Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders

WATCH TRAILER

Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders

A film by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson

2002 | 60 minutes | Color/BW | DVD | Order No. 04825

License:

Format:

PRICE:

Host a screening

Watch on Kanopy

SYNOPSIS

In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicians, they were ordinary women from Mississippi,and descendants of African slaves. They had come to their country’s capital seeking civil rights, the first black women to be allowed in the senate chambers in nearly 100 years. A missing chapter in our nation’s record of the Civil Rights movement, this powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. Their living testimony offers a window into a unique moment when the founders’ promise of freedom and justice passed from rhetoric to reality for all Americans. Through moving interviews and powerful archival footage, STANDING ON MY SISTERS' SHOULDERS weaves a story of commitment, passion and perseverance and tells the story of the women fought for change in Mississippi and altered the course of American history forever.

PRESS

“**** Editor’s choice. Highly recommended…a powerful must-see slice of American life.”

T. Keogh Video Librarian

“A classic portrait of the women who risked their lives to achieve Civil Rights for all Americans…a film every American should see and never forget.”

William Ferris, PhD Former Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

"A moving, must-see film of courageous Black women fighting for (and winning) their families' constitutional rights...a truly inspirational portrait."

Jacqueline Bobo Prof. Of Women's Studies and Black Studies, Univ. of CA

"If you can show just one film on the Civil Rights Movement, this should be the one. An exquisite tool for high school and college teachers of history, women's studies, African American studies, and related subjects. Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hammer, Unita Blackwell, and countless others at last get the recognition they deserve."

Pricilla Murolo Prof. Of History and Director of the Women's History program, Sarah Lawrence

“A powerful and moving film about ordinary women armed with sheer determination…”

Jennifer Moffet Jackson Free Press

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

Women in the Director’s Chair
Big Muddy Film Festival
USA Film Festival
Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO)
Long Island Film Expo - Humanitarian Award
Dances with Films - Audience Award
New Orleans Film Festival
Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival
African American Women in Cinema Film Festival - Audience Award
Pensacola Film and Video Festival – Best Documentary
Pan African Film Festival – Best Documentary
Sedona International Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival - Audience Award
Savannah Film and Video Festival – Special Jury Prize

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Laura J. Lipson

Laura Lipson is the director, writer, and co-producer of STANDING ON MY SISTERS’ SHOULDERS. She also penned the lyrics for the film’s opening song FREEDOM WILL COME.

She fulfilled her elementary school dream to live in Paris, and had the opportunity to do that when she became an assistant film editor for auteur director, Raul Ruiz. She worked on two of his films: TREASURE ISLAND and RICHARD III.

She’s an award winning writer/producer/director ad has worked with ABC, CBS, TV One, New World Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions. She wrote and produced hundreds of television trailers and short form videos.

Recently, she has been a speaker for the State Department traveling to South Africa to talk to college and high school students and community members about filmmaking, interviewing techniques, mentorship, and the value of preserving grassroots history.

As a writer/producer director, she has worked on diverse projects including sizzle reels for ABC, a series for Veterans returning to civilian life, a short film for school age children about the US flag, and a World War II documentary story in Rome with the Sadoffs. She graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and lives in Washington, DC. (8/14)

Joan Sadoff

Joan Sadoff, (1938-2019), was, for most of her professional career, a clinical social worker in hospitals, schools, family agencies and community settings. On a national and international level, she lectured to academic, professional and community organizations on the subject of societal change in the family, on which she was a leading authority. Joan was often interviewed as an expert on these issues on television and participated in over 5,000 interviews including survivors of the Holocaust and their families. In 1992, after watching a PBS program about discimination against African Americans, Joan and her husband, Robert, followed the Freedom Trail through the deep south, talking with locals and eventually returning with a camera crew. The footage was eventually put together in a film titled Standing on my Sister’s Shoulders and it was the first of two documentaries about the American Civil Rights movement that Joan and Robert produced. (11/19)

