1. What inspired you to do this project and how long did it take to produce?

My collaborator, Unladylike2020 series creator and co-executive producer, Charlotte Mangin tells the story of discovering a non-fiction picture book titled, Soar Elinor, about Elinor Smith on a museum visit with her 2 young sons. In 1927, at the age 16, Smith became the youngest licensed pilot in the world, and her dramatic aerial stunts earned her the nickname “Flying Flapper.” Smith went on to become a celebrated test pilot who worked at NASA on shuttle landing simulators. Her story inspired an inquiry for us. If we had not heard of Smith, how many stories like hers were absent from the historical record of this nation?  From its conception, one of the goals of Unladylike2020 was to expand how U.S. history is taught in classrooms across the country, to include the role of little-known women from diverse professional, geographical, racial-ethnic, and economic backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities, in the shaping of American history. Unladylike2020 started in earnest in 2015 and took 5 years of research and fundraising. Our talented and diverse team of 25 then completed factual and archival research, the staging of shoots and interviews with 62 historians and informants, soundscaping, art and animation design, and film production to complete the 26, 10 to 12 minute films, and the 1-hour special that was broadcast on PBS stations nationwide, all timed to commemorate the centennial of the 19th amendment. The Unladylike2020 series has attracted nearly 5 million viewers to date across digital, social media, and television platforms.

2. What can attendees expect to learn from attending this virtual event, and how should classroom teachers use this resource?

The Where Are the Women? Summit will provide teachers and parents access to critical thinking and analysis, as well as practical resources and educational support so that the accomplishments of trailblazing women who have contributed to shaping the exercise of democracy in the U.S. can be taught in social studies classes. The summit will include a keynote address by cultural historian and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, Martha S. Jones, and a dynamic panel discussion and live chat audience Q&A with social studies teachers, historians, textbook authors, curriculum policy leaders, and youth advocates, to examine the factors that have limited the presence of women in textbooks, educational standards, and curriculum. The event will include video testimonials from diverse women thought leaders, including Stefanie Wager, President of the National Council of the Social Studies. In addition, PBS Digital Innovator All-Star high school teachers will demonstrate, and answer audience questions about, their creation and implementation of the Unladylike2020 collection on PBS LearningMedia – lesson plans that present the accomplishments of women in history and are tailor-made for virtual, in-person, and hybrid learning. We hope our Where Are the Women? summit will activate continued educational change and provide long-overdue recognition of women’s contributions to U.S. history. We encourage everyone in the education field to include women's history in their curriculum and lessons plans beyond March – Women’s History Month. In addition, youth should be encouraged to research, document and celebrate the women in their families, schools and communities who are changemakers, and who make a difference. 

3. What is the most significant discovery you made producing this event?

Our objectives for Unladylike2020, and the Where Are the Women? Summit have been to expand the educational resources available for the teaching of U.S. history in middle and high schools, to ensure that the roles of women receive comprehensive treatment, rather than being marginalized as sidebars to the standard curriculum. It has been inspiring to see so many education influencers, such as the National Council for the Social Studies, readily and enthusiastically express their support for the Where Are the Women? Summit and our goals for it. It has been encouraging that so many national educational organizations and women’s history organizations have embraced this cause, consistent with their efforts to ensure equal and accurate representation of diverse history makers. We are grateful to NCSS and its membership for supporting and leading this work -- to excite educators, students and the general public about social studies, and renew their appreciation of U.S. history and the women who helped make it.

Don't forget to sign up for the Unladylike2020 Where are the Women? Summit! You can register for it here.

Sandra Rattley has been Executive Producer of seminal documentary projects including the Peabody award-winning series Wade in the Water on African American sacred music produced with the Smithsonian Institution, and Making the Music, hosted by Wynton Marsalis. She was also Executive Producer of the PBS Digital Studios series, Read Awakening and currently serves as Executive Producer for TV and Video at Futuro Media, where she launched the PBS series America By The Numbers and NBCNews’s Humanizing America. She is the former VP for Cultural Programming at NPR where she launched the weekly show, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, as well as NPR’s office of civic engagement. Rattley also serves as Creative Consultant for Black Public Media’s 360 Incubator, a mentorship program for African American media makers. She has been a consultant for the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Howard University Center for Urban Progress, and Brandeis University. She was a press spokesperson and a member of the communications team for Nelson Mandela on his first U.S. tour.