I Am Somebody

I Am Somebody documents the 1969 strike of Black hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina, over the course of which more than a thousand strikers, students, and civil rights activists were jailed. All but twelve of the 400 strikers were women, and Anderson tells the story from their point of view. The film is narrated by one of the women who led the strike, lending a profound intimacy and immediacy to the account, and the voices of the workers are centered throughout. Supported by Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Coretta Scott King, the historic victory of Union 1199B was a high-water mark in the alignment of labor struggles with the civil rights movement. When the film was named to the National Film Registry in 2019, Anderson remarked, “They won the hundred-day strike, and the induction of I Am Somebody into the registry is a tribute to their courage and perseverance.”