(upbeat music) - Here's what's coming up next on "You Oughta Know."

I tee off with the Green's Ladies Golf Club as it celebrates 70 years, plus building generational relationships between African American women.

And 50 years after its inception, an exhibit highlighting the feminist movement expands its focus.

(upbeat music) Welcome to "You Ought To Know."

I'm Shirley Min.

It's Women's History Month.

So we're looking at the many contributions of women starting with the arts.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of a groundbreaking feminist exhibit.

(Re)Focus, a citywide festival, reexamines feminism through a different lens.

(dramatic music) - Right from the start, we planned on doing something that would make a big splash.

We were beyond the point, if you will, of consciousness raising.

All of us were already concerned with women and the status of women, so it was more how do we put this to use?

How do we create something that will be a big enough stir to really shake people up and make people realize that women were wonderful artists?

I've been an artist ever since I was a little kid, and my parents say that I picked up a pencil and started to draw before I could walk or talk.

And fortunately my mother and father both encouraged me.

So I was able to go to art school every Saturday morning from the time I was six years old until I graduated from high school.

Tyler turned out to be the school that I went to for my graduate work, and that really started my connections to Philadelphia, which have resulted in this particular project focused on women artists.

- I was just beginning to be a college professor and going to my first college art association that's like the professional organization, and it was in San Francisco.

It was very exciting, and somehow I got swept into a meeting of women art historians, and they were up in arms about the fact that there was no one who was a woman on the board of the College Art Association, which made no sense because at least half of art historians or more were women as were many artists who were part of this organization.

I just realized there's a feminist art movement as well as a feminist movement.

I mean the second wave feminism was beginning in the 70s, but I connected a lot of dots and came back fired up, not knowing that many people in Philadelphia, but being determined to do something.

And I had a meeting at my house, and I invited people who I really didn't know as well as people I knew.

- I went to this meeting at Moore College, and this was only the second meeting that Diane had called.

- And lots of women came, and that was the beginning of Philadelphia focuses on women in the visual arts in 1973.

- [Judith] Right from the start, our ambition was to do something that was spectacular, that would focus attention on women artists and on the contributions of women artists to the world.

- We had things happening at Annenberg, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

You name an institution, most of them participated either with panels or with exhibitions, and important people were in some of these exhibitions.

- We also got sued by a man who said that he couldn't get an exhibition during those months of Focus because the institutions were all showing women artists.

And New York Times did a big coverage of all these exhibitions.

So we did achieve our goal of having women artists be recognized on a national level.

- Okay, wow.

(Re)focus came about because I gave her a call.

I said, Judy, do you know that in 2024 it's gonna be 50 years since Focus?

We have to do something.

And of course she said, absolutely.

- [Judith] We thought Moore College would be an appropriate place.

Since Moore is the only college for women artists.

It was established in the 1840s because the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts only admitted men.

- While Moore wasn't a host to any of the programming back in 1973, Diane had mentioned that it was an integral part of the planning process.

Also, Moore's mission and our history is to, you know, educate women for careers in art and design.

There was a lot of alignment with the mission of the 1974 show and the work that we're doing today.

I thought it would be really important to have Moore be at the center of it.

- [Diane] Wow, look, look it.

- [Judith] Wow, it looks fabulous.

- Fantastic.

When possible, we reproduced what they showed way back 50 years ago at the Civic Center Museum, which no longer exists.

Judith Bernstein's piece, very similar to this, but much larger.

It was about 10 feet long, and it was a hairy screw, although she didn't title it Hairy Screw.

"Horizontal" was her title.

And the director comes up to us, and he said, you can't have this in this museum.

If you have this in this museum, you are not having the show.

I won't let it open.

He was adamant, and the show had to go on.

So we did not show Judith's piece, but everyone wore buttons saying, where's Bernstein?

And that's where she likes to say we began her career.

(dramatic music) - [Judith] This is a very early video, and Howardena Pindell who is African American, was just leaving being a curator at MoMA and really starting her career as an artist.

- [Diane] Practice.

- And she did this particular video, her head is all wrapped in white bandages, and gradually as she tells the story, she unwraps herself to show that she's actually a black woman.

And the story is about that if you're free, white and 21, you have quite a different life from the kind of life that she has as an African American woman.

- So much of what was done on these walls was groundbreaking way back when.

