Bella Abzug’s legacy fondly drawn in new documentary film
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Bella Abzug’s voice came with one volume when she spoke: loud, with a pronounced New York City accent. She collected and wore hats with the same passion that Imelda Marcos acquired shoes.
Whether it was making pro-Zionist street speeches for HaShomer HaTzair at the age of 12; traveling to Mississippi in 1945 to take on the case of Willie McGee, a Black man accused of raping a white woman; or leading public protests against the war in Vietnam as one of the founders of Women’s Strike For Peace, Abzug believed that she could influence the course of American politics. She combined activism with concrete plans to change policy.
In 1971, Abzug, along with Gloria Steinem and Shirley Chisholm, founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, with the aim of increasing the number of women in government. She became the first Jewish congresswoman.
Today, women make up 28% of all members of the 118th Congress, compared to the 12 women in Congress when Abzug was elected in 1971.
A new documentary feature film, “Bella!” illuminates Abzug’s feminist legacy. Directed by Jeff Lieberman, the film contains loads of top-notch archival footage that demonstrate Abzug’s bluntness. There also are comments by Barbra Streisand, Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas and other “Bellaboosters.”
“Bella!” will screen on International Women’s Day, March 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the JCC Kaplan Theatre. Leandra Zarnow, University of Houston associate professor and author of “Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug,” will be in attendance. The film also will screen on March 27 at 1 p.m., at the Kaplan as part of the 2024 Houston Jewish Film Festival.
“Bella!” crackles with 1970s energy. Culturally, the decade saw widespread rebellion against authority. Abzug was at the forefront of second-wave feminism, the equal rights movement and anti-war protests.
Abzug said this about herself: “There are those who say I’m impatient, impetuous, uppity, rude, profane, brash and overbearing. Whether I’m any of these things or all of them, you can decide for yourself. But whatever I am – and this ought to be made very clear at the outset – I am a very serious woman.”
“Bella!” captures those qualities that made Abzug a unique champion for women’s rights and social justice but also doomed her to electoral defeat during the last half of the 1970s.
Whether it was making pro-Zionist street speeches for HaShomer HaTzair at the age of 12; traveling to Mississippi in 1945 to take on the case of Willie McGee, a Black man accused of raping a white woman; or leading public protests against the war in Vietnam as one of the founders of Women’s Strike For Peace, Abzug believed that she could influence the course of American politics. She combined activism with concrete plans to change policy.
In 1971, Abzug, along with Gloria Steinem and Shirley Chisholm, founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, with the aim of increasing the number of women in government. She became the first Jewish congresswoman.
Today, women make up 28% of all members of the 118th Congress, compared to the 12 women in Congress when Abzug was elected in 1971.
A new documentary feature film, “Bella!” illuminates Abzug’s feminist legacy. Directed by Jeff Lieberman, the film contains loads of top-notch archival footage that demonstrate Abzug’s bluntness. There also are comments by Barbra Streisand, Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas and other “Bellaboosters.”
“Bella!” will screen on International Women’s Day, March 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the JCC Kaplan Theatre. Leandra Zarnow, University of Houston associate professor and author of “Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug,” will be in attendance. The film also will screen on March 27 at 1 p.m., at the Kaplan as part of the 2024 Houston Jewish Film Festival.
“Bella!” crackles with 1970s energy. Culturally, the decade saw widespread rebellion against authority. Abzug was at the forefront of second-wave feminism, the equal rights movement and anti-war protests.
Abzug said this about herself: “There are those who say I’m impatient, impetuous, uppity, rude, profane, brash and overbearing. Whether I’m any of these things or all of them, you can decide for yourself. But whatever I am – and this ought to be made very clear at the outset – I am a very serious woman.”
“Bella!” captures those qualities that made Abzug a unique champion for women’s rights and social justice but also doomed her to electoral defeat during the last half of the 1970s.
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