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Cover of "To Live Here, You Have to Fight" | Photo: Urbana: Illinois Press
Jessica Wilkerson MA '06 published her first book, To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice (Urbana: Illinois Press, 2019). The manuscript on which the book is based received several awards, including the OAH Lerner-Scott Prize for best dissertation in women's history and the Gutman Prize from the Labor and Working-Class History Association. It has been featured in The Cut (called "astonishing") and was excerpted in Jezebel. Writing for the Pacific Standard, journalist Kim Kelly described the book as, "A crucial piece of the history of social justice in America, placing the true history of Appalachian women's radical, blood-red roots on vibrant display."