The Wisconsin Cuba Coalition is celebrating Women’s History Month with a showing of “Maestra,” a film that tells the story of how young women became empowered while helping illiteracy in Cuba.

The family friendly presentation will take place from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Mitchell Street Public Library, 906 West Historic Mitchell Street in Milwaukee. A discussion will follow the 33-minute film. There will also be food.

Cuba launched its literacy campaign in 1961 seeking to achieve 100% literacy within a year. It sent 250,000 volunteers, mostly women, to teach reading and writing throughout the island. About 100,000 of the volunteers were under 18.

Maestra’s director, Catherine Murphy, spent six years interviewing Cuban literacy teachers for the film. It is narrated in English by acclaimed writer and activist Alice Walker, and includes subtitled interviews with nine women. These include Cuban feminist Norma Guillard and Cuban LGBT activist Diana Balboa, who were both 15 at the time of the campaign. The film is distributed by the non-profit feminist media arts organization Women Make Movies.

The film is being presented in honor of Women’s History Month, for which the National Women’s History Alliance has declared this year’s theme to be “women who tell their stories.”