The Black Student Alliance (BSA), in collaboration with the Womyn of Colour Network, (WCN) hosted a viewing of the award-winning documentary “A Place of Rage” to tie off Black History Month.

Britney Williams, who is the president of Womyn of Colour Network, hoped to bring awareness and discuss the women who were erased from the audience during the civil rights movement.

“It was important to pick a film that acknowledged political women who impacted the civil rights movements but were not acknowledged during their time,” Williams said.

“A Place of Rage” (1991) shares the story of two female activists and projects the perspective of a women during the civil rights movements in the 1960s.

The award-winning documentary set the stage for discussions about racism, class, sexuality and gender.

After the 52-minute documentary, a discussion was facilitated by Carmen Flagge, multicultural liaison officer (MLO) for the College of Human Sciences.

The importance of female leaders and their roles in society were discussed as Flagge asked, what does leadership look like today in women, and how are these women recognized?

“Most people don’t give women their full recognition,” Malik Burton, president of Black Student Alliance, said. “Most of us think the Black Lives Matter movement was started by men.”

The three main topics that were discussed were how a woman portrays herself in public, how a woman isn’t validated in society unless it comes from a man and how gender and equality has impacted the balance between a relationship.

As the conversation came to an end, audience members recalled the importance identities and how slurs and word choices can affect anyone in an open dialogue like these.

“It was a positive discussion at first but steered out of topic,” Simren Ballagan, vice president of the Womyn of Colour Network, said. “But all in all, it was a good open dialogue and it helped us learn about different perspectives.”

To tie off Black History Month, it was important for the two organizations to collaborate and host an open dialogue that would open the doors to more discussion about race, class, sexuality and gender.