With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade (1979)

Directed by

Lorraine Gray

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

45 min

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 4 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary uses old film clips and interviews with women who were part of the Women's Emergency Brigade during the 1930s General Motors sit-down strike. It shows how these women supported the strike and helped shape labor history.

informativeinspiringearnestarchivalserioushistoricalempoweringnostalgic

What happens

With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade is a 1979 American documentary film directed by Lorraine Gray about the General Motors sit-down strike in 1936–1937 that focuses on the role of women using archival footage and interviews. It provides an inside look at women's roles in the strike. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film was one of the first to put together archival footage with contemporary interviews of participants and helped spur a series of films on left and labor history in the US utilizing this technique. The film was also important in helping bring into view the history of American women being active in the public sphere, particularly in union and labor actions. The film was, further, ground breaking because it was produced and directed by women. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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