Join WFIU and WTIU in celebrating the countless contributions women have made to our society. From modern science and music to civil rights and law, discover stories of female trailblazers and history-makers in our Women's History Month programming lineup.

WTIU Programs:

Friday, March 8
1:30 PM – Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
Born 200 years ago in Maryland, Harriet Tubman was a conductor of the Underground Railroad, a Civil War scout, nurse, and spy, and one of the greatest freedom fighters in our nation’s history.

Monday, March 11
10:00 PM – American Masters
Mae West: Dirty Blonde
Dive into the life and career of groundbreaking writer, performer, and subversive star Mae West. Over a career spanning eight decades, she broke boundaries and possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s.
(r 3/15 at 1pm)

Tuesday, March 12
9:00 PM – American Masters
The Sun Queen
Learn about the dedication of Mária Telkes, a chemical engineer and inventor who built the world’s first successfully solar-heated modern residence despite numerous attempted undercuts from her male colleagues. 

Sunday, March 24
11:00 AM – Agatha Christie’s England
This heart-warming documentary takes viewers on a literary tour of England, focusing on the most interesting locations featured in some of Agatha Christie’s best-known books.

12:00 PM – Agatha and the Truth of Murder
Join the crime writer as she investigates the murder of Florence Nightingale’s goddaughter, during her 11-day disappearance in 1926. Christie’s involvement in the case influenced her later work. Starring Ruth Bradley as Agatha Christie.

2:00 PM – Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar
Travel to the deserts of Iraq for an archaeological dig, where the famous crime writer unravels a series of mysterious murders. Lyndsey Marshal stars as Agatha Christie and Jonah Hauer-King is Max Mallowan, the archaeologist vying for her affection.

4:00 PM – Agatha and the Midnight Murders
Discover the writer’s plan to sell a manuscript that kills off her famous detective, Hercule Poirot. Struggling with money and under investigation by tax authorities in America and the UK, Agatha (Helen Baxendale) must come up with an enormous sum.

6:30 PM – Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen
Lucy Worsley explores the enigma of Agatha Christie, applying a historian’s powers of investigation to the Queen of Crime.

Tuesday, March 26
9:00 PM – American Experience
The Cancer Detectives
Learn how an African American medical trailblazer and two other colleagues brought the life-saving cervical cancer test to millions of women in the mid-20th century despite many obstacles.

WTIU World Programs:

Friday, March 1
7:00 PM – Beyond the Powder: The Legacy of the First Women’s Cross-Country Air Race
This one-hour film documents the 1929 Women’s Air Derby and the women who continue to fly the cross-country race today as the Air Race Classic. It highlights the societal and aviation challenges women faced in 1929 while comparing the race as it is flown today.

Saturday, March 2
8:00 PM – American Masters
Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands
Discover an international singer who captivated royalty in Europe and defied the conscience of 1939 America. Watch rare archival footage and hear audio recordings exploring her life and career from the Metropolitan Opera to the State Department.

Sunday, March 3
9:00 PM – Pacific Heartbeat
Daughters of the Waves
Daughters of the Waves presents a story from Tahiti. Coming from an family of surfers, 20-year-old Vahine Fierro and her two sisters hope to make a living from their passion and travel the world.

Monday, March 4
7:00 PM – AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
Professional Black Girl
Covering everyday topics like hairstyles and hair care, personal fashion and style, Professional Black Girl (PBG) features a curated selection of episodes from the popular web series.

8:00 PM – Girl Talk: A Local, USA Special
Set in the cutthroat, male-dominated world of high school debate, Girl Talk tells the compelling story of five girls on the diverse, top-ranked Massachusetts team at Newton South.

9:30 PM – Stories from the Stage
Extraordinary Women
Hear storytellers share multigenerational stories of extraordinary women who survived—and thrived. 

Tuesday, March 5
8:00 PM – American Experience
Rachel Carson
When Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962, the book became a phenomenon. A passionate and eloquent warning about the long-term dangers of pesticides, the book unleashed an extraordinary national debate and was greeted by vigorous attacks from the chemical industry.

Wednesday, March 6
8:30 PM – American Masters
Becoming Helen Keller
Revisit the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate, and human rights pioneer. Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities and people living in poverty.

Thursday, March 7
7:00 PM – Anahita: A Mother’s Journey
Anahita, a police officer in Kabul, and the mother of five, escapes as the Taliban takes over in August 2021. This is the story of her harrowing journey out of Afghanistan and the beginning of her new life in the United States.

