“Fight Like Hell will move hearts and open minds.”

—Elizabeth Cobbs, Professor of American History, Texas A&M University

Fight Like Hell - The Testimony of Mother Jones

Directed by Ian Cheney

55 minutes | SDH captions | Scene Selection

We were never supposed to know her name. Mary Harris Jones was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband or their four small children, 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.

Drawn from her autobiography, letters, speeches, and interviews, Fight Like Hell - The Testimony of Mother Jones is as bold and forceful as Mother Jones herself. Adapted from Obie Award-winning Actress Kaiulani Lee’s one-woman play “Can’t Scare Me,” Fight Like Hell was written and performed by Lee and directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney.

Fight Like Hell is now available on DVD with public performance rights for purchase and rental by schools, libraries, and other organizations. Academic streaming can be licensed from Docuseek. Campus and community groups interested in hosting a community screening can book now through Bullfrog Communities.

WATCH THE TRAILER

“A most timely film! Indeed, now is the time to recall the courage of the great and inspiring labor organizer Mother Jones - a woman who not only recognized the exploitation and oppression of the Gilded Age, but also the imperative of challenging it from the bottom up. In this performance, we hear 'first-hand' from her about how she mobilized the anger, hopes, energies, and aspirations of a generation of American working people - men, women, and children - to join in solidarity, challenge the corporate bosses, and demand government action. Now, in this Second Gilded Age, when working people are organizing anew, we should not fail to appreciate struggles of the past.”

—Harvey J. Kaye, Professor Emeritus of Democracy and Justice Studies, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

"Fight Like Hell is a revelation. Kaiulani Lee breathes new, vibrant life into the labor icon's words...Here, Lee channels the fighting spirit of Mary 'Mother Jones' Harris, the Irish immigrant dressmaker turned 'most dangerous woman in America' and reminds us all that we must keep fighting like hell for the world we deserve. As Mother Jones herself once told us, 'Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.' I can think of no better introduction to her life, her battles, and her hellraising heart than this."

—Kim Kelly, Independent Journalist, Organizer, Author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor

“In Fight Like Hell, Mary Harris Jones is brought to life with a thrilling performance by Kaiulani Lee. The film provide substance and depth to the life story of Mother Jones, from her formative years amid the horrors of the 1830s potato famine in Ireland to her fiercest battles for workers' rights and welfare in America from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century. Fight Like Hell also showcases the people Jones fought for and against, from those often left off the pages of history to the U.S. presidents and business leaders with whom she went head-to-head. Educators, organizers, and community leaders will find this film generates lively discussion and encourages reflections on what we have inherited from the past and what we owe to the future”

—Joey Fink, Assistant Professor of History, High Point University

To order Fight Like Hell - The Testimony of Mother Jones,

visit the Bullfrog Films online catalog.

Order by phone at (610) 779-8226

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Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of documentary films about the environment in the United States. We define "environment" broadly, and our catalog includes programs on ecology, energy, agriculture, indigenous peoples, women's studies, environmental justice, international relations, sustainable development, anthropology, economics, ethics, and conflict resolution.