This month, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting celebrates and commemorates the vital role of American women in history, culture, and society. Explore thousands of programs dedicated to women’s history and perspectives in the archive.
Special Collections
Woman was a half-hour public affairs talk show from 1972 to 1977 covering issues of interest to women including women in sports, the Equal Rights Amendment, sexuality, marriage, and women’s health, among others. Each episode focused on a single topic with featured guest discussants including Gloria Steinem, Betty Freidan, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and others.
The Feminist Community Radio at KOPN Collection
The Feminist Community Radio at KOPN in Columbia, Missouri, functioned as a window into feminist discourse and practice in mid-Missouri during an era of major changes in both radio and the feminist movement. The collection covers national issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment, Watergate, women’s health, the environment, and politics through a local lens, and provides a snapshot of Columbia and mid-Missouri music and culture during the era. More than 40 programs from the 1970s to the 1990s are available in the AAPB Online Reading Room, with the entire digitized collection available on location at WGBH and the Library of Congress.
The Jean Walkinshaw Collection
Jean Walkinshaw is an award-winning documentarian and producer who has been instrumental in documenting the people, places, and cultures of the Pacific Northwest. The collection, spanning the years 1972 to 2008, features nearly 250 records from documentaries and interviews produced for Seattle public television station KCTS by Walkinshaw, including: Celebrate the Women, a series of short programs in honor of Washington State’s centennial year; Faces of the City, a series of personal profiles that find the extraordinary in the ordinary, based on Studs Terkel’s approach; and Remarkable People, a collection of documentaries and raw interviews on notable Pacific Northwest figures including Raymond Carver, acclaimed short story writer and poet, Harriet Stimson Bullitt, renowned Northwest philanthropist and conservationist, and Dianne Roberts and Jim Whittaker, among the first to climb Mount Everest.
The Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller Collection
Inflection Point was named to capture and reflect a moment in history—an inflection point—when things could get better or worse for women. Over the course of the show’s five years from 2015 to 2020, the series featured discussions on women in politics, the workforce, education, the tech world, and the home, and followed causes including the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the climate change movement. Inflection Point took a close-up look at the changing roles of women by talking directly with women leaders about how they have taken action and made changes in politics, academia, the arts, business, activism, and more. The entire digitized collection composed of nearly 140 episodes from the nationally syndicated public radio show and podcast is available in the AAPB Online Reading Room.
Selected Programs
Jewish Women in America, a television series from 2003-2004, was presented by CUNY TV in New York and made possible by the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York. Ronnie Gilbert, Amy Goodman, Ruth Gruber, Erica Jong, Ruth Messinger, Grace Paley, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Gloria Steinem are among the distinguished guests interviewed in this series of half-hour interviews, hosted by CUNY Distinguished Professor Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of the prize-winning multi-volume biography of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Current Perspectives on American Indian Women
This radio program presented by Wisconsin Public Radio features a series of lectures from 1984 in a women’s studies class hosted by Ada Deer, a scholar, civil servant, and activist who later served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. Guests include educator and scholar Dr. Rosemary Ackley Christiansen, author and Indigenous rights activist, Owanah Anderson, Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Shareholders (DRUMS) member, Joan Keshena Hart, and Ada’s aunt, Teresa.
La Chicana, a 1982 radio program presented by KUNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, explores being a Chicana, an American woman of Mexican descent, including confronting racism and being a Chicana feminist.
Women to Women, a series presented by CUNY TV in New York, offered in-depth conversations with women of distinction in the arts, education, journalism, health, politics, and social sciences. The AAPB collection includes two programs in the series from 1995.
Women Today, a series of 13 programs presented by KUT Radio in Austin, Texas, offered discussions in 1973 and 1974 about women’s issues including mental health, religion, law, politics, and more.
Women’s History: Women’s Roundtable
This radio program presented by KANZ-FM in Garden City, Kansas, showcases an interview with four Kansas State University history professors discussing Women’s History Week, the 1980s precursor to Women’s History Month.
Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt: What Status for Women?
This 1963 episode hosted by Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House includes an interview with President John F. Kennedy on his hopes for the new Commission on the Status of Women. Following this interview, Roosevelt leads a panel discussion on daycare policies in the United States in comparison to Sweden, the effects of daycare on child development, effects of motherhood on women’s employment, prejudice toward women in college curriculums, work opportunities, educational opportunities for older women, and equal and adequate pay for American workers.
Say Brother: Black Women and the ERA
This 1976 episode of Say Brother focuses on the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the state of Massachusetts that would make discrimination regardless of sex, race, creed or religion illegal. Host Leah Fletcher focuses on the amendment as it relates to minority women through five interview sessions.
Of People and Politics: The Women
This episode from the National Educational Television series Of People and Politics highlights women political figures during the 1964 election year. Featured guests include Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton, Senator Maurine Neuberger, Katie S. Loucheim, director of the Office of Community Advisory Services, Elizabeth Iglehart, second Vice President of the Women’s National Republican Club, among others, and follows Senator Margaret Chase Smith as she campaigns to be the nominee for president of the Republican Party.
The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour: 1984 Segment on Women in American Politics
This television segment, which aired following Geraldine Ferraro’s endorsement as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, features interviews with prominent figures such as Ann Richards (who later became the governor of Texas), Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, nominated for vice president during the 1972 Democratic National Convention, Anne Armstrong, former ambassador to Great Britain, Kathy Wilson, chair of the National Women’s Political Caucus, and Barbara Jordan, former congresswoman.
Something Personal: A Woman’s Place Is in The House: A Portrait of Elaine Noble
This documentary presented by GBH in Boston, Massachusetts, profiles Elaine Noble, the first openly gay person elected to a state legislature, who began serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1975.
Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement
This 1998 television program presented by PBS Wisconsin focuses on the feminist movement as experienced by several women who were active in the movement as it developed in America through the decades following World War II.
Main Street, Wyoming: Women in Wyoming Politics
This television program from 1993 presented by Wyoming PBS covers the subject of female representation in Wyoming state politics. Host Geoff O’Gara interviews several female politicians, including the Secretary of State, about their triumphs and challenges in the legislature and how to advocate for a larger representation of women’s voices.
Resources for Educators
The Feminism, Anti-Feminism, and Social Activism from the 1960s to the 1980s Primary Source Set
This primary source set outlines the rise of women’s liberation and women’s rights in the 1960s and the evolution of feminist and anti-feminist movements in the following two decades focused on the role of government to strengthen the opportunities for expanded equal rights. The resource provides eight excerpts from programs in the AAPB collection, background information, discussion questions, and suggested classroom activities to aid educators.
The Reproductive Rights Primary Source Set
This primary source set explores the ever-changing reproductive rights landscape with topics including states’ fights for and against abortion legislation, the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the modern pro-life (anti-abortion) movement, and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade.
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