(upbeat music) - I started thinking about gender identity and what it means today.

It's not the same as it was in 1974.

And it became my goal to sort of have it be a show in two parts.

And that's where we came up with the (Re)focus then, and my vision for the now.

Artists who are gender non-conforming, non-binary, but also women of course, and specifically people of color, so that we could provide a platform for them to be shown and represented.

(upbeat music) - [Moderator] The artists will talk about their work, then we will have a discussion.

- My name is Isa Isioma Matisse.

We focused a little more on young queer people.

This is from our exhibition outside.

Curating this exhibition has been super fun.

- I noticed how difficult it was for a lot of LGBTQ plus artists to break into the arts or to get their work noticed.

(audience applauding) - The issue of women's representation in art has come a long way, but there's still a long way to go.

Presenting an exhibition and series of panels and citywide celebration like this is gonna be really important to help move the needle maybe a little bit further.

I think that's the biggest issue is getting it out into the public space so that people feel comfortable talking about it.

There's just so much work to be done.

(dramatic music) - Here's the website to learn more about (Re)focus's month long events.

Next week we dive deeper into (Re)focus 2024 with a look at works on display at the Brandywine Workshop and Archives.

Collective wisdom is something that we look for during challenging times.

At Hey Auntie, Black women are using the power of community to thrive.

- My name is Nicole Kenney, I'm the founder and CEO of Hey Auntie.

I was a millennial.

I was completely overwhelmed with stress and anxiety, and I didn't quite know who to talk to.

As time progressed and as I began to talk more to my community, my family and my aunties, that's when I realized that stress actually could be making me sick.

And so I knew it was time to come home.

- [Woman] 31, a graduate from the top universities in the country with a thriving career.

- And I'm noticing this story around Black women being stressed, the power of community is really resonating, but that's when I knew there was something special.

So when you fast forward to 2020 and 2021 when I was in the Well City Challenge, and they were looking for community-based solutions to address Millennial health, and that's when I really thought about how can I really create a digital support system and network that really leverages the cultural competency and sensitivity and heritage of black aunties to help Black women rise and thrive in their life.

So that's really where Hey Auntie came from.

When I talk about the auntie, I'm specifically talking about the Black auntie for a very specific reason.

She has a really unique cultural legacy in the United States and also across the globe.

And so in West Africa where this term originates, it's a term meant that women use for all children where there is a understanding and a value system where every child is my child.

And so when we think about when African Americans were trafficked to the United States, the first thing that happened is that families were torn apart, right?

And what we saw and what the research shows is that these children would go to different plantations, and these women were not related to them by blood, didn't know them, but they instantly became their aunties, and they made it their responsibility to look out for these children, to help them navigate the highs and lows of life so that they had the best opportunity to survive.

So when I say a auntie, that is a legacy that I'm invoking, is this 400 plus year legacy of Black women who have created this support system.

And what makes it so special really is this kinship tie.

- Why do you always shrink when it's your turn to stand out?

Stop shrinking.

And I used to-- - I like to say we're relationship builders.

And so there's a few ways that we connect you at Hey Auntie, through our Leila's corners.

This is an opportunity for women just of different age groups to just talk about one singular topic.

And that's an opportunity for you to hear how another woman from a different age might be engaging with a topic.

Another way is called Our Porch.

So our porch is more of like a one to many format.

The porch is like one auntie that you might have a community of women who are learning from them.

The third way is what we have is called Auntie by Auntie.

So we spell auntie two ways, A-U-N-T-I-E and then A-U-N-T-E-E.

This is when we match women who have navigated a season of life, and they have experiences and wisdom that they wanna share with another woman who might be navigating a similar journey.

And then finally we have what's called the Kitchen, which is our digital space.

- But now I am excited.

I said here at 65, I got my doctorate.

- When I was in my lowest moment, and my auntie, Dr. Deborah Darlene Roebuck, I still remember being on my couch, and I wasn't talking much.

And she said, the last place you need to be when you're in a low place is by yourself.

And that is when I started to talk because I didn't realize that when I'm in a low place and I'm by myself, it's just you talking to you.

And you need someone, someones in your community who can really rebuke those thoughts and really help you get the help and support you need.

That encouragement, that really did set the stage for me to start this journey to Hey Auntie.

- As you just saw, African American women share a unique bond.

