Educational Media Reviews Online

This remarkable feature-length documentary brings together two iconic and renowned political and social activists, Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama, who take us on a personal journey through their introduction to, and role in some of the most highly publicized civil and human right movements, and protests of the 20th and 21st centuries. The film combines and edits two interviews conducted in 1996 and 2008 in which these two powerful icons interview each other to discuss personal issues, struggles, and their continued commitment to freedom. So much literature is readily available about these two women that this reviewer feels it redundant to repost all the numerous political and social groups that they have either actively supported or been involved with to bring about economic, political and social change for all people.

Angela Davis’ exposure to racism and activism begins at a very young age. Growing up in 1950s Birmingham, Alabama, she is at the core of civil chaos and unrest. Davis witnesses firsthand the unspeakable acts instigated and supported by Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor, the Ku Klux Klan, and every day citizens who abhor racial integration. She belongs to a family who are strong advocates of social change, so it comes as no surprise that she too would continue the legacy to fight against social injustices everywhere. Largely because of the racial hatred in the South, as a young adult she is sent to live with a Caucasian family of Quakers in Brooklyn. The family’s ideology is rooted in equality for all, as well as being staunch supporters of the Soviet American Friendship Society. This exposure helps to shape Davis’s future non-violent and radical activism. Her involvement in some of the more radical groups, such as the Black Panther Party makes her a target for a FBI man-hunt in which she is wanted for murder. However, she is eventually acquitted and becomes an even larger hero to many who believe in her cause. Davis’s historical activism leads her to take several career paths among them educator, lecturer and writer. During her over half a century of activism, she speaks about the numerous relationships she has formed with other key members in the movement. They include: David Poindexter, Stokely Carmichael, James Foreman, Rap Brown, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Yuri Kochiyama’s exposure to racism begins as a young adult in San Pedro, California. Following the bombing at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Kochiyama’s father is instantly arrested under the suspicion of being a spy. Thereafter, events only get worse for the Kochiyama family. Within four short months following the bombing, her father passes away and the family is relocated to an internment camp in Arkansas. After being released from the camp, Kochiyama travels to several U.S. cities, eventually landing a job at a USO in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In Mississippi, she witness first hand racial segregation in the South where Blacks are not allowed to walk on the main streets, nor are the Black soldiers allowed in the USOs. She later relocates to Harlem in the early 1960s along with her husband Bill, and consciously makes a decision to learn more about her community and the people who live in it. She soon joins the Harlem Women’s Group, who during the summer months would travel to Brooklyn to protest discriminatory hiring practices against Blacks and Puerto Ricans. Since then, she continues to be at the forefront of major political and social activism supporting the dispossessed the world over. One of the most poignant stories from Kochiyama is her retelling of the day that she attends Malcolm X speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem where he is shot and killed. An archival photo shows her holding his head as he lay dying with an open chest wound. Kochiyama’s historical activism leads her to become an in-demand speaker on the lecture circuit, and writer. During her over half a century of activism, she speaks about the numerous relationships she has formed with other key members in the movement. They include: Amiri Baraka, Harold Cruse, Louise Jeffers, Lolita Lebron, Mae Mallory, Malcolm X, and Max Stanford.

Together, these two dynamic women offer an incredible common oral history of social and political activism that can never be found, or duplicated in history books. On numerous occasions their paths have crossed, yet each woman is a legend in her own right. Each have received numerous awards and recognition for their life-long commitment in support of women’s rights, inequities in the workplace and education, fighting for the release of political prisoners, speaking on behalf of global ethnic groups, and the list goes on. Where these two women feel there is a need to correct a wrong, they are there to lend their support.

The film includes a multitude of black and white, and color archival footage, photos, poems, essays, and artwork showcasing the work of well-known and not-so-well-known figures in the civil and human rights movement. The technical aspects of the film are good. Images are clear, and the soundtrack is apropos to reflect songs of struggle and freedom.

I highly recommend this title for students in junior high to general adult audiences. It is an excellent film to provide dialogue about women studies and civil liberties not only in the United States, but on a global level. This film is a superb addition to any library media collection.