Narrator: In the spring of 1824, the owners of eight textile mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, made a joint announcement. They would extend the grueling twelve-hour workday and slash the wages of their weavers. They expected no resistance. After all, their workforce was composed of young women, girls between fifteen and thirty, who were perceived as naturally docile. The owners were wrong. In an act of defiance that would echo through history, 102 of these young women launched the country's very first factory strike. They blockaded the mills, protested in the streets, and forced the anxious owners to the negotiating table.

This forgotten act of rebellion is just one of many unearthed in Kim Kelly’s powerful book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor. The book argues that the traditional image of the American labor movement—a white man in a hard hat—is a dangerous myth. The true story of the fight for workers' rights is a far more diverse, radical, and ongoing struggle, led by the very people society has pushed to the margins: women, people of color, immigrants, the disabled, sex workers, and the incarcerated.

Narrator: The American labor movement was not born in a boardroom or a men’s-only union hall; it was forged in the fire of exploitation by women who refused to be silent. Long before the term "strike" was common, the women of Pawtucket staged their "turnout" in 1824, proving that the supposedly docile female workforce possessed immense collective power. This spirit of resistance was not an isolated incident. In Jackson, Mississippi, just a year after Emancipation, a group of formerly enslaved Black washerwomen organized to fight back against the white families who paid them next to nothing for their backbreaking labor. In 1866, they formed what was effectively Mississippi's first trade union, presenting a petition to the mayor with a uniform price list for their services. They declared, "We just want to be able to live comfortably from our work." Their action inspired a wave of similar strikes by Black domestic workers across the South. Fifteen years later, in 1881, the washerwomen of Atlanta, 98% of whom were Black, organized a massive strike of over 3,000 women. Facing arrests and threats from the city council, they held firm, warning the mayor, "We mean business this week or no washing." Their solidarity forced the city to back down, proving that even the most marginalized workers could wield incredible power when they stood together.

Narrator: The fight for workers’ rights has often been written in blood. In the early 20th century, New York’s garment industry was powered by young immigrant women who toiled in dangerous, unsanitary sweatshops for pennies. In 1909, a 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant named Clara Lemlich stood up at a union meeting and, in a fiery Yiddish speech, called for a general strike. Her call ignited the "Uprising of the 20,000," a massive, women-led strike that won significant concessions. But some factory owners, like Max Blanck and Isaac Harris of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, refused to yield. Two years later, on March 25, 1911, their negligence had fatal consequences. A fire erupted in the factory, but the exit doors were locked to prevent theft. 146 workers, mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women, were trapped. They burned alive or jumped to their deaths from the ninth-floor windows. An eyewitness, a social reformer named Frances Perkins, was so horrified by the spectacle that she dedicated her life to the cause. The public outcry from the Triangle Fire directly led to sweeping new safety laws. Perkins went on to become the first female Secretary of Labor, architecting the New Deal and establishing Social Security, the minimum wage, and the end of child labor. The tragedy became a brutal, unforgettable lesson: progress is often born from profound loss.

Narrator: While some unions focused on incremental gains, others, like the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or "Wobblies," had a more revolutionary vision: to overthrow capitalism itself. Founded in 1905, the IWW’s goal was to unite all workers into "one big union," regardless of race, gender, or skill. This radical inclusivity was its greatest strength. A key figure was Ben Fletcher, a Black dockworker in Philadelphia. He organized Local 8, a powerful, multiracial union that controlled the city’s waterfront for a decade. Fletcher understood that capitalism was built on racial exploitation, a concept he called "racial capitalism," and argued that true liberation required multiracial, class-conscious solidarity. This revolutionary spirit also animated the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) in 1960s Detroit. Black autoworkers, facing racism from both management and their own UAW union, organized wildcat strikes to protest dangerous "speed-up" conditions. Their defiant actions inspired other marginalized workers, including Arab immigrants, to form their own caucuses and fight for their rights. These movements show that the most transformative labor struggles have often been those that challenged the entire system of exploitation, not just its symptoms.

Narrator: For many marginalized workers, the fight for labor rights was also a fight for bodily autonomy, safety, and the right to exist without harassment. This is starkly illustrated in the struggles of disabled workers, flight attendants, and sex workers. The disability rights movement, for example, gained momentum through direct, militant action. During the 1977 "504 Sit-in," over 100 disabled activists, led by figures like Judy Heumann, occupied a federal building for 25 days to force the government to implement civil rights protections. Their success was built on intersectional solidarity, with groups like the Black Panthers providing food and supplies. Similarly, the flight attendant profession, once heavily policed for appearance and restricted to women, became a frontline for gender and LGBTQ+ rights. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) fought against discriminatory hiring, sexual harassment, and, in 1999, won domestic partner benefits for its queer members. Sex workers, too, have a long history of organizing. From the 1917 San Francisco protest where madams demanded a living wage as an alternative to sex work, to the unionization of the Lusty Lady strip club in 1996, they have consistently fought for their work to be recognized as labor and for the right to safety and dignity.

Narrator: The book argues that the most extreme form of labor exploitation in America today exists within its prisons. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, contains a crucial exception: "except as a punishment for crime." This loophole has allowed for the creation of a modern system of penal labor, where millions of incarcerated people, disproportionately Black and Brown, are forced to work for pennies an hour or nothing at all. Their labor generates billions for private corporations and state governments. Yet, just as in every other sector, these workers have resisted. The 1971 Attica uprising was sparked by demands for an end to "slave labor." And the fight continues today. The 2018 Nationwide Prison Strike, organized by groups like the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), was a coordinated effort to protest this exploitation. This struggle highlights a critical failure of the mainstream labor movement, which has often viewed incarcerated workers as competition rather than as fellow workers. True labor justice, the book contends, requires solidarity with this unseen and most exploited workforce.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Fight Like Hell is that the history of American labor is a history of relentless struggle, driven not by the powerful, but by the marginalized. It is a story of constant pushback against exploitation, where every right and protection enjoyed today was won through the collective action and immense sacrifice of those who had the most to lose. The book is not just a historical record; it is an urgent call to action. It reminds us that the fight is far from over, as evidenced by the 2021 "Striketober" strikes and the ongoing battles at companies like Amazon and Warrior Met Coal. The true impact of this book is its ability to reframe our understanding of power. It challenges us to see the janitor, the farmworker, the prisoner, and the sex worker not as victims, but as revolutionaries. It leaves us with the inspiring and demanding question: knowing that this history of resistance is our inheritance, how will we choose to fight like hell for a better world?