OVERVIEW OF LIFTING THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY

Lifting the Weight of History showcases the stories of five remarkable Afro-Caribbean women. Our film follows these women at work and at home. The stories of work and home show how the principle of economic independence so valued by these Afro-Caribbean women interacts with their commitments to mothering and to maintaining their femininity and identity as women. This complex mix of economic power, household management, and femininity offers a robust alternative view from the feminism promoted in the U.S.

Viewers will come to see why women insist on caring for their families at home and how they also build workplace families they intend to retain, how they prioritize communication at work and nurture a sense of belonging among employees, and how they understand the need for productivity to be recognized and celebrated.

The result of these orientations is that women entrepreneurs are helping to lift the burdens of longstanding animosity between workers of color and their white bosses. By relying on their own models of management, rather than inherited models from men, women business owners are helping to lift this weight of history and move forward an island’s sense of possibility for the future.