indigenous peoples • chicanos • black movements • institutional racism • women fighting apartheid
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Africa Belongs to Us (Canada 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 35 min., color, in English
Made by Chris Austin, Peter Chappel, and Ruth Weiss
Distributor: International Development Education Resources Association (IDERA Films) (Canada)
The film reveals how Black women live in South Africa. Through their experience, we see how apartheid systematically degrades Black women and denies them such basic human rights as freedom of movement and employment and the right to live with their husbands and raise their children. The film also reveals these women's courage in the face of oppression, emphasizing their dignity, strength and, above all, their determination to fight back against apartheid.
South Africa (South Africa 1980)
Film, 16 mm; video, U-matic cassette, 55 min., color, in English
Distributor: Concord Films Council Ltd. (England)
A documentary on the struggle of Black women in South Africa. Secretly shot with the help of two Black women journalists, it portrays ordinary women and includes interviews with women leaders such as a banned Indian woman, Numsisi Khuzwayo of the outlawed Black Consciousness Movement, and a rare film appearance by Winnie Mandela. It also contains extraordinary footage of a huge segregated prison-like barracks where 4000 women workers are condemned to spend their lives separated from their families.
Tsiamelo (South Africa 1984)
Documentary video, 54 min., color, in English
Made by Betty Wolperty
Distributor: Contemporary Films (England)
Two women, an 84-year-old farmer and her 70-year-old niece from Soweto, tell the story of Tsiamelo, the farm and family homestead from which they were evicted in 1974 when the government declared it a "Black spot." The film describes the courage and integrity of ordinary people in their struggle for justice in South African society.
You Have Struck a Rock (South Africa 1981)
Film, 16 mm, 28 min., color, in English
Producer: Deborah May
Distributor: International Development Education Resources Association (IDERA Films) (Canada)
This film documents women's resistance to the pass laws in South Africa, the government's racist domestic control system that severely restricts Black people's mobility, banishing them to all-Black townships except when they are needed for work in the country's white areas. Focusing on the anti-pass law campaigns of 1955 and 1956, the film also describes the kind of spirit that inspired this and other forms of anti-apartheid mobilization, showing how African women came to discover the power of unified action.
Crossroads: South Africa (South Africa 1980)
Film, 16 mm, 50 min., color, in English
Made by Jonathan Wacks
Distributor: International Development Education Resources Association (IDERA Films) (Canada)
This film tells the story of Crossroads, a Black squatters' town on the edge of Capetown. It shows Black people defying the apartheid system by building community organizations. Despite bulldozers, police raids and imprisonment, the Crossroads community survives, thanks in part to the guidance and determination of three women leaders in the local resistance movement.
The Search for Sandra Laing (South Africa 1978)
Film, 16 mm, 50 min., color, in English
Made by ATVE
Distributor: International Development Education Resources Association (IDERA Films) (Canada)
The film is based on the true story of Sandra Laing, a South African girl born to white parents. Because she bore some Black physical traits, Sandra was expelled from her white-only school and later rejected by her family. The film also shows the injustices of South Africa's apartheid system, focusing on the country's school system and its role in preparing young whites to rule over the South African Black majority.
Forget Not Our Sisters (USA 1982)
Slideshow, 39 min., in English
Distributor: American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) (USA)
A moving and beautiful tribute to the courage of South African women. Narrated by Barbara Brown and a Black South African woman, this slideshow provides a good overview of the apartheid system.
Awake from Mourning (England 1981)
Documentary film, 16 mm; video, 55 min., color
Made by Chris Austin, Peter Chappell, Ruth Weiss and Carol Mathiane
Distributor: Contemporary Films (London)
This film is about a group of women who have been working in a Black women's self-help movement since 1977 in Soweto, outside Johannesburg, South Africa. This was their answer to the violent police attack on a peaceful demonstration by Black youth in Soweto against the policies of the South African government. The idea for the film came from the women's group itself and the women decided upon both the script and the images. The women show their work and voice their ideas. It is positive, strong film about firm women who will not let themselves be crushed by the government.
EUROPE
Jean Bernard (England 1983)
Video, VHS, 30 min., in English
Made by the Television History Workshop
Distributor: Past and Future Trading (England)
When Jean Bernard arrived in England from Jamaica she was shocked by the unwelcoming and alien climate she found, ranging from the appalling housing conditions she faced to the dirty, low-paying jobs which were the only ones on offer. Now a qualified social worker, Jean still fights to protect her children against racist police harassment and the closing of educational opportunities for nonwhites in Britain. Like many others, she faces a system of institutional racism that systematically excludes and discriminates against Blacks and other ethnic minorities.
Who Feels It Knows It (England)
Film, 16 mm, 55 min., color, in English
Distributor: The Other Cinema (England)
This film about Black women in London depicts the realities of ghetto living and racism. By sharing personal experiences, music, poetry, and a richly cynical sense of humor, women discuss housing, education, the police and the future.
Burning an Illusion (England 1981)
Film, 107 min., color, in English
Made by Menelik Shabazz
Distributor: Sydney Filmmakers Cooperative (Australia)
A young British-born Black woman comes of age and begins to question her life, previously influenced by middleclass aspirations and a desire for security through marriage. She gains a greater awareness of herself, her identity and position in contemporary British society. Realization of her status in her personal relationships and within a racist society gradually leads her to politics and the possibility of responding to the problems and pressures she encounters.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Yo Soy Chicano (Mexico 1972)
(I am Chicano)
Film, 16 mm, 60 min., in Spanish with English subtitles
Distributor: Tricontinental Film Center (USA)
This film gives a short history of Chicanos with interviews of four Chicano leaders, including Dolores Huerta, vice-president of the United Farm Workers. Huerta describes conditions for rural Chicano workers and their strategies for change.
