Who, in 1970, was the most oppressed active social group in the United States?

Black women.

This awareness, emerging within both the civil rights and feminist movements, would lead to the development of the concept of intersectionality — essential for understanding the combined forms of discrimination operating at the crossroads of gender, class, race, sexual identity, and more. Black feminism would also expose the blind spots of white feminism, particularly its "solipsism" (Adrienne Rich, 1979), which implied a universal identification with the category of privileged white women.

At 43, filmmaker Madeline Anderson had already experienced her share of discrimination and obstacles in pursuing a profession then considered unimaginable for racialized women. After achieving the remarkable feat of directing the first documentary by an African American woman in 1959 with Integration Report One, she faced the entrenched sexism and exclusivity of the industry. When two hospitals in Charleston went on strike in 1969 to protest the firing of 12 Black nurses following unionizing efforts, Anderson sought to document the struggle. Unable to secure funding during the events, she was ultimately supported by the union to complete the project.

I Am Somebody is thus made up in part of newsreel footage, archival material, and sequences staged by Anderson herself. Trained alongside Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, and Shirley Clarke — major figures in independent cinema —, Anderson crafted a gripping film through editing that alternates between the intensity of the struggle in the streets and the immobility of political speeches and official statements. The film delivers a sharp analysis of the socio-economic conditions of African Americans, the specific oppression of Black women, and the hypocrisy of white American society, whose apparent affluence continues to rest on racial exploitation, a direct legacy of a theoretically abolished slavery.

While Anderson’s work bears witness to the lucid perspective of the oppressed, her life story underscores the importance of pursuing both collective struggle and individual emancipation. Through the narration carried by a striking nurse, I Am Somebody channels the irrepressible human drive for freedom present within each of us — the essential quality of our shared humanity, much to the dismay of the self-appointed masters of the world.

Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director