Brooklyn College, YWCA Brooklyn, and Allison Prete

invite you to join us for a screening of

Women of Slender Means

Wednesday,  April 26 at 4 pm, Woody Tanger Auditorium, Brooklyn College Library

Women of Slender Means follows five of the 300 women living at the YWCA Brooklyn. Told with grace and humor, their stories reveal multidimensional lives of unseen women, as well as overlooked perspectives on the history of the city itself: courageous tales of migration, gentrification, poverty, urban planning, community faith and perseverance. We meet Frances, a WWII veteran who arrived during the Great Migration, hoping to escape segregation; Ann, an activist who worked at the infamous Willowbrook School, and is a witness to gentrification; Mary, raised by nuns in an orphanage twice burned to the ground by the Ku Klux Klan; Cheryl, a Native American 82nd Airborne veteran who suffers from PTSD; and Wendy, born into privilege and a survivor of violent abuse. Women of Slender Means “isn’t a film of tragedy, hardship and injustice—it’s a film about love and compassion, and how it counters all those things.”

Filmaker Allison Prete

The Brooklyn College Archives and Special Collections seeks to document and preserve the rich history of our borough, its community institutions, leaders and noteworthy events. To that end, it acquires collections of people and organizations of significant interest, such as the YWCA of Brooklyn and the historical papers of Bethany Baptist Church’s Rev. Dr. William A. Jones, Jr. The Archives not only conserves rare documentary materials, it makes the information available to the public so that Brooklyn’s extensive history will continue to be an inspiration and resource in perpetuity.

YWCA Brooklyn is dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. Founded in 1888, the organization is the oldest and largest serving women and girls in the borough. It has been a champion for racial justice and gender equity for over 130 years and was the first YWCA in the country to racially integrate in 1943 as well as a leader in both the civil rights and women’s rights movements. Today, YWCA Brooklyn is primarily focused on the economic empowerment of women and girls of color whose paths to prosperity have been limited due to systemic racism and gender bias. We fulfill our mission by offering safe, permanent, affordable homes for survivors of gender-based violence, helping young women of color attend college and become the next generation of leaders, providing opportunities for immigrant women to improve their English language skills, and supporting other grassroots nonprofits through our social justice community center.