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Women's History Month | March

Women's History Month is celebrated each March in the United States as a way to "amplify women's voices to honor the past, inform the present and inspire the future."

The National Women’s History Month’s theme for 2024 celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” The theme recognizes women throughout the country who understand that, for a positive future, we need to eliminate bias and discrimination from our lives and institutions.

Credit: All images public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Teachers: Visit the free MY HERO Lesson Plan for Women's History Month for this film program. Includes discussion guide and learning outcomes.

Films

CFE 2020 IFF Eva Haller WTM Award
Credit: Eva Haller

The following program of short films celebrate women trailblazers and show the kinds of obstacles these women faced, as well as common threads between their stories. We celebrate the empowerment of women across many cultures!

Women's History Month

By: Stew Hvidston
This short video about Women's History Month was made by My Hero intern Stew Hvidston.

Keiko Fukazawa

By: Anabelle Vo & Margot Bennett
Keiko Fukazawa uses her art to address an issue that has greatly impacted the quality of life in America: gun violence.

Dorothy Cotton

By: Dylan Winiger
Dorothy Cotton was an American civil rights activist,

Oasis: The Projection of your own Identity

By: Amiko Muscat
Jessica Recinos, a choreographer based in San Francisco is yearning to pursue her identity and culture through dance.

Sally Ride

By: Hanna
Documentary made by a 3rd grade student on why Sally Ride is her hero.

Grace Hopper

By: Audrey Eason
Trailblazing mathematician Grace Hopper is amazing example of the power you have if you put your mind to it!

Fannie Lou Hamer - A Civil Rights Unsung Hero

By: Elia Grace Defore
This documentary is about the unsung hero Fannie Lou Hamer who helped African Americans receive their right to vote.

Eva Haller: A Work in Progress

Produced by:Jeanne Meyers
A life dedicated to philanthropy, activism and mentorship, Eva Haller makes a positive impact around the world.

Media Arts Educator | Holly Carter

BYKids
Holly Carter is a leader in media arts production with youth around the world

OutSwing [Trailer]

Samar Minallah Khan
On the outskirts of Islamabad, a committed coach teaches a team of unlikely players, their families, and a community how playing Cricket can change lives.

Joan Ganz Cooney: The Unsung Hero Who Led Us All To Sesame Street

Anna Brodine | Seaman High School
Joan Ganz Cooney as producer of Sesame Street, combined education and entertainment in children’s television programming..

The Art House

Laura P. Valtorta
Ginger Westray, a retired school teacher, uses her entire house as a canvas for her painting and sculpture.

RBG [Trailer]

Betsy West & Julie Cohen
At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon.

Diet for a Small Planet 50th Anniversary Edition

Small Planet Institute
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Book Diet for a Small Planet.

Yasmine Sherif Global Educator Award Winner

Kitty Richardson
Congratulations to Yasmine Sherif, the Director of Education Cannot Wait and the winner of the 2020 Global Educator Award.

Women Transforming Media: Gabrielle Gorman

Produced by:Xenia Shin, Jeanne Meyers, et al.
Emerging filmmaker Gabrielle Gorman's poetic filmmaking confronts issues like identity, racism and self-love. We talk to the 2016 MY HERO International Film Festival Student Honoree, National Young Arts alumna in Cinematic Arts and Presidential Scholar finalist about how she wants to make art for social change.

Women Transforming Media: Alyse Nelson

Produced by:The MY HERO Project

“Power expands the moment it’s shared. And women often want to do that. When they're invested, they want to give back, they want to pay it forward. And that’s what we do at Vital Voices. We simply search the world for these leaders with a vision for extraordinary change. And we invest in them to take that vision to scale.”

Women Transforming Media: Cari Beauchamp

Produced by:Xenia Shin, Jeanne Meyers, Rita Stern Milch, et al.

Cari Beauchamp is an award-winning author, film historian and documentary filmmaker. In her book about the nearly lost history of the powerful women writers of early Hollywood, Without Lying Down, she resurrects the figure of Frances Marion, who reigned as the highest paid screenwriter or two decades. With the book nearing its 20th anniversary, we talk to Cari about how she rescued Frances Marion "from the footnotes of history."