It's that kind of support that built the Green's Ladies Golf Club.

And here now to tell us about this organization is Dr. Ronnie McPherson.

Ronnie, thank you so much for being here.

- Oh, thank you for the invitation.

- One, I just love your whole look.

How long have you been playing golf?

- I would say steady since about 2007.

- And how did you get started playing?

- Well, I always enjoyed watching the game, but you know, you're working, you got kids, you got your husband, you got a house, whatever, just really never had the time.

So when my husband passed in 2005, and by that time the kids were out of the house, and I said, this is a perfect time for me.

And so I decided to start taking lessons and playing the game.

- And you're a member of the Green's Ladies Golf Club?

- [Ronnie] The Green's Ladies Golf Club.

- Tell me about it.

- The Green's Ladies is the oldest African American women's golf club in the Delaware Valley.

This year we will be celebrating our 70th anniversary.

- [Shirley] Yay.

- Yes, and we plan to do that by hosting a Invitational at River Winds in Depford, New Jersey on Memorial Day weekend.

- 70 years is not an insignificant amount.

That is an incredible accomplishment.

How do you think that Green Ladies, well, how did Green Ladies get started?

Let's just start there.

- The men were always playing, and many of the wives and significant others of male players decided one day, well, if they can do it, they're having fun, let us try it too.

- Yeah.

- And so seven women, seven African American women stepped out on that limb and decided to create the Green's Ladies Golf Club, May 1st of 1954, and here 70 years later, the club is, we're still around.

We're playing.

- Now I saw your skill level when you were giving me a little putting lesson not too long ago.

It has been I think 20 years since I golfed, and it showed.

And you know, they always say you drive for show, put for dough.

What are some pointers that you would give to golfers out there, especially when it comes to putting?

- Practice, you gotta practice.

You know, I mean think about it, Tiger Woods, he spends hours practicing, hours, you know.

You see him with his young son Charlie now and how many hours he puts in with his son, working with him and practicing.

You have to practice.

- [Shirley] Yeah.

- And you know, I heard Tiger say recently, someone asked him about playing golf, and what are some things you should do?

And he said, practice, play more and stay off of YouTube.

(both laughing) - Well his son is good too.

- Yes, right.

- Wow.

Well, how are you trying to through the club inspire future generations of African American women to the sport of golf?

- Well, we are constantly, whenever we see women, we're constantly telling, you know, approaching them.

If I'm in Dick's or Golf Galaxy or something, and I see a Black woman, I'll approach her and say, you know, hey, do you play?

And a lot of times they say, no, I'm here to practice.

I'm here buying for my son or my husband or whatever.

And I'm thinking, well, why don't you play?

You know, I was out at the the golf show up in Oaks, Pennsylvania, and I saw Black woman at one of the bays swinging a club, and I walked up to her and say, hey, you ever heard of the Green's Ladies?

You wanna, well, you know, you've ever thought about playing with the Green's Ladies?

And so if I see somebody on the driving range or whatever, I approach regardless of their age, and I'm not, I'm not even paying attention to their skill level.

If I see them with a club or anywhere near a club or whatever, I approach them, and I tell 'em about the Green's Ladies.

- Ronnie, this is incredible.

I love what you're doing.

I love what Green's Ladies is about.

Thank you so much for joining us, and here's how you can learn more about the Green's Ladies Golf Club.

Well, another male dominated sport that women are embracing is chess.

However, women remain significantly outnumbered.

But a Philly afterschool program is trying to change that by introducing more girls to the game.

(dramatic music) These 27 girls are about to go up against chess royalty.

- Good luck.

- [Shirley] Jen Shahade is a two time US women's chess champion, and she's playing against all of these girls at the same time.

(dramatic music) It's called a simul.

- All tight, now I'm gonna go faster.

(upbeat music) - We kind of partnered up with her so that girls could see like a role model that was also like a very strong chess player, and she lives here in Philly, and she went to school in Philly just like all the girls do.

(upbeat music) - It was kind of hard.

She noticed a lot of things that most of the players I've played before didn't notice or wouldn't notice.

And so I didn't notice 'em either until it was actually happening.

(upbeat music) - [Shirley] And girls should know about chess champs like Jen Shahade because female chess players overall are significantly outnumbered.

(upbeat music) - Well, it's, the good thing is it's gotten a lot better but it's still bad.

