March is Women's History Month. Celebrate Women's History Month by learning more about the vital role of women in American history.

Why is Women's History Month in March?

Women's History Month began as National Women's History Week, a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. Organizers chose to start on March 8: International Women’s Day. A consortium of women's groups then petitioned Congress and the White House in support of a national Women's History Week. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter designated the first National Women's History Week by Presidential Proclamation. Again, the week of March 8 - 12, 1980 was chosen to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8. The following year Congress authorized Women's History Week to begin the week of March 7. Congress continued to pass resolutions designating Women's History Week for five more years, until 1987, when they established all of March would be celebrated as Women's History Month.

Women of World War II: The Untold Stories

Friday, March 14 at 4PM on PBS Utah
Sunday, March 16 at 3PM on PBS Utah
Meet the American women who built the planes and flew them, fought on the warfront and the home front, cracked codes and broke barriers. The "secret weapon" that helped win the war, they forever changed the world in the process.

American Experience Fly With Me

Tuesday, March 18 at 8PM on PBS Utah
Friday, March 21 at 6PM on WORLD
Saturday, March 22 at 7PM on WORLD
Fly With Me tells the story of the pioneering women who became flight attendants at a time when single women were unable to order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, own a credit card or get a prescription for birth control. The job offered unheard-of opportunities for travel and independence. These women were on the frontlines of the battle to assert gender equality and transform the workplace.

The Philadelphia Eleven

Wednesday, March 19th at 5 & 10PM on WORLD
Thursday, March 20 at 6 & 10PM on WORLD
In a 1974 act akin to civil disobedience, eleven women and their supporters organize their ordination as Episcopal priests in an unauthorized service. A Black urban church in Philadelphia welcomes them, but larger change is not easy. The women are harassed and threatened as they build a movement that challenges patriarchy.

Independent Lens: Home Court

Tuesday, March 25 at 11PM on PBS Utah
Wednesday, March 26 at 5:30 & 10:30PM on WORLD
Thursday, March 27 at 10PM on WORLD

Home Court is the coming-of-age story of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy in Southern California whose life intensifies as recruitment heats up. As she overcomes injury as well as racial and class differences between her home and private school worlds, in peer groups, and against rival schools, Ashley strives to become her own person and leave a legacy behind.

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story

Monday, March 17 at 12:30PM
In August of 1943, the last surviving clandestine radio operator in Paris desperately signaled London. Everything depended on her and the Gestapo was at the door. How did a Sorbonne educated musician and author of a book of fairy tales become a daring spy who died fighting the Nazis? With an American mother and Indian Muslim father, Noor Inayat Khan was an extremely unusual British agent, and her life spent growing up in a Sufi center of learning in Paris seemed an unlikely preparation for the dangerous work to come. Yet it was in this place of universal peace and contemplation that her remarkable courage was forged.

Jacqueline Du Pre: Genius and Tragedy

Friday, March 28 at 8PM on PBS Utah
Sunday, March 30 at 8PM on WORLD

Introduced and narrated by grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy, tells the story Jacqueline du Pré and her enigmatic genius, one of the greatest cellists of all time.

Coronation Girls

Thursday, March 13 at 10PM on PBS Utah
Wednesday, March 26 at 1:30PM on WORLD
In the summer of 1953, Garfield Weston put together a sponsorship to send 50 girls from rural communities across Canada to London to witness the Coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth. The experience transformed them instantly and forever. Now, they are helping each other learn how to die - but not before returning one last time where they have tea at Buckingham Palace and meet King Charles III.

Discovering Maggie Smith

Explore the remarkable on-screen career of Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain's most prolific actresses. Smith was a prominent figure in British culture for six decades. Her extraordinary film career took off with her role in "Nowhere to Go." Two Academy Awards later, including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Smith had reached the pinnacle of success.

Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter

The inspirational story of a trailblazing woman -- journalist, White House official, author, humorist, political activist, and feminist leader -- Liz Carpenter was often front and center where history was unfolding, leaving her own indelible mark on events and movements, while pushing forward an agenda for women’s rights, the environment and political engagement that is highly relevant today.

Hearts Above the Clouds

100 years of aviation history featuring pioneering women pilots. The earliest air meets in Southern California. Amelia Earhart's first flights and initial training. Subsequent national women's air derby races going into the Great Depression. Women's substantial contributions to aviation service during WWII are presented, along with some of the noteworthy female fliers in the postwar era.

Chicago Stories | Jane Addams: Together We Rise

Jane Addams, born into wealth and privilege, became intrigued by social reform after visiting a settlement house in London's impoverished East End. An inheritance made it possible for her to bring that concept to Chicago with the creation of Hull House in 1889.