Join us for an afternoon with local author Kristina Horton, the great-granddaughter of famed labor activist Ella May Wiggins, who will share not only the story of the 1929 strike and Ella's role, but also her personal journey.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ella May was involved in the biggest communist-led strike in United States history. She was a textile worker, union organizer, and balladeer. Woody Guthrie identified her as one of the best songwriters in the country. She was instrumental in getting black workers to join the union. Ella's union involvement, ability to move audiences with her music, and her unmatched ability to get black workers to join the union made her a target of violence in 1929. A pregnant Ella May was shot through the heart and killed on her way to a Gastonia, NC union meeting on September 14, 1929.

Copies of "Martyr of Loray Mill" are on sale now at Firestorm Books & Coffee!