Makers: Women Who Make America On-Demand Resources

WXXI celebrates Women's History Month with a special  on-demand collection of video interviews associated with PBS Makers: Women Who Make America.

Explore the following video on-demand inspirational stories from national and local MAKERS!

• Makers: Lesson Plans
  
  
• #SheDOCS Online Film Festival 3/1-3/31: 10 Independent Films Online Celebrating Women!
  
  
• New York State Makers: Featured Interviews from Homework Hotline
  
  
• National Makers: Featured Interviews on the National Website
  
  
• Full Program: Makers Series On-Demand
  
  
• Local Interviews with: Ann Burr, Chairman & General Manager of Frontier Communications & Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox
  
  
• ..and local Makers that inspired local Rochesterians



MAKERS Series Description: Narrated by three-time Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, Makers: Women Who Make America takes its cue from the Movement’s motto, “the personal is political,” delving into the personal lives of its subjects. The film is built from first-person, intimate accounts of women who experienced this time of change, including movement leaders such as author and feminist activist Gloria Steinem and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton; opponents like conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly; celebrities including media leader Oprah Winfrey and journalist Katie Couric; political figures like former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and many “ordinary” women who confronted the dramatic social upheaval in their own lives. 

Through the perspectives of those who lived through these historic milestones, Makers: Women Who Make America will recount the seminal events in the Women’s Movement, such as the publication of The Feminine Mystique in 1963, the battles to end discriminatory laws and practices over the following decade, and Anita Hill’s testimony against Clarence Thomas before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. It will also go much further, telling the surprising and unknown stories of women who broke barriers in their own chosen fields — from the coal mines of West Virginia to the boardrooms of Madison Avenue. And it will take the story to today, when a new generation is both defending and questioning the legacy of their mothers.

The broadcast of Makers: Women Who Make America comes on the heels of the launch of MAKERS.com earlier in 2012.  This landmark multiplatform video experience from PBS and AOL aims to become the largest and most dynamic collection of women’s stories ever assembled. Leveraging the combined reach of television and the internet, the project shares the stories of exceptional women whose pioneering contributions continue to shape the world in which we live and the film will continue to chronicle the stories of women who led the fight, those who opposed it, and those — both famous and unknown — who were caught in its wake. The AOL-developed interactive video platform has become a source of inspiration for millions of people, having received more than 26.7 million video views to date.