It used to be about 10%, maybe even 8% when I was coming up of girls to boys.

At this point it's really doubled.

- [Shirley] Shahade wants more girls to get into the game, but the problem isn't finding more girls who are totally into chess.

It's keeping them.

- I actually stopped playing for many years, and I totally dropped out for a couple years in junior high school.

Luckily for me, I got back into it in high school.

(dramatic music) I think a lot of girls drop off in junior high.

because there is more social pressure at that age, and they become more self-conscious And sometimes it's hard because at that age girls wanna be friends with other girls and if there aren't other girls that are playing, it might be a reason for them to leave.

I think that's part of the reason I left.

(upbeat music) - [Shirley] Here in her hometown, Shahade works closely with ASAP to recruit girls.

ASAP stands for After Schools Activities Partnerships, a nonprofit that sets up chess clubs in Philadelphia schools among other things.

- Knowing that this is something that we want to kind of address, and it's something that takes place at a national level.

We've started thinking about ways that we can kind of help address that gap in Philadelphia.

So we started with the Philly Girls Play chess tournament that we hold every spring, and that brings around 100 to 150 female chess players from beginners up to some of the most advanced players.

- [Shirley] The annual tournament coupled with chess camps like this are some of the ways ASAP is showing girls that they're not alone.

- They see their friends.

They get excited to go to the tournaments together, make it more of a regular thing.

And so that throughout the years they have more of a community built into the tournaments.

- [Shirley] Strengthening that community is a big reason why former camper Linda Zhang came back to Coach.

- When I was young too, I had no one to play with me.

And in high school I felt a little discouraged 'cause there weren't many girls to play chess with me.

So I felt like it's really important for girls to see that yeah we girls, we can play chess too.

- Chess gives you confidence that you're smart first of all.

If you succeed in chess, you are required to really use your own brain as hard as you possibly can.

I think it's a huge confidence builder.

(upbeat music) I think women and girls actually have even more to gain from chess than boys and men because women are often taught that our outer appearance is more important than inner truth and beauty.

And chess is the exact opposite.

It's showing you that what's inside your brain is the most important.

(dramatic music) - The Philly Girls Play Chess Tournament is next month.

ASAP Philly is hosting the tournament at the Seaport Museum on Columbus Boulevard.

Check out ASAP Philly's website for more information.

Well, it is never too late to chart a new course for your life.

And the owners of Food Chaser's restaurant in Elkins Park are proof of that.

(upbeat music) - [Maya] I'll go first as I'm the oldest.

I'm Maya Johnstone, and we're in Elkins Park at Food Chaser's Kitchen.

Go ahead, second.

- I'm Kayla Johnstone.

While we were school teachers, we would watch the Food Network and Travel Channel, we would jot down notes and then on our summer vacation and holidays we would travel to these locations.

And then right when Instagram came about, our friends and family was like y'all should start a social media page.

So for eight years we only showed food.

No one knew who we were.

Went to like over 1200 restaurants.

That's why we travel, for food.

We enjoy Greece, Italy, we took a cooking class right there.

We were talking about a name, and I was like, okay, well we chase food.

So we became the Food Chasers.

(upbeat music) About 15 years ago we was watching this Oprah show and she did vision boards, and Maya and I did make a menu.

We stuck it on my bedroom wall.

It has never fallen off.

- That's true.

- But we didn't think we could open a restaurant as teachers, so we just ignored it.

And then during the pandemic we started catering, and people who follow us on Instagram requested us more.

- Okay, one, two, three.

(audience cheering) - We would not be anywhere near what we are without the support of our mom and our two brothers.

The reason we are who we are today.

Our dad isn't here, but he has gotten us in spirit.

(upbeat music) What picture got the most engagement?

- One of 'em is a a sea chaser.

And this is just a salmon, crab and shrimp.

- [Kayla] Salmon cheese steak.

- [Maya] Yes.

- Let's say that 'cause Maya did not want to sell a salmon cheese steak.

- 'Cause you could get it without these toppings too.

So the salmon cheese steak, people have, we have sold over 1200 salmon cheese steaks.

- Way more than that.

- [Maya] Salmon cheese steak is a fan favorite.

And then we pile the other seafood on it.

The crab, like I said, and the fried shrimp.

