Women's History Month

Though the history books rarely mention her, social worker and avant-garde writer Mary Field Parton embodies Chicago's role as a focal point of political and social movements. 

Celebrate Women's History Month with WTTW in March with the stories of women who were leaders in their fields. 

This Women's History Month on WTTW, you can watch the stories of women fighting for change in male-dominated worlds in different realms, all in new documentaries, including one nominated for an Academy Award. 

This March, celebrate Women's History Month with a variety of programming from WTTW featuring profiles of artistic women, looks into the past at trailblazers and rulers, stories of contemporary women working to reshape society, and more. 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which guarantees women the right to vote. Chicago was home to some of the leading suffragists in the nation, and they brought Illinois women a limited right to vote years before 1920.

March is Women's History Month, and we're celebrating with all sorts of programming: appreciative looks at some of America's funniest women, profiles of literary landmarks, documentaries looking at the dearth of women in various positions, and even a PBS Kids special. 

Even prominent female groundbreakers are rarely recognized – there are approximately 40 figurative statues of men in Chicago but only two of women – so what about equally important pioneers who have been forgotten, from activists to literary figures to businesswomen?

Only eighteen years after the Wright brothers' first flight, Bessie Coleman overcame both racism and sexism to become the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license, with the help of the Chicago Defender. But her high-flying career was cut tragically short. 

Celebrate Women's History Month with stories of women forgotten or restricted by history like the six wives of Henry VIII, a trailblazing television pioneer, and a popular, binge-worthy discontinued series about women on the home front.

In 1977, Toni Morrison spoke to WTTW's John Callaway about empathy, the importance of storytelling, and her deep love of writing in an extraordinary interview. Watch the Nobel Prize-winning novelist speak honestly early in her career.

The renowned Chicago-based artist Kerry James Marshall is painting a mural on the side of the Chicago Cultural Center that will honor twenty women "who've worked to shape the cultural landscape of the city, past and present."Who are they?

Revisit exceptional women from Nora Ephron to Oprah, Christie Hefner to Maya Angelou, and all three Brontë sisters, with archival interviews, a countrified trivia quiz, explorations of historical figures, and more. 

To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters, which aired Sunday, explores the lives of the authors of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey. Do the actors in the film look like the people that they play?

Hear the influential critic speak about writing a review and the animosity towards a woman writing criticism in this interview with WTTW's John Callaway in 1980. 

Last month, Playboy brought back nude pictorials after a year without them. Hear part of the debate over the magazine's portrayal of women as it stood back in 1978, in an archival interview with Christie Hefner, then the VP of the company.