Gender equity has been on the forefront of the push for social change in the last year, thanks in part to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that sprung out of the film industry. Though the film industry has been dominated by men abusing their power since its beginnings, these forces of oppression are beginning to weaken, thanks to those who have boldly come forward to tell their truth and demand change.
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While these movements demanding equity in film are gaining momentum, we’re taking a moment to appreciate one film production company that’s been advocating for women in film since 2005. Chicken and Egg Pictures supports women making non-fiction films to create social change. Through grants and creative mentorship, Chicken and Egg pictures helps women around the world produce, direct, and act in films as a means of disrupting the status quo in an industry that’s been defined by the male gaze. With their mission of supporting women to realize their artistic goals, build sustainable careers, and achieve parity in all areas of the film industry, Chicken and Egg Pictures is a worthy cause that receives part of the proceeds from LUNAFEST.

For the fifth year in a row, the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute is sponsoring LUNAFEST: Minneapolis.  On Wednesday April 25, 2018, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Riverview Theater, we’ll screen nine internationally curated short films by, for, about women. Since 2000, LUNAFEST has showcased the work of talented women directors from all over the world. This year’s lineup of films include a film about a 10 year-old girl training to become a professional boxer, a film tribute to the highest-paid silent film director at Universal Studios in 1916 who happens to be a woman, and a film about a Pakistani woman who graduated from MIT and now works in Silicon Valley as a game designer and provides summer camps for middle school girls to learn how to design video games.

In a historic moment where we’re reckoning with the film industry’s history of discrimination, it’s more important than ever that films – like those shown at LUNAFEST – that highlight the stories of women and people of color are made and shown widely. Thanks to #MeToo and #TimesUp, there’s a push for equity in film that echoes our need for equity in all aspects of our lives.

As a nonprofit organization committed to equity, these films are an important part of achieving our vision to Make Minnesota the Peacebuilding Power State For All. The funds raised from LUNAFEST: Minneapolis go toward Peacebuilding’s programs and scholarships that help make our trainings accessible to all by offsetting the cost of tuition. We hope you join us for LUNAFEST on Wednesday April 25 for an evening of fun, inspiring, and thought-provoking Peacebuilding in our community.

In March, we’re featuring an influential woman every day in honor of Women’s History Month.
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Today we’re celebrating:

Nellie Bly

Journalist (1867 – 1922)
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• Known for exploits as well as resourcefulness in investigative journalism
• Began a career in journalism in her early twenties after being mostly self-educated
• Gravitated toward subjects like political corruption and perceptions of problems with women working
• Traveled around the world in 72 days in homage to Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”
• Known for her work as an undercover journalist at Blackwell’s Island, a mental institution, where she pretended to be a patient in order to expose the inhumane conditions and practices there
• Also exposed conditions in sweatshops, jails, and other institutions through undercover reporting

In March, we’re featuring an influential woman every day in honor of Women’s History Month.
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Today we’re celebrating:

Martina Navratilova

Tennis player and activist (1956 – present)

• Selected as the greatest female tennis player by “Tennis” magazine in 2005 for the years 1965 through 2005
• Ranked number one female tennis player in the world seven years in a row
• Won more titles than any other female tennis player in history
• Trailblazer for navigating fame as an openly gay athlete in the 1980s and ‘90s
• Social activist for animal rights, gay rights, and underserved children

In March, we’re featuring an influential woman every day in honor of Women’s History Month.
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Today we’re celebrating:

Jessie Redmon Fauset

Editor, writer, and civil rights activist (1882 – 1961)
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• Literary editor of the NAACP’s magazine “Crisis”
• Among those credited with ushering in a new wave of African-American literature
• One of the first African-American people to graduate from Cornell University
• Wrote four novels focusing on the theme of human relationships in the midst of racial and sexual barriers

In March, we’re featuring an influential woman every day in honor of Women’s History Month.
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Today we’re celebrating:

