LTC Library: Women's History Month: Videos

The Ascent of Woman: A 10,000 Year Story

In this four-part series, Dr. Amanda Foreman traverses countries and continents to uncover and interrogate key stories of the strong, radical and revolutionary women that have made and changed the course of human history from 10,000 BC to the present day. The diverse characters she explores range from Mughal Empress Nur Jahan, who helped establish trade routes and pioneered the visual aesthetic of India, to American activist Margaret Sanger, who coined the term ‘birth control’ and developed the contraceptive pill. The series geographical reach is just as ambitious, covering everywhere from ancient Greece to medieval France; from first-century Vietnam to modern America.

Civilization
Civilization has given humanity extraordinary advances, but what does it look like from the point of view of women? Dr. Amanda Foreman explores how early civilizations dealt with the roles and status of women and asks profound questions about the legacy they left behind. In Anatolia, she visits Catalhöyük, one of the world's earliest settlements. In Mesopotamia, she explores the world's first law codes written to regulate women's status and behavior. Across Europe and the Near East, she uncovers a group of extraordinary women who created their own routes to power in male-dominated worlds. These include Enheduanna, the Ukok Ice Maiden, and Hatshepsut. She also explores the darker legacy of gender inequality in ancient Greece, whose influential ideas on the inferiority of women have cast a long shadow over women's lives across the globe to this day.
Separation
Travelling to Vietnam, China and Japan, Dr. Amanda Foreman explores the role of women in Asia under the philosophy religions of Confucianism and Buddhism. Covering a period from the 1st century AD to the present day, she'll look at how Asian ideals of feminine virtue and the division of space between the female world of the home and male world of business and politics became a hallmark of Chinese identity. Part of yin and yang, they have cast a long shadow across women's lives, not just in China, but across Asia.
Power
Dr. Amanda Foreman travels to Istanbul, Germany, Paris and Delhi to explore the stories of women behind some of the most powerful empires of the Middle Ages. From 6th-century Byzantium to Medieval Europe, the Ottoman Court to the Mughal Empire, Amanda looks behind the male-dominated perceptions of these empires to reveal the strength of women at the heart of power and influence.This is the story of Empress Theodora, Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pizan, Roxelana, and the Mughal Empress Nur Jahan. These women resisted and rebelled from within the confines of the palace, the convent and the harem. They demanded to be heard, fought to be respected and insisted on having their own authority.
Revolution
In this final program, Dr. Amanda Foreman looks at the role of women in revolutions that transformed the modern world. She discovers, through women like campaigner and writer Olympe De Gouges, that the French Revolution's promise of equality, liberty and brotherhood would be limited to men. Bolshevik radical Alexandra Kollontai would find that while her fellow Russian revolutionaries may have put women's rights at the forefront of ideological change, the post-revolutionary world would be as rife with gender bias as the societies they'd helped transform. In the end, revolutionary change for women would come from within the private sphere - in America, with activists like Margaret Sanger, who coined the term birth control and developed the pill which would finally give women control over when to have children.

Daring Women Doctors

At this crucial time when women physicians and nurses are contributing significantly to our community’s health, this documentary provides a look at the challenging and illuminating history of 19th century women doctors. Hidden in American history, all-women’s medical schools began to appear in the mid-19th century long before women had the right to vote or own property.

Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Together, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought for the rights of women in America—indeed, women everywhere—and their determination and achievements still ripple through American society. This stirring documentary by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes recounts the challenges and triumphs of two pioneers who gave birth to the women’s movement.

Episode 1: Revolution
The first installment in Ken Burns’s remarkable documentary on the women’s suffrage movement, this program depicts the early years of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. With the help of rarely seen archival materials and voice-over portrayals by well-known actors, viewers learn how the ideas of both women came to maturity and how they became allies in the struggle for women’s rights.
Episode 2: Failure is Impossible
The second installment in Ken Burns’s eye-opening profile of the women’s suffrage movement, this program depicts the later years of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. With the help of rarely seen archival materials and voice-over portrayals by well-known actors, viewers learn how the struggle for women’s rights gained momentum in America and coalesced around the right to vote.

Her Story: The Female Revolution—Women and Work

For generations women have been seen as secondary or supplementary earners. Now women outnumber men graduating from higher education, and are taking their place in the global job market, and enjoying ever-greater financial independence. In this episode, we meet the women challenging professional expectations - from the Amazon to Iran - and transforming society around them in the process.

Unsung Heroes: The Story of America's Female Patriots

More women serve in the armed forces of the United States today than at any other time in history. This courageous heritage can be traced back to the Revolution where women donned men’s clothes and took up arms against the British. Though none had the right to vote, hundreds of women participated in the Civil War as nurses, spies and soldiers. Of the 33,000 women who served their country during the Great War, 300 lost their lives. More than 700,000 women defended America in WW II, Korea and Vietnam. More than 150 female patriots have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The service of these women has been heroic, their sacrifices profound and their enormous accomplishments largely ignored. UNSUNG HEROES, executive produced by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and written and directed by Sundance, Emmy and Image Award winning filmmaker Frank Martin, sets the record straight for the first time.

The Story of America's Female Patriots - Part 1
Margaret Corbin sheds her blood fighting in the Revolution. Years later, in Afghanistan, Leigh Ann Hester becomes the first woman to receive the Silver Star for combat heroism. Nurses have been in harm’s way since the Civil War and during WW I thousands of women volunteer for service as Navy Yeomanettes and Army Signal Corp “Hello Girls.” In a world where front lines no longer exist, America’s female patriots confront the horrors of war as never before and more suffer the effects of combat stress than at any time in the Nation’s history.
The Story of America's Female Patriots - Part 2
Women take to the skies in combat aircraft and change the rules of flight. On the high seas, a female Admiral charts the capture of ruthless pirates; while on land, America’s first female 4-star general guides the military’s transition from Iraq to Afghanistan. In the jungles of the Philippines and in the deserts of the Middle East women are held as Prisoners of War. Freedom is not free and America’s female patriots also pay the price, as they shatter the brass ceiling one valiant deed at a time.

Not Done: Women Remaking America

The women’s movement has gone mainstream: from the first female presidential nominee to the inclusion of a woman of color on a major party ticket, from the Women’s March to #MeToo, from Black Lives Matter to the fight for trans lives. Premiering amid an unprecedented pandemic and widespread social upheaval, NOT DONE shines a light on today’s feminists who are paving the way for true equality.