Dr. Robert Sadoff

Dr. Robert Sadoff, (1936-2017), was a founder of modern forensic psychiatry, who assessed the mental competence or emotional states of thousands of plaintiffs and defendants in court proceedings. Over his bountiful career, Robert became an award winning professional in the fields of psychiatry, forensic psychiatry and legal medicine, as well as a sought after international speaker and the author of six books on forensic psychiatry. He was the president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, as well as the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry and, together with his wife, Joan Sadoff, (married 1959), he produced two documentaries on the American Civil Rights movement. (11/19)

Subject Areas

African American American History Diversity Education Equity History Law Politics Racism

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

Array
(
    [id] => 643
    [title] => Black Feminist
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/black-feminist
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/black-feminist/320x-gi_Black-Feminist-Image-Signature.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2019
    [text] => BLACK FEMINIST explores the double-edged sword of racial and gender oppression that Black Women face in America.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/black-feminist/gi_Black-Feminist-Image-Signature.jpg
)

Black Feminist

BLACK FEMINIST explores the double-edged sword of racial and gender oppression that Black Women face in America.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 519
    [title] => Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/living-thinkers-an-autobiography-of-black-women-in-the-ivory-tower
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/living-thinkers-an-autobiography-of-black-women-in-the-ivory-tower/320x-livthin_hires1.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2013
    [text] => LIVING THINKERS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE IVORY TOWER examines the intersection of race, class and gender for Black women professors and administrators working in U.S. colleges and universities today. Through their diverse narratives, from girlhood to the present, Black women from different disciplines share experiences that have shaped them, including segregated schooling as children, and the trials, disappointments and triumphs encountered in Academia. Though more than 100 years have passed since the doors to higher education opened for Black women, their numbers as faculty members are woefully low and for many still, the image of Black women as intellectuals is incomprehensible. And while overtly expressed racism, sexism and discrimination have declined, their presence is often still often unacknowledged. Through frank and sometimes humorous conversations, this documentary interrogates notions of education for girls and women and the stereotypes and traditions that affect the status of Black women both in and out of the Academy. A perfect companion film for any classroom discussion on the intersection of racism, sexism and/or feminism.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/living-thinkers-an-autobiography-of-black-women-in-the-ivory-tower/livthin_hires1.jpg
)

Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower

LIVING THINKERS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE IVORY TOWER examines the intersection of race, class and gender for Black women professors and administrators working in U.S. colleges and universities today. Through their diverse narratives, from girlhood to the present, Black women from different disciplines share experiences that have shaped them, including segregated schooling as children, and the trials, disappointments and triumphs encountered in Academia. Though more than 100 years have passed since the doors to higher education opened for Black women, their numbers as faculty members are woefully low and for many still, the image of Black women as intellectuals is incomprehensible. And while overtly expressed racism, sexism and discrimination have declined, their presence is often still often unacknowledged. Through frank and sometimes humorous conversations, this documentary interrogates notions of education for girls and women and the stereotypes and traditions that affect the status of Black women both in and out of the Academy. A perfect companion film for any classroom discussion on the intersection of racism, sexism and/or feminism.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 516
    [title] => Feminist: Stories From Women’s Liberation
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/feminist-stories-from-womens-liberation
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/feminist-stories-from-womens-liberation/320x-cbe_femini_hires1-2.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2013
    [text] => Structured as a personal journey of rediscovery by filmmaker Jennifer Lee, this documentary brings the momentous first decade of secondwave feminism vividly to life. Its trajectory starts with the earliest stirrings in 1963 and ends with the movement’s full blossoming in 1970—from the Presidential Commission’s report on widespread discrimination against women and publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique up through radical feminists’ takeover of the Statue of Liberty and Friedan’s calls for a women’s strike for equality. A wealth of period footage captures landmark events and the pivotal roles of the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Redstockings, and other organizations. Thirty-five diverse interviewees, including rank-and-file activists along with well-known feminists Betty Friedan, Frances M. Beale, Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Ti-Grace Atkinson, and others, share memories of the period as well as issues and challenges that still resonate today. A great introduction to Women’s Studies and critical viewing for historians and academics interested in feminism, activism and the Women’s Movement.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/feminist-stories-from-womens-liberation/cbe_femini_hires1-2.jpg
)