Peucalla Peni (Chile 1983)
Slideshow, 22 min., color, in Spanish
Made by Ana Maria Arteaga, Yuri Rojas, and Icha Miranda
Distributor: Ana Maria Arteaga (Chile)
This slideshow is about Dominga Meculman, a Mapuche woman from the indigenous tribe in Arauce, in southern Chile. As we listen to her accounts, we learn about how she relates to the land, to her fellow Mapuches and to other Chileans and finally, how she deals with life in the city.
NORTH AMERICA
Black Women Organized for Social Change: 1800-1920 (USA)
Video, in English
Made by Bethune Museum Archives Inc., National
Distributor: Bethune Archives Inc., National (USA)
This videotape examines the role of Black women in the development of extensive social service programs and as powerful advocates for social change. Using historic documents and artifacts, the tape traces the history of Black women's organizations from 1800 to 1920.
Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (USA 1981)
Documentary film, 16 mm, 63 min., color, in English
Made by Joanne Grant
Distributor: The Development Education Center (DEC) (Canada)
This film is a documentary on the life of extraordinary and little-known Black civil rights activist Ella Baker. Active for over half a century in the fight against both racial and sexual discrimination. Baker played a pivotal role in the growth of a militant Black movement, as well as helping to train numerous activists at the grassroots level. The film documents the events of the turbulent 1960s, giving us an in-depth look at the history of the civil rights movement through Baker's experiences.
The Long Shadows of the Plantation (USA 1979)
Film, 30 min., color, in English
Made by Mette Kundsen, Janne Giese and Susanna Lund
Distributor: Cinema of Women (England)
This film is the story of 70-year-old Black working woman Sylvia Woods and her life-long struggle against racism and female oppression. We see how this warm, powerful woman has fought both in the workplace and within various political movements to end the all-pervasive exploitation and oppression of Blacks in the United States from the 1920s to today.
Beauty in the Bricks (USA 1981)
Film, 29 min., color, in English
Made by Allen Mondell and Cynthia Salzman Mondell
Distributor: New Day Films (USA)
Four energetic and creative Black teenage girls grow up in a low-income housing project. The film shows how life in the project, replete as it is with shoot-outs, rapes and other forms of violence, does not prevent these girls from striving for higher goals. As members of the Girls' Club they attend a dinner for a group of prominent Black women whom they look to as future role models.
Flo Kennedy, Portrait d'une Feministe Americaine (France 1982)
(Flo Kennedy, Portrait of an American Feminist)
Video, 3/4 in., 60 min., color, in French
Made by Carole Roussopoulos and Ioana Wieder
Producer: Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir
Distributor: Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir (France)
In this video, New York journalism professor Margo Jefferson and feminist theorist and writer Ti-Grace Atkinson conduct an interview with Flo Kennedy. A well-known Black American lawyer, Kennedy discusses racism and minority rights in the United States, as well as the prospects for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment designed to guarantee equal rights for women.
Concepts/Mask (USA 1980-83)
Third in an eight-part series
Video, 3/4 in., VHS, Beta, 30 min., in English
Made by Doris Chase
Distributor: Women Make Moves (USA)
This video charts the odyssey of a young Black woman unravelling her history and discovering her true identity. The mask of her painted face returns hauntingly throughout the narrative and hints at her buried rage. Her story combines with dance and poetry to explore the myth and reality of Black women's lives.
Concerned Aboriginal Women Occupy Department of Indian Affairs (Canada)
Videocassette, 59 min., color, in English
Made by Amelia Productions
Distributor: Development Education Center (DEC) (Canada)
This video documents the struggles of aboriginal women who have finally taken a firm stand against Canadian policy on Native People. They occupied the office of the Department of Indian Affairs, giving public testimonies of their situation. Later they were put in jail and charged with public mischief.
Women Within Two Cultures (Canada 1976)
Video, 3/4 in., 30 min., color, in English
Made by Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre
Distributor: Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre (Canada)
This videotape looks at the situation of west coast Indian women in British Columbia and the early white pioneer women. The presentation includes slides of Native women within their own culture and discusses how the coming of the white settlers disrupted their lives. Unfortunately the videotape was made without input or direction from B.C. Indian women and therefore reflects a white (although feminist) perspective.
Mother of Many Children (Canada)
Film, 57 min., in English and French
Distributor: National Film Board of Canada (Canada)
This film encompasses the traditions, struggles and strengths of Indian and Inuit women across Canada. It discusses the responsibilities of women in traditional Native societies and the equality and respect with which they are treated. The filmmaker has drawn upon history, poetry and biography for her sources.
Some Black Women (Canada 1976)
Film, 16 mm, 22 min., b/w, in English
Made by Claire Prieto, Roger McTair
Distributor: Development Education Center (DEC) (Canada)
This short film documents the lives of several Black women living in Toronto and gives a brief history of Black women in Ontario.
SEE ALSO
Other resources that address the themes of this chapter are listed below. The chapters where they may be found are given in boldface type.
EUROPE
Migrants and Refuges
Black Women: Bring It All Back Home (England)
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Our Work
La Mujer en la Feria (Chile)
NORTH AMERICA
Reclaiming Our History
Emerging Woman (USA)
Our Work
Where Did You Get That Woman? (USA)
I Am Somebody (USA)
Rights of Working Women (Canada)
Migrants and Refugees
Problems of Immigrant Women
Somewhere Between (Canada)
Mitsuye and Nellie: Asian-American Poets (USA)
The Craft of Culture
I Be Done Been Was Is (USA)