Fight Like Hell
The Testimony of Mother Jones
We were never supposed to know her name. She was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband or their four small children from a yellow fever epidemic, she dedicated her life to saving working families everywhere. The robber barons called her "the most dangerous woman in America," but workers called her "Mother Jones."
Upton Sinclair said of her, "She had force, she had wit, she had the fire of indignation; she was the walking wrath of god." Mother Jones said of herself "I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hellraiser." Most famously, she told her followers to, "pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." She educated, agitated, and organized the dispossessed and showed America what it could be.
With the gap between the rich and poor growing wider by the day, the just and democratic society Mother Jones fought for is under attack. Her hour has come again.
"The hopes and tragedies of America's working people, then and now, are alive in this film."
-- Elliot Gorn, Chair, American Urban History, Loyola University, Chicago.
"A moving tribute, worthy of the legacy of Mother Jones."
-- Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO.
