Makers: Women Who Make America

Meryl Streep narrates this PBS-aired three-part history of the mid-20th-century women's movement. The first segment, “Awakening,” begins with the story of Kathrine Switzer, who crashed the all-male Boston Marathon in 1967 (she was nearly ejected when the race director tried to snatch her number before he was knocked aside by her boyfriend, who was running beside her). Icons of the movement such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Bella Abzug are remembered or interviewed, as are many others whose lives were changed, including author Judy Blume and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Those were the days when feminists took to the streets, staged a sit-in at the office of the publisher of Ladies' Home Journal, and founded Ms. magazine. In the second segment, “Changing the World,” we see Marlo Thomas and Mary Tyler Moore bringing single-women characters to television, Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs at tennis, and sexual mores changed by the birth control pill. As the 1970s turn into the '80s, a backlash emerges, led by Phyllis Schlafly's opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and anger over the 1972 Supreme Court ruling on abortion. The third segment, “Charting a New Course,” examines the work force, including controversy over stay-at-home moms and child-rearing. Deftly interweaving interview clips and film footage, this intelligently conceived and executed series will jog older viewers' memories and introduce younger ones to the issues and personalities that brought women to the forefront of the American experience over the past 45 years. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Gardner)