Image: Video still. A Tribute to Black Women (They Don’t Get A Chance) – Ann Carney & Barbara Philips, 1986. Image description: On the left a Black woman holds up a microphone to a young Black person in a blue beret. They are outside on the street.

For the the next week Cinenova is making available to watch on our website A Tribute To Black Women (They Don’t Get A Chance) by Ann Carney & Barbara Phillips. A video made as an educational resource for schools in the late 1980s, A Tribute To Black Women was produced by the Black Women’s Media Project and WITCH. The film shows a group of young women on the streets of Liverpool using vox pop interviews, to ask people “How many famous Black women can you name who aren’t either sportswomen or entertainers?” Mostly the folks of Liverpool draw a blank – making the point that too little is known or taught about Black women. The video investigates why this is so, pointing to inadequate media representation and bias in the education system which Black women have to overcome to uncover their own history. The video focuses on the careers of two women seldom mentioned in school history books – Harriet Tubman and Mary Seacole.

To hear more about the Black Women’s Media Project and WITCH please find below an audio recording of part of our event in last year’s Essay Film Festival, You’ll Never Work Alone, celebrating the Feminist Film Collective. A discussion about community media and collective practice, with Judy Mazonowich (WITCH), Bea Freeman (Black WITCH and Black Women’s Media Project), Artist Deborah Findlater and chaired by Artist and Researcher Ash Reid (Goldsmiths)