Ethel L. Payne

Journalist (1911 – 1991)
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• Known as “First Lady of the Black Press”
• Known for straightforward observations and writing style, Payne was persistent and “asked the questions [other journalists] should have been asking”
• Confrontation with Eisenhower over plans for desegregating interstate travel became front page news
• After in-depth coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, she turned to international affairs in the 1970s and became the first black female news commentator, working for CBS

In March, we’re featuring an influential woman every day in honor of Women’s History Month.
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Today we’re celebrating:

Frances E. W. Harper

Abolitionist, feminist, and poet (1825 – 1911)
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• Most prominent African-American poet to reach acclaim after Phyllis Wheatley
• Many of Harper’s poems capture the South during reconstruction
• Raised by an aunt and uncle who ran a school and worked in a bookstore, where she developed a love of reading
• Became a lecturer for the Anti-Slavery Society of Maine until emancipation, when she advocated for the rights of former slaves and founded the National Association of Colored Women

Learning new information about powerful leaders is an act of peacebuilding, and Black History Month provides us with a rich opportunity to learn about black leaders who may not get their due in history books. While there is much work to be done to work for racial equity, Black History Month reminds us that appreciating the accomplishments of influential black leaders gives us energy to continue that work. We shared the information on Urban Intellectuals’ Black History Flashcards to highlight a leader or historical event each day in February.

As we transition into March, Women’s History Month, we’re looking back at five fascinating black women leaders we enjoyed learning about. 

1. Bessie Coleman
American civil aviator, known as “Queen Bess” (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926)

• First woman of African-American and Native-American descent to hold a pilot license.
• In 1921, she received her international pilot license in France because no flight school in America would train a woman of color.
• Her goals were to expose her people to the world of aviation. She desired to inspire children to get involved in the flight industry.
• In 1926, she fell to her death while practicing for one of her famous stunt shows. Evidence later indicated her plane may have been tampered with.
• Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006.

​2. Claudette Colvin
Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement (September 5, 1939 – present)

• Nine months before Rosa Parks (on March 2, 1955) and at 15 years-old, Colvin refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery-bound segregated bus. She was dragged off the bus, handcuffed, and taken to an adult jail cell.
• Colvin is not a much-celebrated figure in the Civil Rights Movement; many believe this is because she was perceived to have a darker skin tone and because she was pregnant.
• Colvin had a child born out of wedlock at the age of 16.
• On February 1, 1956, Colvin served as the star witness alongside other four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case.
• The landmark federal case, chaired by a three-judge panel, ended the history of segregation on public transportation in Alabama and other states.

​3. Ida B. Wells
Journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, and feminist (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) 

• A leader of the Civil Rights Movement; active in women’s suffrage and rights.
• In 1887, she sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad company for $500 and won, but had her case overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court. She bought a portion of a Memphis newspaper, the Free Speech and Headlight, and used it as a platform to champion African American civil rights.
• Co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
• Documented lynching in the United States in the 1890s; wrote that it was often used in the South as a way to control or punish Black people who competed with whites.

4. Madam C.J. Walker
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political/social activist (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919)

• First Black female self-made millionaire in America.
• World’s most successful female entrepreneur of her time, and one of the most successful African-Americans.
• Made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of beauty and hair products for Black women.
• Made financial donations to numerous organizations and became a patron of the arts.

​5. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi
Creators of Black Lives Matter

• Organizers, freedom fighters, and justice seekers.
• Creators of Black Lives Matter, a chapter-based national organization that was formed in 2013 to improve the lives of African Americans and rebuild the Black Nationalist Movement.
• Garza co-founded BLM with Cullors and Tometi as a call to action after an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, was killed and his murderer went free.

​All of these women have made invaluable contributions to the advancement of racial equity in the United States, work that proves to be more important than ever in these times of political turmoil and violence. We celebrate their accomplishments, and will continue to appreciate the work of women leaders in March.