Feminist: Stories From Women’s Liberation

Structured as a personal journey of rediscovery by filmmaker Jennifer Lee, this documentary brings the momentous first decade of secondwave feminism vividly to life. Its trajectory starts with the earliest stirrings in 1963 and ends with the movement’s full blossoming in 1970—from the Presidential Commission’s report on widespread discrimination against women and publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique up through radical feminists’ takeover of the Statue of Liberty and Friedan’s calls for a women’s strike for equality. A wealth of period footage captures landmark events and the pivotal roles of the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Redstockings, and other organizations. Thirty-five diverse interviewees, including rank-and-file activists along with well-known feminists Betty Friedan, Frances M. Beale, Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, Ti-Grace Atkinson, and others, share memories of the period as well as issues and challenges that still resonate today. A great introduction to Women’s Studies and critical viewing for historians and academics interested in feminism, activism and the Women’s Movement.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 563
    [title] => The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/the-passionate-pursuits-of-angela-bowen
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/the-passionate-pursuits-of-angela-bowen/320x-bowen_hires1.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2016
    [text] => An inspiring film by award winning documentary filmmaker Jennifer Abod, PhD (THE EDGE OF EACH OTHER’S BATTLES: THE VISION OF AUDRE LORDE).

THE PASSIONATE PURSUITS provides a window into the life of Angela Bowen, who grew up in inner city Boston during the Jim Crow era and went on to become a classical ballerina, a legendary dance teacher, a Black lesbian feminist activist organizer, writer and professor. 

For six decades Bowen has influenced and inspired untold numbers, speaking out as strongly for the Arts and Black and Women’s Rights as she has for LGBTQI Rights. Candid, compelling, and inspiring, PASSIONATE PURSUITS depicts Bowen's life across the decades.

Bowen’s stories reveal how the challenges of race, class, gender, age, and sexuality played into her decisions and strategies for survival. PASSIONATE PURSUITS is important to anyone who wants to know more about the experiences and complexities of black women’s lives and the emergence of Black Feminism.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/the-passionate-pursuits-of-angela-bowen/bowen_hires1.jpg
)

The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen

An inspiring film by award winning documentary filmmaker Jennifer Abod, PhD (THE EDGE OF EACH OTHER’S BATTLES: THE VISION OF AUDRE LORDE). THE PASSIONATE PURSUITS provides a window into the life of Angela Bowen, who grew up in inner city Boston during the Jim Crow era and went on to become a classical ballerina, a legendary dance teacher, a Black lesbian feminist activist organizer, writer and professor. For six decades Bowen has influenced and inspired untold numbers, speaking out as strongly for the Arts and Black and Women’s Rights as she has for LGBTQI Rights. Candid, compelling, and inspiring, PASSIONATE PURSUITS depicts Bowen's life across the decades. Bowen’s stories reveal how the challenges of race, class, gender, age, and sexuality played into her decisions and strategies for survival. PASSIONATE PURSUITS is important to anyone who wants to know more about the experiences and complexities of black women’s lives and the emergence of Black Feminism.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 572
    [title] => Southern Rites
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/southern-rites
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/southern-rites/320x-cbe_sourit_hires2.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2015
    [text] => Broadcast nationally on HBO, SOUTHERN RITES is a powerful portrayal of how perceptions and politics have divided two towns in southeast Georgia along racial lines for years. In 2009, The New York Times Magazine published filmmaker and acclaimed photographer Gillian Laub’s controversial images of Montgomery County High School’s racially segregated proms. A media furor ensued and under extreme pressure, the Georgian town was forced to finally integrate the proms in 2010. Laub returned camera in hand to document the changes, only to stumble upon a series of events far more indicative of race relations in the Deep South: old wounds are reopened following the murder of an unarmed young black man by an elderly white town patriarch. Against the backdrop of an historic campaign to elect its first African-American sheriff, the case divides locals along well-worn racial lines and threatens to drag the town back to darker days.  

