2026 Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program Film Series: Norma Rae
Saturday February 21 at 7:30 PM
Whitney Center, 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden, CT (Park in South parking lot, Visitor Parking spaces)
Norma Rae is a 1979 film about a southern textile worker, played by Sally Field, who becomes a labor union organizer after meeting a New York union organizer, played by Ron Leibman. The film follows her journey from a single mother working in a mill with poor conditions to becoming a key figure in a hard-fought struggle to unionize her factory, ultimately changing her life and gaining the support of her co-workers. The movie was released in 1979 and is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton. In 1978 Sutton was fired after trying to unionize employees at the J.P. Stevens textile mills in North Carolina. Shortly after, on August 28, 1978, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) began to represent workers at the plant.
Each screening in this winter film series portrays some of the amazing women who have and continue to fight for workers’ rights, and raises the issues faced by women as clerical workers, factory workers, and teachers from around the nation. It serves as a prelude to the 4th Annual Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program, A Wonderful Struggle, on March 1, 2026, 2:00 pm, at the New Haven Museum, which will focus on local Jewish women involved in labor organizing and unions.
Presented by The Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven, The New Haven Museum, Hilton C. Buley Library of Southern Connecticut State University, Whitney Center, and the Ethnic Heritage Center.
This film series is sponsored by the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven.
