"The Watermelon Woman," At The Schomburg In Harlem

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Schomburg Center is proud to present a 20th anniversary screening of Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking film, The Watermelon Woman, which in 1996 became the first feature film by a queer African-American woman. The lead character, played by Dunye (who also wrote and directed the film), finds parallels between herself and 1930s actress Fae Richards, popularly known as The Watermelon Woman, a domestic servant stereotype or “Mammy” played by many black women in her time.