SOUTHERN RITES documents one town's painful struggle to progress while confronting longstanding issues of race, equality and justice. Through her hauntingly intimate portrait, Laub reveals the horror and humanity of these complex, intertwined narratives, a chronicle of their courage in the face of injustice. Laub’s film captures a world caught between eras and values with extraordinary candor and immediacy— and ultimately asks whether a new generation can make a different future for itself from a difficult past.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/southern-rites/cbe_sourit_hires2.jpg
)

Southern Rites

Broadcast nationally on HBO, SOUTHERN RITES is a powerful portrayal of how perceptions and politics have divided two towns in southeast Georgia along racial lines for years. In 2009, The New York Times Magazine published filmmaker and acclaimed photographer Gillian Laub’s controversial images of Montgomery County High School’s racially segregated proms. A media furor ensued and under extreme pressure, the Georgian town was forced to finally integrate the proms in 2010. Laub returned camera in hand to document the changes, only to stumble upon a series of events far more indicative of race relations in the Deep South: old wounds are reopened following the murder of an unarmed young black man by an elderly white town patriarch. Against the backdrop of an historic campaign to elect its first African-American sheriff, the case divides locals along well-worn racial lines and threatens to drag the town back to darker days. SOUTHERN RITES documents one town's painful struggle to progress while confronting longstanding issues of race, equality and justice. Through her hauntingly intimate portrait, Laub reveals the horror and humanity of these complex, intertwined narratives, a chronicle of their courage in the face of injustice. Laub’s film captures a world caught between eras and values with extraordinary candor and immediacy— and ultimately asks whether a new generation can make a different future for itself from a difficult past.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 577
    [title] => PROFILED
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/profiled
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/profiled/320x-cbe_profile_hires1.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2016
    [text] => Profiled knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latino youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. Some of the victims—Eric Garner, Michael Brown—are now familiar the world over. Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods. 

Ranging from the routine harassment of minority students in an affluent Brooklyn neighborhood to the killings and protests in Staten Island and Ferguson, Missouri, PROFILED bears witness to the racist violence that remains an everyday reality for Black and Latino people in this country. Moving interviews with victims’ family members are juxtaposed with sharply etched analyses by evolutionary biologist, Joseph L.Graves, Jr, (The Race Myth) and civil rights lawyer, Chauniqua D. Young, (Center for Constitutional Rights, Stop and Frisk lawsuit).  PROFILED gives us a window on one of the burning issues of our time.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/profiled/cbe_profile_hires1.jpg
)

PROFILED

Profiled knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latino youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. Some of the victims—Eric Garner, Michael Brown—are now familiar the world over. Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods. Ranging from the routine harassment of minority students in an affluent Brooklyn neighborhood to the killings and protests in Staten Island and Ferguson, Missouri, PROFILED bears witness to the racist violence that remains an everyday reality for Black and Latino people in this country. Moving interviews with victims’ family members are juxtaposed with sharply etched analyses by evolutionary biologist, Joseph L.Graves, Jr, (The Race Myth) and civil rights lawyer, Chauniqua D. Young, (Center for Constitutional Rights, Stop and Frisk lawsuit). PROFILED gives us a window on one of the burning issues of our time.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 592
    [title] => Black Girl in Suburbia
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/black-girl-in-suburbia
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/black-girl-in-suburbia/320x-cbe_blasub_catalogbox.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2016
    [text] => For many Black girls raised in the suburbs, the experiences of going to school, playing on the playground, and living day-to-day life can be uniquely alienating. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA looks at the suburbs of America from the perspective of women of color. Filmmaker Melissa Lowery shares her own childhood memories of navigating racial expectations both subtle and overt-including questions like, "Hey, I just saw a Black guy walking down the street; is that your cousin?"

