Storming Caesars Palace

Premiered March 20, 2023
Directed by Hazel Gurland-Pooler

How Vegas activist Ruby Duncan's grassroots movement of moms fought for guaranteed income.

About the Documentary

After losing her job as a hotel worker in Las Vegas, Ruby Duncan joined a welfare rights group of mothers who defied notions of the “welfare queen.” In a fight for guaranteed income, Ruby and other equality activists took on the Nevada mob in organizing a massive protest that shut down Caesars Palace.

The Filmmakers

Hazel Gurland-Pooler

Hazel Gurland-Pooler is a Colombian-born, NYC-based director/producer and documentary filmmaker. She directed 10 episodes of PBS’s, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and co-produced the 6-hour The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, also with Gates Jr., which won Emmy, Peabody, duPont-Columbia, and NAACP Image awards.

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Documentaries Coming Soon

Awards

BlackStar Film Festival

Shine Award

Learn More About the Documentary

Credit: Diana Mara Henry Photography Caption: Welfare rights leaders (including Johnnie Tillmon and Beaulah Sanders) put their hands together, celebrating passage of their National Plan of Action item at the First National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas.
Beyond the Films

From Mothers’ Pensions to Welfare Queens, Debunking Myths about Welfare