“As a woman Freedom Fighter I feel proud, all women cannot do what I did; I was not just a housewife or passing my time in India as a refugee. I was fighting for my country.” -Rounak Mohal Dilruba Begum Rounak Mohl Diliuba Begum, pictured here in the sitting room of her home in Bogra, recruited, organized, and helped train six groups of young men to fight in Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971. Raised by her mother after her father passed away when she was 6, Rounak was the only one of the family's four daughters for whom they could not secure a marriage. When asked if she faced any difficulty in Bangladeshi society because she was a single woman, she smiled and said, "I move rough and tumble. No one can stop me." Bogra, Bangladesh. June 2011.

“I went to the Bangladeshi fighters’ training camp at the start of the war, but they didn’t want to let any women fight. But I kept asking, ‘What can I do? Where can I go? Where can I work? I didn’t come to sit in a camp, I came to fight!’” -Gita Kar Gita Kar, pictured here in her sitting room, served together for the nine months of the Liberation War. Savar, Bangladesh. June 2011.

Reenactment of 25 March 1971 massacre at Dhaka University. On the evening of 25 March each year, Dhaka University students reenact the massacre that occurred that night in 1971, perpetrated by the Pakistani army against the university's faculty and student body. The attack was the first phase of Operation Searchlight, a sneak ambush on the residents of then-East Pakistani that marked the start of the nine-month long war. Survivors recount stories rounds of bullets fired throughout the night, and day breaking with the sight of hundreds of dead bodies littering the campus grounds. The yearly memorial starts with a service at the Shahid Minar, the language martyr's memorial, which is constructed to honor the seven men who died during the Language Movement of 1952. Bangladesh, then-East Pakistan, protested the proclamation by Muhammad Ali Jinnah that Urdu would be the sole state language of Pakistan, one that disregarded the fact that more than half of the country's population spoke Bangla as their primary language. The protests were widespread and resulted in the naming of Bangla as one of Pakistan's state languages. Many cite the Language Movement as the start of the larger movement for Bangladesh's independence. Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 25 March 2011.

Rabeya Khatun fought alongside her husband and son in the Liberation War of 1971. During the nine months of conflict between March 25, 1971 and December 16, 1971, Ms. Khatun lost her husband in battle and watched as soldiers killed her son during a raid on their home. She now lives alone with a hired help in Barisal, and has received no recognition or compensation for her service from the state. Barisal, Bangladesh. April 2011.

“During the war, I used to hide weapons underneath my saree and bring them to the Freedom Fighters. I would sometimes have to bury them in the middle of the night to hide them from the West Pakistani army.” -Begum Gulferdous Begum Gulferdous, pictured here with her granddaughter in her home in Comilla, Bangladesh. August 2011.

Murals depict scenes from the Liberation War on the walls of a movie theater in Sirajganj city. Sirajganj, Bangladesh. June 2011.

“I sang for the soliders. Before they would take the field for battle, me and the others girls would gather together and sing to them songs of freedom. Then they would go and fight for our liberation.” -Dalia Nausheen Dalia Nausheen, pictured here in the home of her close friend Shaheen Samad, was a part of the singing troupe (along with Samad) who traveled around to Freedom Fighter and refugee camps in India, singing songs of freedom, or muktir gaan, for the women and men training for the war, providing medical and logistical support, and sheltering themselves and their families. Dhaka, Bangladesh. May 2011.

“Both of my sons and my husband went off to fight during the war. One of my sons never came back. But I am proud. I am proud to be a war mother and a war wife.” -Ameya Katam Ameya Katam pictured in her kitchen. Bogra, Bangladesh. June 2011.

“I used to recruit people to fight in the war. I stayed in Bangladesh, even when so many were fleeing to India. I needed to be with my country. Now, I get no support from the government. But I still think of the war everyday.” -Fauzilla Tunnesa Bulu Fauzilla Tunnesa Bulu, born in 1919, was 52 when the Liberation War broke out. The oldest veteran included in this project, Bulu Apa was a key driving force throughout the war, working continuously to organize and prepare soldiers for battle. Now, at the age of 92, she lives in rural Rangpur with her son and daughter-in-law. Rangpur, Bangladesh. June 2011.

“Both my husband and I fought for the liberation of this country. But while he has a Freedom Fighter’s certificate and people recognize him as a great warrior, to me they say, ‘You are just a wife.’” -Amena Begum Amena Begum, pictured here in the bedroom of her house in Sirajganj, served in the Liberation War with her husband, smuggling weapons for fellow mukti juddha throughout the conflict. Sirajganj, Bangladesh. June 2011.

