Director Grace Lee has been filming AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS, a feature documentary about legendary Detroit activist and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs over the past decade. They’re trying to raise funds to complete the film this year. As Grace is now 96, they want her to be part of the film’s release plan. Here’s more about the documentary film:

Grace Lee Boggs has dedicated her life to the next American Revolution. Born to Chinese immigrants in 1915, she earned a PhD in philosophy at age 25 before committing herself to a life of ideas, action, and the promise of change and social justice from within the African-American community. Moving to Detroit in the 1950s and marrying African-American autoworker/activist James Boggs, she saw that Detroit embodied both the failures and possibilities of the American dream, and was thus an enormously fertile place to work. At 96, Grace continues to engage audiences everywhere in a process of re-imagination, conversation and action — reminding us that revolution is not only possible and necessary, but already happening.
Although Grace’s biography is part of our story, this is not a traditional biopic or historical film. This story is about how a visionary thinker and doer grapples with the looming questions confronting humanity and sustains her commitment to that work. The driving narrative transports Grace through the major social movements of the last century — from labor to civil rights, from Black Power to feminism, identity politics and beyond — and shows how she emerged with a philosophy that is almost radical in its simplicity and clarity: revolution is not an act of aggression but an ongoing, evolving series of living conversations. It is about the willingness to shift tactics, reflect upon and embrace contradictions. “Revolution,” Grace says, “is about the ability to change yourself to change the world.”

In a world plagued by seemingly endless wars, environmental disasters, rampant consumerism and economic collapse, people everywhere are asking: How can I make a difference? How do we create meaningful change? And how do we sustain ourselves so we can continue evolving our humanity? American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs explores how a lifetime of thinking, advocating, and grassroots action has culminated in powerful approaches to these elusive questions and how Grace’s ideas are inspiring a new generation of young people and activists to rebuild and revitalize their corner of the world, in Detroit.

You can help fund the film here.

Help fund American Revolutionary documentary about Grace Lee Boggs