An exciting hour of TV you don’t want to miss!

UNLADYLIKE2020 is very pleased to announce our one-hour special American Masters–Unladylike2020: The Changemakers

Airing on PBS stations nationwide Friday, July 10 at 9 pm ET

Check listings for your local public television station here.

American Masters – Unladylike2020: The Changemakers explores the accomplishments and challenges of five pioneering women who paved the way over 100 years ago in American activism and politics. These changemakers who used their voices and power to run for elected office, organize for civil rights, and fight for the right to vote, are Martha Hughes Cannon, the country’s first female state senator; Jovita Idar, a journalist, and president of one of the first Mexican American women’s civil rights organization; Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress; Mary Church Terrell, a leader in the anti-lynching movement and co-founder of the NAACP; and Zitkála-Šá, who lobbied for U.S. citizenship, voting rights, and sovereignty for American Indians. 

Presenting history in UNLADYLIKE2020’s signature style, The Changemakers is produced and directed by Charlotte Mangin and Sandra Rattley. Charlotte says the stories featured in the special feel current because, “The Unladylike2020 pioneers were critical to making the equality agenda part of the national fabric of this nation.” Sandra adds, “Two of our changemaker heroines, Mary Church Terrell and Jovita Idar took a stand against lynching a century ago. In 2020, Congress is still debating the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act after 120 years of efforts to make lynching a federal crime.” 

The Changemakers is narrated by Julianna Margulies (ER, The Good Wife, Billions), and features the voices of Lorraine Toussaint (Selma, Orange is the New Black, The Glorias), Deshja Driggs-Hall, Flora Diaz, Adrienne LaValley, and Julienne Davis. The hour concludes with the perspectives of contemporary women thought-leaders, including Representative Deb Haaland, one of the first American Indian women in Congress; former Representative Mia Love, the first African American Republican woman in Congress; Ai-jen Poo, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance; and Brittany Packnett-Cunningham, activist and member of the Ferguson Commission, formed following the police shooting death of Michael Brown Jr.

If you miss the July 10th broadcast, The Changemakers will be available on the American Masters website through August 8th.