Ganga river ferry dock. Waterways were used to flee the city following the start of the war in March 1971. Millions vacated Dhaka to hide in village family homes, but many who used the country's rivers for transport were fired upon and killed mid-transit. Sirajganj, Bangladesh. March 2011.

Kushi Kabir, pictured in her bedroom, has dedicated her life to helping underprivileged populations in Bangladesh, work for which was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She cites the Liberation War as having changed what she believed she needed to do with her life. Dhaka, Bangladesh. September 2011.

“When the war started I disguised myself as a man in order to fight with the boys from my village against the West Pakistani army. I felt so much anger then, because they were killing our people. I needed to fight.” -Shirin Banu Mitil Shirin Banu Mitil, here pictured with her two daughters, disguised herself as a man and fought alongside her cousin during the war. Highly active in student politics when the war broke out, she decided to go along with the men in her hometown rather than stay behind. A few months into the war, she was exposed and sent to a women's training camp in Gobra, just outside of Calcutta, India. Dhaka, Bangladesh. May 2011.

Old Kushtia railway station. The station was ambushed by the West Pakistani military during the war, and so badly damaged that it sits unused to this day, with the new, operational station a few blocks down the road.

 Kushtia, Bangladesh. March 2011.

A famous Bangladeshi sculptor, Ferdousi Priyabhashini is here pictured in her home in Dhaka. Ferdousi was one of the first women to speak openly about being raped by the West Pakistani army during the war, pushing back against the societal taboo that forced many women to keep silent about their experiences of sexual assault during the war. Since the end of the war, she has been a strong and persistent force pushing for acceptance and justice for these women who were raped during the war. In the past many years, she has become a renowned artist, developing her own sculpture technique in which she sows and grows plants in carved pieces of dead wood. Out of death she cultivates life. Dhaka, Bangladesh. June 2011.

Maleka Khan walks through her garden at her village home. Maleka, a social worker, directed hundreds of centers across Bangladesh that rehabilitated women who had been raped during the war. Norshingdi, Bangladesh. April 2011.

Candles mark a mass grave for students and faculty who were killed by the Pakistan army on the night of 25 March 1971 in the Dhaka University Hindu campus complex as part of Operation Searchlight. Hindus were among the first targeted during the war, seen as the West Pakistani forces as traitors who encouraged the establishment of an independent Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh. March 2011.

“During 1971 I went to Agortala, India and worked in a make-shift hospital where we treated injured Freedom Fighters. We often came under fire from the West Pakistani army, and so we had to relocate often. We lost many fighters, poor Bangladeshis from the villages who were fighting for liberation. But the Bangladeshi political leaders – they just stayed in Calcutta during the war, living like kings. They didn’t feel the hunger, they had no problem surviving. Those who were rich then are rich now, and those who fought then suffer now. -Rokeya Sultana Shila Rokeya Sultana Shila, pictured here in her bedroom, is outspoken about the privileges bestowed upon the political elite who assumed power following the independence of Bangladesh. She maintains that the people who actually fought for freedom have never benefitted from it themselves. Comilla, Bangladesh. August 2011.

A young boy walks by posters of Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a gathering to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Liberation War.

 Dhaka University, Bangladesh. March 2011.

Kakon Bibi, pictured here in a guesthouse in Dhaka, is widely known to have fought in the Liberation War, but receives no stipend from the government. She and her family now live in extreme poverty in the far northeast of Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh. September 2011.

A young girl walks just outside of Kushtia city, where a number of decisive battles took place during the Liberation War. Kushtia, Bangladesh. March 2011.

Nine women who were raped by the West Pakistani army during the Liberation War. Following the end of the war, all women who were raped were given the honorific term birangona, which roughly translates to war heroine. But the term soon became a mark of shame for the women, many of who were rejected by their families upon their learning that they had been raped during the war. These nine women are part of a larger group of rape victims who have been living close to each other in Sirajganj, Bangladesh, supporting each other in ways that their families and the government now refuse to do. They have been outspoken in fighting against the social stigma associated with rape in Bangladesh, and maintain that they should be called mukti juddha, or freedom fighters, as those who fought in the liberation struggle are. They all receive support from Sirajganj Uttaran Mohila Sangstha (SUMS), an organization founded and run by Safina Lohani. During the Liberation War, Safina provided food, shelter, and medical aid for mukti juddha who were receiving training in preparation for battle. Following the end of the war, Lohani established SUMS and began seeking out and providing care to those women who were sexually abused during 1971. SUMS received government backing until 1975 and the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at which point the new government cut off all financial support and forced the organization to disband. Over the course of the next year, Lohani personally found the women who were previously under the organization’s care, and reestablished SUMS independently. Since then she has been maintaining and running SUMS unaided, with only the support of private donations.