Friday, March 8
7:00 PM – Becoming Frida Kahlo
The Making and Breaking
Explore the early life of Frida Kahlo as she discovers her genius for painting following a tragic, life-changing accident, leading her to encounter world-famous muralist Diego Rivera whom she later marries, twice.

8:00 PM – Becoming Frida Kahlo
Love and Loss
Follow Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s journey to America as they achieve celebrity. Frida experiences tragic losses with the death of her mother and a miscarriage, inspiring her to create some of her most powerful and iconic paintings.

9:00 PM – Becoming Frida Kahlo
A Star is Born
Explore Frida Kahlo’s life including her affair with Leon Trotsky, her trip to Paris on the eve of WWII with surrealist pioneer Andre Breton, and her return to Mexico where she divorces and then remarries husband Diego Rivera before her death.

Sunday, March 10
9:00 PM – Fanny: The Right to Rock
Co-founded by Filipina American and queer teenagers, Fanny is the first all-women band to release an album with a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970). 

10:30 PM – Facing the Laughter: Minnie Pearl
Sarah Cannon was a educated woman who had once dreamed of becoming a Shakespearean actress, but she found fame playing a simple country girl. Instantly identifiable by her straw hat with a price tag dangling from its brim, Minnie Pearl became an icon of country music radio, stage and TV. 

Monday, March 11
8:00 PM – Schille
A father and daughter work together to curate a career-spanning retrospective for Columbus artist Alice Schille, a largely forgotten yet world-renowned artist at the turn of the 20th century.

8:30 PM – Marguerite: From the Bauhaus to Pond Farm
Hear the story of one of America's most talented mid-century ceramicists. Marguerite Wildenhain was trained at the famed Bauhaus art school in Germany, becoming the first woman to receive "Master Potter" designation in pre-World War II Europe. 

9:00 PM – Cara Romero: Following the Light
Contemporary fine art photographer Cara Romero's work captures Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.

Tuesday, March 12
8:00 PM – NOVA
Picture a Scientist
Women make up less than a quarter of STEM professionals in the United States, and numbers are even lower for women of color. But there is a growing group of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists.

Wednesday, March 13
7:00 PM – Birthing Justice
Giving birth is a battleground for too many Black women and their babies. Going behind the statistics, “Birthing Justice” places Black women at the center of the fight to fix a broken system for all women in this country. 

8:30 PM – POV
Midwifes
Midwives chronicles two women who run a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, a region torn apart by violent ethnic divisions. The owner is Buddhist and risks her safety daily to treat Muslim patients.

Thursday, March 14
7:00 PM – Ida B. Wells: American Stories
There are few historical figures whose life and work speak to the current moment more than Ida B. Wells, the 19th-century crusading investigative journalist, civil rights leader, and passionate suffragist.

Friday, March 15
8:00 PM – American Masters
Twyla Moves
Twyla Moves explores the life of legendary dancer, director, and choreographer Twyla Tharp. Jumping from historical footage to the present day, the film traces her influential career while providing an intimate look at her famously rigorous creative process.

Saturday, March 16
7:00 PM – AfroPop: The Ultimte Cultural
Queen Kidjo
Experience a guided tour of the indomitable spirit of international icon and activist Angélique Kidjo. This film features footage of the globally recognized artist appearing with superstars Miriam Makeba, Celia Cruz, Youssou N’dour, Ziggy Marley, Philip Glass, and Peter Gabriel; as well as cameo appearances by contemporary music stars including Alicia Keys and Yemi Alade.

Monday, March 18
8:00 PM – Without Precedent
The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella
"If I have a Canadian sister, her name is Rosie Abella," the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said of Rosalie Silberman Abella, former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the country’s highest court. Follow the life and times of a Canadian legal icon.

Tuesday, March 19
8:00 PM – Bonnie Boswell Presents: Saving Moms
Boswell’s latest conversation with leading experts examines why groups of women disproportionately experience higher mortality rates related to pregnancy and childbirth in the country. 

9:00 PM – Below the Belt: The Last Health Taboo
Through the personal and inspiring stories of four patients urgently searching for answers to mysterious symptoms, Below the Belt exposes widespread problems in our healthcare system that disproportionately affect women. 

Thursday, March 21
7:00 PM – Kasturba Ghandi: Accidental Activist
Kasturba Gandhi lived her life in the shadows of her iconic husband, Mahatma Gandhi. Now she emerges. Kasturba Gandhi: Accidental Activist tells the untold story of how she became one of the first women activists in modern history, impacting the growing number of women activists today.

