Resource Library

Film Clips: Introduction

Addie Wyatt describes her journey from meat packer to union leader to women’s rights activist.

Excerpt from “Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement 1941-1977,” a film by Joyce Follet. (Running time 7:29) Used with permission. The complete film is available from Women Make Movies.

What did Jennifer Lee discover when making a film about feminism?

Excerpt from “Feminist: Stories from Women's Liberation,” a film by Jennifer Lee. (Running time 3:18) Used with permission. The complete film is available from Women Make Movies.

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1971 The Click! Moment

The idea of the “Click! moment” was coined by Jane O’Reilly. “The women in the group looked at her, looked at each other, and ... click! A moment of truth. The shock of recognition. Instant sisterhood... Those clicks are coming faster and faster. They were nearly audible last summer, which was a very angry summer for American women. Not redneck-angry from screaming because we are so frustrated and unfulfilled-angry, but clicking-things-into-place-angry, because we have suddenly and shockingly perceived the basic disorder in what has been believed to be the natural order of things.” Article, “The Housewife's Moment of Truth,” published in the first issue of Ms. Magazine and in New York Magazine. Republished in The Girl I Left Behind, by Jane O'Reilly (Macmillan, 1980). Jane O'Reilly papers, Schlesinger Library.