The coronavirus has — rightfully — dominated the news this month, so much so that it’s easy to forget that March is also Women’s History Month. Luckily, PBS has some options if you’re looking to learn more about our trailblazing foremothers while also staying in quarantine. Its “American Masters” series is streaming docs about singer-songwriter Holly Near, author Margaret Mitchell, and artist Elizabeth Murray this month. Meanwhile, “American Masters'” new multimedia series, “Unladylike2020,” is spotlighting civil rights activist Maggie Lena Walker, social work pioneer Grace Abbott, and Bessie Coleman, the first African American aviator.
“Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives” examines the life and work of the titular singer-songwriter. “For the last 40 years, Near has worked on global social justice coalition-building in the women’s and lesbian movements,” “American Masters” details. “Singing for Our Lives” investigates how Near’s music and activism “inspire generations of people working to ‘bend the arc of justice forward.’”
“Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel” is the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Gone with the Wind.” “Mitchell rebelled against the stifling social restrictions placed on women of her era,” the source hints, “as an unconventional tomboy, a defiant debutante, a brazen flapper, and, later, as a philanthropist risking her life to fund African-American education – all before an untimely death at age 48.”
“Everybody Knows…Elizabeth Murray” focuses on painter and printmaker Elizabeth Murray, “explores the relationship between her family life and career, and reconsiders her place in contemporary art history.” Meryl Streep voices excerpts from Murray’s journal, and the doc also features verité footage and home videos. “The fifth woman to be celebrated with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, Murray’s paintings still defy efforts at categorization. This film chronicles her journey from an impoverished childhood in Chicago to the extraordinary art world of lower Manhattan,” per “American Masters.”
Meanwhile, “Unladylike2020’s” debut episode will delve into the lives of Walker, Abbott, and Coleman. In addition to being the United States’ first black female bank president, she also founded a newspaper, “organized the first Richmond branch of the NAACP, led a city-wide boycott against segregated streetcars, and promoted women’s suffrage and voter registration drives.” Abbott was an “architect of social work,” an immigration rights activist, worked to end child labor and maternal and infant childbirth death, and helped draft the Social Security Act. Finally, Coleman, the daughter of sharecroppers, was repeatedly rejected from U.S. aviation schools “for being a woman and for being black.” Determined to fly, she “traveled to France to train as a pilot, and in 1921 became the first African American to obtain an international license to fly.”
Stream “American Masters'” Women’s History Month programming on PBS’ website or via the PBS Video app.