8:00 PM – Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed Special
For the family of Fannie Lou Hamer, she was a woman of power and presence as a civil and human rights activist. But to Jacqueline Hamer Flakes, Monica Land, and Jimmy Lee Lacey, she was also so much more—a mother, a wife, and a friend who was loving and giving.

Friday, March 22
7:00 PM – Jane Addams – Together We Rise: American Stories
Jane Addams was an activist ahead of her time. Within the walls of Hull House on the Near West Side, she led a social movement and amassed an army of women to demand change, pushing boundaries and breaking barriers along the way. 

8:00 PM – American Masters
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
Explore the star's rich, decades-long career using vérité footage of Moreno today, archival footage of her roles and appearances, reenactments of her childhood, animation, and interviews with Moreno, those close to her, and performers she influenced.

Sunday, March 24
9:00 PM – Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind
Ruth Stone was a promising young poet when her husband suddenly died by suicide. Destitute, with three daughters to support, she traveled the country teaching, but always returned to her farmhouse in Vermont.

Monday, March 25
8:00 PM – Pacific Heartbeat
Island Cowgirls
On the northwest side of Hawai‘i island, as La‘i Bertlemann prepares to graduate from high school, she must make a difficult decision whether to stay home stewarding the land or leave. On the south side, Lani Cran Petrie is at a crossroads as she continues to plan for the future of her ranch while faced with the uncertainty of the lease of the land expiring soon.

Thursday, March 28
7:00 PM – AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange
She Had a Dream
A young Black Tunisian woman, a committed activist who speaks her mind, embodies Tunisia's current political upheaval. As a victim of racial discrimination, she decides to go into politics.

8:00 PM – America ReFramed
The Woman on the Outside
After watching nearly every man in her life disappear into prison, Kristal Bush channels her struggle into reuniting other Philadelphia families divided by incarceration. But when her father and brother come home after decades behind bars, she confronts the greatest challenge yet—can she unite her own family without losing herself?

Friday, March 29
7:00 PM – Feelings are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer
At 25, she took her first dance class. At 28, she changed dance forever. Get a front row seat for the founding of postmodern dance in America in 1962 and the woman who was at its center.

Saturday, March 30
8:00 PM – American Experience
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space
Raised in the small all-Black Florida town of Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston studied at Howard University before arriving in New York in 1925. She would soon become a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, best remembered for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

WFIU Programs:

Friday, March 1
8:00 PM – Afterglow
Miss Show Business: Celebrating Judy Garland
Celebrate singer and film star Judy Garland with a look at her music career and many of her recordings from the 1940s to the 1960s. 

9:00 PM – Night Lights
To Be Somebody: The Hazel Scott Story
A profile of the pianist, singer, actress, and civil rights activist, whose music drew on influences from classical to boogie-woogie, and who was the first Black American to host a TV show.

Sunday, March 3
6:00 PM – Witness History: Women’s History Month
Hear moving, inspiring, and even outrageous stories about some of the most important women in living memory.

Monday, March 4
8:00 PM – Pipedreams
Women in Music
In celebration of International Women’s Day, a galaxy of composers and performers.

Friday, March 8
8:00 PM – Afterglow
Carmen McRae on Decca
McRae was one of the most respected jazz singers in the business for four decades. Explore her recordings for the Decca label in the 1950s.

9:00 PM – Night Lights
Jazz Women of the 1970s
Alice Coltrane, Carla Bley, and Marian McPartland are some of the artists featured for our latest decade-by-decade chronicle of women in jazz.

Friday, March 15
8:00 PM – Afterglow
June Christy’s Early Capitol LPs
In the early 1950s, singer June Christy broke away from Stan Kenton’s Orchestra to record solo, helping to establish the “vocal cool” style of jazz singing. On this episode, we explore some of those early solo recordings she made for Capitol Records, including Something Cool and The Misty Miss Christy.

9:00 PM – Night Lights
Queen of the Organ: Shirley Scott
Although an admirer of Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott found her own sound on the Hammond B-3 and became its most renowned female practitioner, recording several soul-jazz classics from the late 1950s onward.

Friday, March 22
9:00 PM – Night Lights
The Ladies Who Swing the Band
For WFIU’s spring fund drive, we’ll hear 20th-century bands led by women such as Lil Hardin Armstrong and Maria Schneider.

Friday, March 29
8:00 PM – Afterglow
Sassy: Sarah Vaughan in the Late 1950s
We’re wishing a happy 100th birthday on March 27 to “The Divine One” Sarah Vaughan. Hear her best jazz work on the Mercury label in the late 1950s, including albums like Sassy and No Count Sarah.