WHEN: June 14, 2023 from 6:30 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
WHERE: El Cerrito Theater of Performing Arts: 540 Ashbury Avenue in El Cerrito, California
In recognition of both Juneteenth and FDR’s Executive Order 8802, which prohibited discrimination in the US’s defense industry, Rosie the Riveter Trust will be presenting the documentary, Invisible Warriors: The African American Women in World War II, followed by a discussion with producer and director, Gregory S. Cooke. No Time to Waste: The Urgent Mission of Betty Reid Soskin will also be shown following the discussion. The screening will take place at the El Cerrito Theater of Performing Arts: 540 Ashbury Avenue in El Cerrito, California from 6:30 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
Invisible Warriors features real pioneers – the first Black women to work in industry and government administrative service.
The film is an unforgettable conversation among a diverse group of African American “Rosie the Riveters” who recount what life was really like during World War II. They are hard working underdogs of high character who do battle and win. They fled lives as domestics and sharecroppers to empower themselves while working in war production and U.S. government offices.
These patriotic pioneers share their wartime memories, recounting their battles against racism at home, Nazism abroad, and sexism everywhere. Without these women, the United States could not have won World War II. In 2020, Invisible Warriors was the recipient of the inaugural Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Fellowship in partnership with the Better Angels Society.