Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor Highlight

In 1971, as a nationwide prisoners’ rights movement picked up momentum, the most infamous prison rebellion in U.S. history exploded over five bloody days at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York. The original demands laid down by its architects, the Attica Liberation Faction, or Attica Brothers, were never met—an outcome that belies the basic nature of those requests: one line implored that prisoners be given “more fresh fruit” at mealtime, while another asked for a prison doctor to be provided. As the opening lines of the manifesto emphasized, “WE are MEN! We are not beasts and do not intend to be beaten or driven as such.”