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I Am Somebody

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Black History Month 2026 • 30m

Directed by Madeline Anderson • Documentary • 1970 • 30 minutes

In 1969, black female hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina went on strike for union recognition and a wage increase, only to find themselves in a confrontation with the state government and the National Guard. Featuring Andrew Young, Charles Abernathy, and Coretta Scott King and produced by Local 1199, New York’s Drug and Hospital Union, I AM SOMEBODY is a crucial document in the struggle for labor rights.

"Terrific! By turns intimate and sweeping... With its weave of interviews and on-the-street scenes—and, notably, a female voice-over—I AM SOMEBODY is an exemplar of a certain nonfiction approach." —Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

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1199, african-american studies, american (u.s.) studies, americas, area studies, black, black history, blackhistory2, business, carolina, charleston, citizenship, civil rights, clad, criminal justice, cultural and ethnic studies, district, doc, documentary, econjustice, expository, film, gender studies, health care sector, history, homestream, hospital, human rights1, i am somebody, icarus films, labor and economics, labor history, labor studies, law and legal studies, north american studies, ovid, ovid_ca, sclc, sectors, shod, short, social issues, social movements and activism, sociss, south, strike, the, the 1960s and vietnam era, the american south, u.s. history, united states, usa, video, womandirector, women, women's history, women's studies, worker, workers, world regions

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