AMERICAN MASTERS: Unladylike2020

Illuminating the stories of extraordinary American heroines from the early years of feminism, AMERICAN MASTERS “Unladylike2020” is a multimedia series consisting of a one-hour special for broadcast and 26 digital short films featuring courageous, little-known and diverse female trailblazers from the turn of the 20th century.

These women achieved many firsts, including earning an international pilot’s license, becoming a bank president, founding a hospital, fighting for the desegregation of public spaces, exploring the Arctic, opening a film studio and singing opera at Carnegie Hall.

Presenting history in a bold new way, “Unladylike2020,” produced and directed by Charlotte Mangin (“America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa,” FRONTLINE), brings these incredible stories back to life through original artwork and animation, rare historical archival footage, and interviews with descendants, historians and accomplished modern women who reflect upon the influence of these pioneers.

Learn about more unsung women who changed America at unladylike2020.org.

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Martha Hughes Cannon (1857-1932) - First Woman State Senator and Public Health Pioneer

Courtesy of Utah State Historical Society

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Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), Pioneering Civil Rights Activist, Writer, and Educator

Courtesy of Library of Congress

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Zitkála-Šá, aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, (1876–1938), American Indian Composer, Author & Civil Rights Activist

Courtesy of Public Domain

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Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973), Suffragist, Peace Activist and First Woman Member of U.S. Congress

Courtesy of Library of Congress

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Jovita Idár (1885-1946) Latina Journalist, Educator and Feminist

Courtesy of Public Domain

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Archival photograph of the Utah Senate Legislature 1897.

Courtesy of University of Utah

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Journalist Jovita Idár stands with the printing press of the Spanish-language newspaper El Progreso c. 1914.

Courtesy of Humanities Texas

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Jeannette Rankin, speaking from the balcony of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, April 2, 1917.

Courtesy of National Archives

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Archival photograph of octogenarian Mary Church Terrell in the 1950s protesting the segregation of public places in Washington, DC.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Archives

Watch On Your Schedule:

This film will be available for streaming simultaneously on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App, which is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.

Join The Discussion:

Unladylike2020 is on Facebook and Instagram. Follow @unladylike2020 on Twitter.

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