Through conversations with her own daughters, with teachers and scholars who are experts in the personal impacts of growing up a person of color in a predominately white place, this film explores the conflicts that many Black girls in homogeneous hometowns have in relating to both white and Black communities. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA  is a great discussion starter for Freshman orientation week and can be used in a wide variety of educational settings including classes in sociology, race relations, African American Studies, Women's Studies, and  American Studies.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/black-girl-in-suburbia/cbe_blasub_catalogbox.jpg
)

Black Girl in Suburbia

For many Black girls raised in the suburbs, the experiences of going to school, playing on the playground, and living day-to-day life can be uniquely alienating. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA looks at the suburbs of America from the perspective of women of color. Filmmaker Melissa Lowery shares her own childhood memories of navigating racial expectations both subtle and overt-including questions like, "Hey, I just saw a Black guy walking down the street; is that your cousin?" Through conversations with her own daughters, with teachers and scholars who are experts in the personal impacts of growing up a person of color in a predominately white place, this film explores the conflicts that many Black girls in homogeneous hometowns have in relating to both white and Black communities. BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA is a great discussion starter for Freshman orientation week and can be used in a wide variety of educational settings including classes in sociology, race relations, African American Studies, Women's Studies, and American Studies.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 605
    [title] => Yours in Sisterhood
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/yours-in-sisterhood
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/yours-in-sisterhood/320x-YOUSIS_hires1.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2018
    [text] => A collective portrait of feminist conversation 40 years ago and today based on letters sent to Ms. Magazine in the 1970s.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/yours-in-sisterhood/YOUSIS_hires1.jpg
)

Yours in Sisterhood

A collective portrait of feminist conversation 40 years ago and today based on letters sent to Ms. Magazine in the 1970s.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 609
    [title] => White Right: Meeting the Enemy
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/white-right-meeting-the-enemy
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/white-right-meeting-the-enemy/320x-meeten_hires2.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2017
    [text] => Muslim filmmaker Deeyah Khan’s Emmy-winning look at the personal and political motivations behind the resurgence of far-right extremism in the U.S.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/white-right-meeting-the-enemy/meeten_hires2.jpg
)

White Right: Meeting the Enemy

Muslim filmmaker Deeyah Khan’s Emmy-winning look at the personal and political motivations behind the resurgence of far-right extremism in the U.S.

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 654
    [title] => Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/barbara-lee-speaking-truth-to-power
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/barbara-lee-speaking-truth-to-power/320x-gi_Barbara-Lee-plain.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2020
    [text] => An intimate and inspiring  portrait of  Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), a champion of civil rights and the lone vote in opposition of the broad authorization of military force following the September 11th  attacks. 
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/barbara-lee-speaking-truth-to-power/gi_Barbara-Lee-plain.png
)

Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power

An intimate and inspiring  portrait of  Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), a champion of civil rights and the lone vote in opposition of the broad authorization of military force following the September 11th  attacks. 

Learn more

Array
(
    [id] => 660
    [title] => Fannie Lou Hamer's America
    [link] => stdClass Object
        (
            [url] => https://www.wmm.com/catalog/film/fannie-lou-hamers-america
            [title] => more
        )

    [image_thumb] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/fannie-lou-hamers-america/320x-gi_Image 1_Credit_AP Photo_William J. Smith.png
    [created_at] => Array
        (
        )

    [year_released] => 2022
    [text] => FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA, winner of Best TV Feature Documentary or miniseries at the IDA Awards, is a portrait of Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer, one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.
    [image] => https://www.wmm.com/storage/films/fannie-lou-hamers-america/gi_Image 1_Credit_AP Photo_William J. Smith.jpg
)

Fannie Lou Hamer's America

FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA, winner of Best TV Feature Documentary or miniseries at the IDA Awards, is a portrait of Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer, one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.

Learn more

OUR CATALOG