Women’s Advocates: Walking with survivors for 45 years

Women’s Advocates and Twin Cities PBS co-produced a series of documentary short videos chronicling the history and legacy of Women’s Advocates. This series documents what it took to launch Women’s Advocates in the 1970’s – a team of committed people who invaded the Mayor’s office, protested police apathy, and hid families in their homes, eventually opening a shelter in a dilapidated building they called the “Women’s House.” This collective of women spent sleepless nights watching over one another, sharing house chores, managing crises as a team, and doing it all without the support of the greater community.

Women’s Advocates would like to thank the dozens of people who helped make this series happen.  From the author of the dissertation on which these videos were based, Amanda Jo Dennison, to the late founders she interviewed years ago, to the founders who are still with us today who helped share stories with Twin Cities PBS.  We would also like to thank the early residents and key partners from the movement and since who shared their stories.  The creation of this documentary series has been a powerful learning experience about the life of the women’s safety movement, how being helped gives tools to help others, and how our community has so much to share with each other in providing safety and justice to survivors of domestic violence.