LEFT ON PEARL

A recording from the live panel discussion on May 27, 2020 with executive producers of the documentary film 'Left On Pearl' Rochelle Ruthchild and Susan Jacoby and Director of the Cambridge Women's Center, Jessye Kass.

This event was made possible by the Cambridge Women's Commission, The 888 Women's History Project, and the Cambridge Women's Center.

Feminist activism has evolved over the years and is certainly evolving now as we confront new challenges brought on by a global pandemic and a broken society that continues to confront the systematic racism and the senseless killing of too many black and brown folks. We’ve seen how this pandemic has exacerbated inequalities and is disproportionately affecting those who have historically had little visibility, voice, or protections in our society. We have again come together in outrage to mourn, protest, and demand accountability from the police responsible for the murders of more black folks: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and so many others. Calls for justice are still alive. Join the Cambridge Women’s Center and The 888 Women’s History Project for a virtual panel discussion on intergenerational Feminism.

'Left On Pearl' is a documentary about a highly significant but little-known event in the history of the women's liberation movement, the 1971 takeover and occupation of a Harvard University-owned building by hundreds of Boston area women. The ten-day occupation of 888 Memorial Drive by women demanding a Women’s Center and low income housing for the community in which the building stood, embodied within it many of the hopes, triumphs, conflicts and tensions of Second Wave feminism. One of the few such takeovers by women for women, this action was transformative for the participants, and led directly to the establishment of the Cambridge Women’s Center.