The University of Delaware will host the 31st annual Women’s History Month Film Series, which also features a series of guest speakers, beginning with a showing of Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 20.

The series, which continues the Department of History’s tradition of showing films on the history of women, is titled “Women's History, Women's Lives.”

The series runs every Monday night through March 20, 7-9 p.m., in 206 Kirkbride Hall. Each event is free and open to the public.

The series is sponsored by the departments of Anthropology, Black American Studies, History, and Women and Gender Studies, as well as the Faculty Senate Committee on Cultural Activities and Public Events.

Films are as follows:

• Feb. 20, Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders. This film approaches the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it — women such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Mae Bertha Carter. In the name of freedom and equal rights, they risked their physical safety, their jobs and even their lives to emerge as the Movement’s grassroots leaders. They not only brought about change in Mississippi, they altered the course of American history. Speaker will be Emerald Christopher-Byrd, assistant professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies.

• Feb. 27, No Más Bebés (No More Babies). They came to have their babies. They left sterilized. This film recounts the stories of immigrant mothers who between 1971 and 1974 were sterilized, often without giving informed consent, after giving birth. Led by an intrepid, 26-year-old Chicana lawyer, and armed with hospital records secretly gathered by a whistle-blowing young doctor, the mothers brought a lawsuit against a Los Angeles County hospital. In the name of justice, they stood up to powerful institutions and braved public exposure of their private pain. The film raises questions about reproductive rights that remain all too relevant in 2017. Speaker will be Eve Buckley, assistant professor, Department of History.

• March 6, The Trials of Spring. The movie follows the journeys of three Egyptian women from the heady early days of the 2011 Arab Spring until today: Hend, from a rural military family, awaiting a harsh prison sentence for protesting against military rule; Miriam, an activist fighting to end sexual assault; and Mama Khadiga, a formerly veiled widow who became a caretaker of the revolutionaries. Their intersecting stories reveal the vital and underreported role women play in shaping the region’s future. Speaker to be announced.

• March 13, Three to Infinity: Beyond Two Genders. This is the first feature documentary about people who are neither male nor female. Agender, genderqueer and more, they're redefining gender and challenging masculinity and femininity. In increasing numbers, of all ages and ethnicities, people are referring to themselves by terms such as agender, gender neutral, genderqueer and more. This documentary immerses the viewer in a world where gender is a spectrum of possibilities, where stereotypes fall and where the future is the present. Speaker will be Adam Foley, program coordinator, Office of Equity and Inclusion.

• March 20, The Pad Piper. The film tells the incredible story of a school dropout and grassroots innovator from India, Arunachalam Muruganantham. His innovative, low-cost, sanitary-pad making machine is changing the face of menstrual hygiene for thousands of women across India. Indeed, this simple machine has the potential to change lives of women across the world. He sells his machines to women’s self-help groups. These women then educate others about the perils of using crude and unsafe methods, while challenging ancient taboos about menstruation. Speaker will be Katie Katz of the Class of 2017, founder and president of Gift of Life at UD.