And actually one of our followers named it the CJ2.

- [Kayla] I have shrimp and catfish in front of me on top of our now world famous, we can say that.

- [Maya] World famous grits, cheesy smoky grits that was featured in Vegas.

- [Kayla] And this is a Jalen cheese steak.

While he was here, he created this with a little help of us.

So it's Cooper cheese, onions, mayonnaise, cheese steak.

And this is our double pleasure.

Our french toast is very popular in the morning as well.

- [Maya] They named it after us.

- We named it after us.

- Yeah, we did.

- They had it double trouble.

- Double trouble.

- We were like, nah uh.

- Twins are double the pleasure.

- Yeah, so we named it Double the Pleasure.

Two pieces of french toast, two chicken, fried chicken tenders and shrimp topped with our spicy, house made spicy honey sauce.

- Dr. Kayla and Dr. Maya Johnstone, who because of them you guys are here today to participate in a wonderful lunch.

- Kayla and I put in our original business plan that we would always give back to inner city kids.

So we went back and pay senior class dues.

We sponsor luncheons, get a group of kids together, and we take in this stuff.

We take in shrimp pasta, shrimp fried rice, creamy salmon pasta.

We take 'em in nice food, lamb chops.

We do it really big for the kids.

- Yep, we always wanted to provide like a family atmosphere because our Aunt Ora cooked Thanksgiving and Super Bowl parties for 40 years of our lives.

And she always provided a cozy, warm atmosphere.

And our family always is like, welcome.

And I was like, I want to spread this love.

So like now that we have this restaurant, like my hopes has just been realized.

My dream came true.

When customers come in, they say they feel like family, and we're giving them good food.

So all is well.

(upbeat music) - Three of this year's Oscar nominations for Best Picture were directed by women.

Patrick Stoner spoke with one of them about her blockbuster movie.

(upbeat music) - Hi, Barbie.

- Hi, Barbie.

- Hi, Barbie.

- Hi, Barbie.

- Hi, Barbie.

- Hi, Barbie.

- Ugh.

- Hi, Ken.

- Hi, Ken.

♪ With the radio blasting ♪ ♪ goes cruising just as fast as she can now ♪ - [Patrick] Gretta Gerwig has always been a fascinating director.

Her "Barbie," of course is a box office phenomenon up for many awards.

I once traveled from Buenos Aires doing one interview to a small town in Massachusetts to talk to her about "Little Women," and this time I simply ask her what made her want to do it.

- I always sort of had this intention that the movie would be a confection, that it would be a sweet, that it would be something that was hilarious and delicious and beautiful to look at that.

But that underneath that there would be currents that were very serious inside of it.

Because I think of all the controversies that Barbie has created over time and in ways she's been, feminists have disliked her because she's an unrealistic body type.

But then at the same time, Barbie went to the moon before women had credit cards.

So it felt like it was always kind of existing in two places.

I also took inspiration from a lot of old 1950s musicals.

Musicals that have a kind of glorious artificiality about them.

I had a hope that once people started seeing it, that there would start to be conversations, and then that there would be a sense of like, oh, maybe I should go see that.

- Well, when you first of course heard about "Barbie," I wouldn't have said it would be probably competing for an Oscar.

To what extent would it be valuable to win any awards at this point?

What would it accomplish?

- [Greta] The fact that it's this unlikely.

- [Patrick] Who could have predicted it?

Who?

- I certainly for ladies and lady filmmakers, I hope it makes whatever the next person going in saying I'd like to make this movie, makes it a little bit easier.

But then I also hope, you know, it is also a deeply strange movie.

I mean, it is really.

I've had so many texts from my friends who didn't, hadn't seen it, and then they saw it, and they were like that is a much weirder movie than I was expecting.

- [Patrick] Well, yes.

- And so I think regardless of winning or anything like that, just the fact of it being acknowledged I think is good for, good for the strange movies.

- Thank you very much for making it.

And thank you just for being you.

You're very, always very good at this because you're willing to talk about things that other people might not be interested in.

Thank you very much, Greta.

- I'm glad you didn't have to come all the way across the country this time.

- I know, I had to come to my family room this time.

This was so nice.

Bye, thank you.

- Thanks.

- Well that is it for our show.

Thank you so much for watching, and now you are in the know.

Goodnight everyone, bye.

(upbeat music)