Mama C: Urban Warrior in the African Bush

Click to watch the film trailer here

For courses in African and African American Studies, Diaspora Studies, U.S.History, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Music

*** Video Librarian

A former member of the Kansas City Black Panther Party, Mama C, a poet, musician, artist, and community activist, has lived for over forty years as an “urban warrior in the African Bush” in the Tanzanian village of Imbaseni. As she writes in one of her published poems: “in my freshly-landed, just-got-off-the-boat enthusiasm of living in Africa, I tried to blend, to melt, homogenize, disappear, erase, the essence of what made me who I am, an African, who grew up in and was molded by the ‘hoods’ of America, and I almost lost myself.”

Mama C: Urban Warrior in the African Bush can be used for discussions about the Black Power movement in a global context, questions of identity and exile, explorations of women and creativity, contemporary grassroots movements.

REVIEWS

“Mama C delivers a sparkling portrayal of Charlotte O’Neal, who arrived as a young Black Panther woman with her fugitive husband in Tanzania , and has matured into an artist, musician, and human rights activist based in Arusha, and open to the world…A treasure of a film.” Prof. Kathleen Cleaver, Emory Law School

“Essential viewing for anthropologists, historian, and sociologists and courses in Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, and Diaspora Studies.” Robyn C. Spencer, The Graduate Center, CUNY

“What I love most about Hershfield’s work is that she is able to capture the essence of a woman who has NOT lost herself in the life of an exile and struggles to assimilate in Africa, but rather someone who has truly found herself, her place, deep in the rich soil of the foothills of Mt. Meru. This film will be of interest to many audiences from Africana studies, women’s and gender studies, anthropology, history, and sociology – anyone interested in the ways that the arts, social justice, and community building are essential for social change.” Prof. Marla Jaksch, Women’s & Gender Studies Department, The College of New Jersey

“In a film of rich images and compelling vignettes, Joanne Hershfield captures the astonishing and inspiring life and wisdom of Charlotte O’Neal, aka Mama C, in her documentary work, Mama C: Urban Warrior in the African Bush…A Pan-African aesthetic that explores the distinctions of the heritages of the African diaspora and the commonalities informs the film, and provides entry points for all viewers.” Prof. A.T. Miller, Associate Vice Provost, Academic Diversity, Cornell University

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