Author uses book to share labor stories with younger generation

A freelance labor journalist and author, Kim Kelly, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about her life as a freelance journalist and how she found herself covering the labor movement. Kelly also discussed her book Fight Like Hell and explained how she shares those stories with a younger generation. 

After getting her start as a rock journalist for Vice, Kelly eventually got her break as a labor reporter for Teen Vogue. To adapt to the changing times in media, she wrote labor articles for several news sources as a freelance journalist.  The opportunity to write the book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor was an excellent opportunity to share many previously untold stories from the labor movement, Kelly said. As a member of the Industrial Workers of the World's Freelance Journalists Union, Kelly has made every effort to showcase the work unions do for underrepresented people, which led to her 2021 election to the council for the Writers Guild of America, East.

Fight Like Hell, a 400-page book, shares many stories from marginalized voices in the labor movement. The book discusses how American workers' rights “were earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears,” Kelly said. She shared a few of the stories from the book, including Ida Mae Stull, the first female coal miner.

Finally, Kelly discussed how the book has allowed her to share the stories of past union members with a younger generation. She said it’s been an incredible experience to go and speak with high school and college students. Kelly hopes some of these students will become future leaders in the labor movementl. Please visit the website here to get a copy of Fight Like Hell.

To hear more about Kelly’s coverage of the mine industry and her labor coverage, listen to the show above.