Women Transforming Media: Abigail Disney

Produced by:Jeanne Meyers, Xenia Shin
We talk to documentary filmmaker and philanthropist Abigail Disney about why she became a documentary filmmaker, her award-winning film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," and her organization Peace is Loud.

My Family Journey: Pathway to Empowering Hispanic Women

Angelina Pendleton-Mendez

Angelina Pendleton-Mendez interviews Maria Mendez, her paternal grandmother, about her family and their journey.

Clara Mayer: An Overlooked Pillar of the New School

Produced by:Gina Luria Walker Savanna Washington Cecilia Rubino Stefania de K...
In the second episode of Women’s Legacy, a historical feminist project, we look into the life of Clara Mayer.

Katherine Johnson: The Human Computer

Jasmine Blossom Martoglio | Batchelor Middle School
This is a documentary about Katherine Johnson and why she is an American hero.

Amelia Earhart

Annika Smith & Quinn Reynolds | Lora Batchelor Middle School
It is a documentary about Amelia Earhart and how she is a hero.

On March 8, 1911, the world celebrated the first-ever International Women's Day. It was part of the women's suffrage movement, which was in full swing in European and North American countries: Women wanted to vote, and they wanted to have the same rights as men. In 1986, national Women's History Month was declared in the US.

Women's Equality Day

Kitty Richardson

A brief look at the journey towards Equity for Women and the Women's Suffragette Movement directed and narrated by MY HERO intern Kitty Richardson.

Stories

These stories highlight female heroes who took on pioneering roles in the distant and recent past. Their long-lasting contributions to America push the country forward and open doors for the women who come after. 

Cheri Gaulke

By: Joy Wolf
As an educator, Cheri Gaulke has mentored youth throughout Southern California, and as Artistic Director of The Righteous Conversations Project she has empowered teens to use media to speak out about injustices across the globe

Cole Brauer - An Inspiration for Women

By: Abigail Richardson
Cole Brauer is a pioneering figure in the sailing world; she has navigated uncharted waters, shattered stereotypes, and is an inspiration for women.

Kamala Harris

By: Arya K
Famous for being the first South-Asian and second African American California senator, Kamala Harris is known for being unwavering in the face of opposition.

My Hero Awards Holly Carter 2021 Global Media Educator

By: Abigail Richardson

MY HERO Global Educator Award Winner Melinda Gates

By: Betty Bailey
Melinda Gates' women heroes in Africa and India teach her how to uplift the women in their communities through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet Celebrates 50th Anniversary

By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet Celebrates 50th Anniversary with new edition.

Sahraa Karimi

By: Deborah Neff
Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi speaks out about the future of Afghan cinema and the rights of girls and women as the Taliban takes over the country in August 2021.

Samar Minallah Khan

By: Abigail Richardson
Samar is a filmmaker, anthropologist and activist. In the media, she has been referred to as ‘The Savior of Souls,’ one of the ‘Women who rock the world,’ ‘The Crusader with the Camera’ and the ‘Women that changed Pakistan.’

Doris Kearns Goodwin

By: Deborah Neff MY HERO Staff writer

Laura P. Valtorta

By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
The Art House is about Ginger Westray's house, painted in copper colors from head to foot.

Michelle Obama

By: Princess Quinones

Michelle Obama has recently made history as the first African American to become the First Lady of the United States.

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, Hero and ‘Mother of Afghan Education’

By: Abigail Richardson

Katherine Johnson

By: Ridhima Inukurti

Dorothy Vaughan

By: Brittny Barcenas
Dorothy Vaughan was the first African American woman to supervise the West Area Computers, "human computers" at NASA (originally NACA) during the Space Race.

Harriet Tubman

By: Cara McPhie
Harriet Tubman was a slave known for creating the "Underground Railroad" network, leading 300 slaves, including herself, to freedom.

Pashtana Durrani

By: Deborah Neff
Pashtana Durrani, who received the Malala Fund Education Champion award for her work on behalf of education for Afghan girls, is determined to continue providing educational opportunities for women and girls, even if she has to resist the Taliban and go underground.

Clara Mayer: An Overlooked Pillar of the New School

By: Abigail Richardson

Elizabeth Blackwell

By: Victoria Davis
Hero Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to receive a degree as a doctor, and started a women's medical college for women.

