International Women's Day

Revisit some exceptional women, with archival interviews, a trivia quiz, explorations of historical figures, and more. 

"From the Archive" Interviews

Pauline Kael – The influential New Yorker film critic described writing a review and the animosity towards a female critic in this interview with WTTW's John Callaway from 1980. 

Christie Hefner.Christie Hefner – The former Playboy executive defended the magazine, which brought back nude pictorials last month, to John Callaway in 1978, when she was a young VP of the company.

Janet Guthrie –  The first woman to qualify for and compete in the Indianapolis and Daytona 500s spoke to John Callaway in 1979 about her most recent Indy race and the sexism she encountered as a racer.

Nora Ephron – The journalist, who later wrote and directed such iconic films as When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle, appeared on WTTW in 1975 to discuss her book of essays and share a hilarious story about reporting from the front lines.

Oprah Winfrey – At the Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey gave a galvanizing acceptance speech after being granted a lifetime achievement award. See what she was like just as her career was taking off with a morning talk show, in a 1984 interview on WTTW.

Coretta Scott King – Martin Luther King, Jr.'s widow, who helped make the civil rights leader's birthday a federal holiday, discusses her husband's sense of humor and legacy, as well as the structural problems undergirding racism.

Lists

The groundbreaking women of Hull House.The Groundbreaking Women of Hull House – Many of the women who resided at Jane Addams' social-minded Hull House in the early twentieth century achieved landmark reforms and led impressive careers, from drafting the legislation establishing Social Security to becoming the first female faculty member at Harvard. 

The Brontë Family and the Actors Who Portray Them – The Brontë family was full of geniuses, chief among them Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, who achieved fame with their classic novels. Do the actors of To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters look like the idiosyncratic people they portray?

Christiane Amanpour's Most Impressive Journalistic Coups – Amanpour is one of the most prominent international reporters in the world, known for her war coverage and for garnering exclusive interviews with world leaders. Look back at some of her impressive accomplishments, which read like a list of the major global conflicts of the past three decades.

More

Patsy Cline. (Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises)"Her Life is History": The Universality of Maya Angelou – Maya Angelou was beyond prolific, and her life touched on many of the most significant people and events of the twentieth century. The creators of a film about the great woman discuss the difficulty of capturing her multi-faceted life on film, why they admire her, and what she was like.

How Well Do You Know Patsy Cline? – Do you know what the trailblazing country star attributed her booming voice to, or what younger star idolized her enough to record a tribute album?

The Return of the Queens – At the end of 2016, cultural depictions of powerful historical women reigned large, just as the United States came very close to electing its first female president. Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Jackie Kennedy can all be seen on screen now.