It’s Women’s History Month. At these local events, see how history was made.

by Mick Kelly

This month, it’s time to thank our Susan B. Anthonys and Elizabeth Cady Stantons. It was those early feminists, abolitionists and suffragettes who fought for the rights women have today. And while you could sit at home and study up on women’s history alone, we say: bring history to life. Head out to one of these thought-provoking events with other women (or cool men).

Our top pick this month is a screening, on March 5, of the 2004 film Iron Jawed Angels, which examines Alice Paul’s and Lucy Burns’ contributions to the women’s suffrage movement. The movie, by German director Katja von Garnier, stars Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston and Julia Ormond as suffragettes, and it sheds light on aspects of the movement that most of us didn’t hear about in high school history class. The League of Women Voters of Asheville and Buncombe County is hosting the free screening, to be held at the Asheville YWCA.

There are several women-focused events on UNC-Asheville’s campus this month, including a March 2 screening of the film Moolade. Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene won a Cannes Film Festival award for the movie, a controversial drama about female genital mutilation, which is still practiced around the world. UNCA also hosts a March 22 screening and panel discussion about the documentary Orgasmic Birth, which challenges cultural beliefs about childbirth.

Or, if you feel like getting outside, Brenda Seright Williams’ Herstory Tours are two for one in the month of March. Williams, who was profiled in VERVE’s October issue last year, leads 90-minute women’s history tours around downtown Asheville. In March, two people get a tour for $18, and Williams says she’s recently added a couple of new stories to the mix.

The Iron Jawed Angels screening starts at 10am on March 5 at the Asheville YWCA. For more on UNCA’s events, go to www.unca.edu/womensstudies. For tours, go to www.herstoryasheville.com or call 828-423-3819.