Abigail Adams

By: Nashua Haque
First Lady Abigail Adams effectively led the country while President John Adams was an envoy in France, through detailed letters between the two and her own business savvy.

Elizebeth Friedman

By: Sean Tran

Elizebeth Friedman is known as "America's first female cryptanalyist" for her work deciphering codes between Nazi forces during WWII.

Listen & Read Along

The following stories have a link so you can hear the audio as you read. Great for ESL students, visually impaired or blind students.

Dorothy Height

By: Yajahira from Las Vegas

Height was a civil rights/women's rights activist and an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

Katherine Johnson

By: Kyra from Ankara, Turkey

Her story was hidden for decades: Katherine Johnson plotted multiple flight courses for NASA, including the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first spaceship to reach the moon.

UNLADYLIKE2020 SERIES

UNLADYLIKE2020: Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman wanted to become an aviator. Rejected from every U.S. aviation school for being a woman and black, she refused to take no for an answer.

UNLADYLIKE2020: Margaret Chung

Margaret Chung aka "Mike" aka "Mom Chung of the Fair Haired Bastards," was the only woman in her med school class. She advanced women's ability to serve in the armed forces.

UNLADYLIKE2020: Ynes Mexia

A late bloomer, botanist Ynes Mexia enrolled in college at the age of 51. She led expeditions, including in the Amazon rainforest, discovering 500 new species of plants.

UNLADYLIKE2020 SERIES | Director’s Statement | Women’s History “Continues to Resonate and Shape American Lives Today.”

UNLADYLIKE2020 series was selected as the winner of the 2020 Eva Haller Women Transforming Media Award, offered each year as part of the MY HERO International Film Festival to recognize outstanding documentary shorts featuring women.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Directors Accept 2020 Eva Haller Women Transforming Media Award

Produced by:Charlotte Rangin, Sandra Rattley

Directors Charlotte Rangin and Sandra Rattley accept the Eva Haller Women Transforming Media Award for their series UNLADYLIKE2020 at the 16th annual MY HERO International Film Festival. Remarks by MY HERO director Jeanne Meyers, sponsor Eva Haller, MY HERO Film Festival director Wendy Milette.

For Younger Readers, by Younger Readers

Sally Ride

By: Georgia Rowan

"Sally Ride is considered a hero because she has done amazing things, like when she went on the STS-7 mission in 1983."

Susan B. Anthony

By: Libby Huxley
An elementary student talks about her hero, women's suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

Art

First Lady Michelle Obama

By: Amy Sherald

Painted by Amy Sherald, this portrait of the first African-American First Lady Michelle Obama has been exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery since 2018.

Harriet Tubman

By: William H. Johnson
This portrait of abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman was painted by William H. Johnson in 1945.

Untitled

By: Clementine Hunter
Artwork by artist Clementine Hunter, 1981.

Bessie Coleman

By: Marilyn Huerta

Marilyn Huerta's portrait of Bessie Coleman, who grew up during the time of segregation and was the first black woman to fly around the world. 

Celebrate Women's History Month with Additional Artwork. Click on the banner below.

Portraits of Women: Women's History
Credit: MY HERO

Related Pages

Women's Equality Day

By: Becky Miller

Instituted by Rep. Bella Abzug and first established in 1971, the date commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave U.S. women full voting rights in 1920.

Zora Neale Hurston
Credit: Harper Collins Publisher

Eva Haller Salon Series

By: Kitty Richardson
Eva's Salons bring together artists, scientists and media makers from around the globe. Eva is a 91 year old activist, philanthropist holocaust survivor. The Eva Haller Salon's take place virtually every Saturday at 2:00 PM PST. To request an invitation to attend the Salon Series please email [email protected]

2020 Eva Haller Women Transforming Media Award Winners

By: Xenia Shin
The Eva Haller WTM Award recognizes films telling women's stories. Watch the full-length winning film and excerpts from the awards ceremony .

Links

Our Curators

 

Short films curated by MY HERO International Film Festival director Wendy Milette

 

 

Hero Stories curated by MY HERO Story Director Abigail Richardson 

 

Audio curated by MY HERO Audio director Stu Pearlman. 


Organizer created on 2/27/2019 11:22:55 AM by

Last edited 3/27/2024 2:40:27 PM by Abigail Richardson

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