictions on child labor, protection from harassment and discrimination on the jobâwere earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears.
Fight Like Hell comes at a time of economic reckoning in America. From Amazonâs warehouses to Starbucks cafes, Appalachian coal mines to the sex workers of Portlandâs Stripper Strike, interest in organized labor is at a fever pitch not seen since the early 1960s. Inspirational, intersectional, and full of crucial lessons from the past, Fight Like Hell is âessential reading for anyone who believes that workers should control their fateâ (Shane Burley, author of Why We Fight).