Feeling the effect of 'restrictions on your liberty'? At least your not locked in the attic ... !

Leeds Branch of the Women's Equality Party are holding the next in their series of 'Culture Club', our regular book and film discussion group. We'll be hosting this on Thursday 9th July at 20:00 and given the current restrictions this will be online via Zoom.

Our next book is Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. It's a feminist and anti-colonial response to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his ‘mad’ wife, Antoinette Cosway, Brontë's devilish ‘madwoman in the attic’. Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica, her unhappy marriage to a certain 'unnamed' English gentleman, who renames her Bertha, declares her ‘mad’, takes her to England, and isolates her away from the rest of the world in his mansion. Antoinette is caught in an oppressive patriarchal society in which she belongs fully to neither Europe nor to Jamaica. Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and develops postcolonial themes, such as racism, displacement, and assimilation.

We'll also be discussing the Netflix 4 episode series, Self-Made, a chronicle of the incredible story of Madam C. J. Walker, who was the first African American self-made millionaire. Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, founded in 1910. She became known also for her philanthropy, activism and patronage of the arts, whilst Villa Lewaro, Walker's lavish estate in New York, served as a social gathering place for the African-American community. 

You are welcome to join us, whether or not you have read the book or watched the series! Use this link to join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 835 4902 8903

We look forward to seeing you then.