Throughout the year, NEPM celebrates women’s vital role in our society and their achievements in history, science, culture, education and the arts. This month, we proudly present programs to provide a deeper understanding of women’s contributions to America and the world.
The Long Form
Witness History: Women’s History Month
Listen Sunday, March 6 at 6 p.m. on NEPM 88.5
A special hour-long edition of Witness History from the BBC World Service. Remarkable stories of women’s history, told by the women who were there. Selected from the BBC’s Witness History program, we hear moving, inspiring and even outrageous stories about a few of the most important women in living memory.
The Hidden World of Girls with Host Tina Fey
Listen Sundays, March 13 and 20 at 6 p.m. on NEPM 88.5
Groundbreaking writer, actress and comedian, Tina Fey comes to Public Radio to host The Hidden World of Girls. From the dunes of the Sahara to a slumber party in Manhattan, from the dancehalls of Jamaica to a racetrack in Ramallah, Tina Fey takes us around the world into the secret life of girls and the women they become.
Bring Her Home
Premieres Monday, March 21 at 10 p.m. on NEPM TV
Bring Her Home follows three Indigenous women – an artist, an activist, and a politician – as they fight to vindicate and honor their missing and murdered relatives who have fallen victims to a growing epidemic across Indian country. Despite the lasting effects from historical trauma, each woman must search for healing while navigating racist systems that brought about this very crisis.
In Their Own Words: Angela Merkel
Encores Tuesday, March 22 at 10:30 p.m. on NEPM TV
One of the most enigmatic and inscrutable world leaders of our time, Angela Merkel’s life story reveals the woman behind the veil. Explore how experiences that began in her childhood shaped her politics and ultimately, the face of modern Europe.
American Masters
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It
Encores Thursday, March 24 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Discover how Rita Moreno defied her humble upbringing and racism to become one of a select group of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winners. Explore her 70-year career with new interviews, clips of her iconic roles and scenes of the star on set today.
Great Performances: The Conductor
Premieres Friday, March 25 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Follow Marin Alsop’s journey to become the first female music director of a major American symphony despite repeated rejection by the classical music industry. Features archival footage with her mentor Leonard Bernstein and is set to a soundtrack of her performances.
Independent Lens: Writing with Fire
Premieres Monday, March 28 at 10 p.m. on NEPM TV
In a male-dominated media landscape, the women journalists of India's all-female Khabar Lahariya ("News Wave") newspaper risk it all, including their own safety, to cover the country's political, social, and local news from a women-powered perspective. From underground network to independent media empire, they defy the odds to redefine power. Nominated for an Academy Award.
American Experience
Sandra Day O'Connor: The First
Encores Thursday, March 31 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Discover the story of the Supreme Court’s first female justice. A pioneer who both reflected and shaped an era, Sandra Day O'Connor was the deciding vote in cases on some of the 20th century’s most controversial issues—including race, gender and reproductive rights.
STREAM ANYTIME
American Experience: The Vote
Over one hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.
American Masters
Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands
Discover an international singer who captivated royalty in Europe and defied the conscience of 1939 America. Watch rare archival footage and hear audio recordings exploring her life and career from the Metropolitan Opera to the State Department.
Independent Lens: Apart
Since the beginning of the War on Drugs, the number of women in U.S. prisons has grown drastically. The majority are mothers. Three unforgettable formerly incarcerated mothers, jailed for drug-related charges, fight to overcome alienation—and a society that labels them "felons"—to readjust to life with their families.
American Experience: The Codebreaker
Based on the book "The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies," The Codebreaker reveals the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst whose painstaking work to decode thousands of messages for the U.S. government.
Frontline: A Thousand Cuts
With press freedom under threat in the Philippines, "A Thousand Cuts" goes inside the escalating war between the press and the government. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist who has become a top target of President Duterte's crackdown on the news media.
Connecting Point
Meet women who are enriching the arts scene of our region — from quilt makers to poets, chefs to print makers. Visit their studios, watch them perform and hear firsthand accounts about their creative processes.
PASSPORT
Independent Lens
9to5: The Story of a Movement
When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was singing about a real movement that started with a group of secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advancement opportunities and an end to sexual harassment—but as seen in 9to5: The Story of a Movement, their fight that inspired a hit would change the American workplace forever.
American Masters: Becoming Helen Keller
Revisit the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate and human rights pioneer. Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities and people living in poverty.
American Masters: Twyla Moves
Explore legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp’s career and famously rigorous creative process, with original interviews, first-hand glimpses of her at work and rare archival footage of select performances from her more than 160 choreographed works.
American Masters
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
The story of the author whose first novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” was published to great commercial and critical success. With the blockbuster film adaption that followed as well as additional best-selling novels, librettos, short stories and memoirs, Tan firmly established herself as one of the most prominent and respected American literary voices working today.
American Masters: Flannery
Explore the life of Flannery O’Connor whose provocative fiction was unlike anything published before. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, newly discovered journals and interviews with Mary Karr, Tommy Lee Jones, Hilton Als and more.
Independent Lens: Dolores
With intimate and unprecedented access, Peter Bratt's Dolores tells the story of Dolores Huerta, among the most important, yet least-known, activists in American history. Co-founder of the first farmworkers union with Cesar Chavez, she tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century.
American Masters: How It Feels To Be Free
A documentary that tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American women entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
POV: Fruits of Labor
Ashley, a Mexican-American teenager living in an agricultural town in the central coast of California, dreams of graduating high school and going to college. But when ICE raids threaten her family, Ashley is forced to become the breadwinner, working days in the strawberry fields and nights at a food processing company.
POV: Through the Night
In New Rochelle, New York, a 24-hour daycare is a lifesaver for parents who work multiple jobs and odd hours to make ends meet. Through the stories of two working mothers and a childcare provider, Through the Night reveals the personal cost of rising wealth inequality in America and the close bonds forged between parents, children, and caregivers.
PBS LEARNING MEDIA
Students, educators and parents can find a wealth of information and inspiring stories at PBS Learning Media. There’s a collection of Women’s History Month content from the producers of Independent Lens, companion digital resources for "Unladylike2020" from American Masters, units on suffrage for multiple grade levels, a group of lessons on women’s empowerment, and more.