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About the Film
Synopsis
Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney uncovers the story of Mary Gaffney, an enslaved woman who lived in antebellum Texas and endured the practice of “slave breeding,” in which enslavers forced reproduction to increase their profits. Gaffney, however, discovered a way to take control of her body and her fertility for almost a decade. Stories like Gaffney’s — the daily acts of defiance by “ordinary” enslaved women — are rarely told, overshadowed by singular heroes like Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Truth. But these countless lost stories of quiet rebellion, too, dismantled the institution of slavery.
The film revisits a 1930s interview of Mary Gaffney by the Works Progress Administration, a federal program that collected more than 2,300 first-person accounts of formerly enslaved people. In her own words, Mary describes “cheating” her enslaver out of the potential value of her offspring by chewing cotton root, a known contraceptive among enslaved women. Harrowing archival imagery is used to illuminate Mary’s world, her relentless resistance, and her hopes for the future. The film is informed by Black women scholars who give historical context, unearthing the buried truths that have been omitted entirely from textbooks. Just as slavery was woven into the fabric of our nation, so was resistance in the soul of who we are.
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Meet the Director
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EXPERIENCE THE STORY
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This is the untold story of Mary Gaffney.
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In 1930, over 2,300 formerly enslaved people were interviewed.
Book a Screening
Birth of a Nation: The Story of Mary Gaffney
info@mysite.com
123-456-7890
999 Terry Francois Street,
San Francisco, CA 94158
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