Two Upcoming Events in Utah, Featuring Women Who Had a Tremendous Impact on UT History

All artwork by Amelie Chabannes

We are very excited for two special events we’re hosting next week in Utah, in partnership with our local partner Better Days 2020, and supported by a fellowship award from the Utah Humanities Council- at the Salt Lake City Public Library on April 22, and the Uintah County Library in Vernal, UT, on April 23.

In addition to screening the UNLADYLIKE2020 trailer and a sneak peek of the first film of the series about Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman pilot, UNLADYLIKE2020’s series creator and director Charlotte Mangin be giving a presentation on two amazing women featured in the series: Native American civil rights activist, author and musician Zitkala-Ša, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, whose Sun Dance opera was first performed in Vernal, UT, and the first female state senator, Martha Hughes Cannon. Charlotte Mangin will not only share her research on these women, but also speak about the creative process behind creating animated documentary films about them for the series.

Following the presentation, each event will have a fantastic panel of women who will bring Cannon’s and Zitkala-Ša’s stories into the present through sharing their own experiences and perspective on these two women’s work.

In Salt Lake City, the panel will include:

• Charlotte Mangin, UNLADYLIKE2020’s series creator, director, and producer

• Jane Hafen, Professor Emerita of English, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and editor of a collection of Zitkala-Ša’s writings Dreams and Thunder

• Holly Richardson, former member of Utah’s House of Representatives, Communications Director for Hope Humanitarian, a columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, and an award-winning blogger

In Vernal, the panel will include:

• Charlotte Mangin, UNLADYLIKE2020's series creator, director, and producer

• Jane Hafen, Professor Emerita of English, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and editor of a collection of Zitkala-Ša’s writings Dreams and Thunder, and other special guests

• Cheryl Lone Bear, Ute beadworker and historic preservationist

• Sonja Norton, the first female mayor of Vernal and entrepreneur

Check out the facebook events for the SLC event here, and Vernal’s here, and spread the word to your friends in Utah! And stay tuned for more info on the films about these two incredible women in 2020!

First UNLADYLIKE2020 Radio Interview!

On International Women’s Day, our creator Charlotte Mangin spoke with KBOO Community Radio about the "treasure trove of stories of women in U.S history who didn't make it into our textbooks" that she discovered, and that motivated her to make the project.

Listen to this short interview to learn more about the story behind our series—and our creative advisory board for youth—by clicking on the image above!

UNLADYLIKE2020 is Awarded 'Made in NY' Women's Film, TV & Theatre Fund Grant!

UNLADYLIKE2020’s series creator, director, and producer Charlotte Mangin with Kathy Leichter, UNLADYLIKE2020’s development and impact producer at the Made in NY awards reception.

We are honored that UNLADYLIKE2020 has been awarded the competitive "Made In NY" Women's Film, TV & Theatre Fund grant from the City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), the centerpiece of a groundbreaking series of initiatives by MOME to address the underrepresentation of women in film, television, and theatre, administered by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This is the inaugural year for the program, and it is the very first municipal grant program of its kind in the U.S. You can learn more about the fund from the press release here.

Congratulations to our fellow grantees! Our series creator, Charlotte Mangin, and our development and impact producer, Kathy Leichter, had a wonderful time at the Made in NY awards reception meeting the other grantees, a talented group of women film and theater makers, and learning about their projects. Anne del Castillo, Media and Entertainment Acting Commissioner said, this year’s projects “portray the complexity and variety of human experience as told by an incredibly diverse group of women.”

See here for the full list of projects!

This grant will support production of our film about Rose Schneiderman (1882-1972), a passionate labor organizer from New York's Lower East Side. Thank you, MOME and NYFA!

The 2019 recipients of the “Made in NY” Women’s Film, TV & Theatre FUnd

Athena Film Festival Has Announced its 2019 Lineup!

We are thrilled to be partnering with the Athena Film Festival, which returns at the end of February for its ninth year of celebrating women and leadership!

The Athena Film Festival is an engaging weekend of feature films, documentaries and shorts that highlight powerful stories about courageous and audacious women leaders. The four-day festival includes inspiring films; conversations with directors, actors, and activists; and workshops for filmmakers and film fans.

The festival will be held February 28- March 3 at Barnard College in New York City, and they are generously offering a 15% discount on tickets! To get your discount, visit www.athenafilmfestival.com and use the code 19AFF15 at checkout.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Received Planning Grant from South Carolina Humanities!

We are excited to announce that UNLADYLIKE2020 has received a Planning Grant from South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. The grant will support the research and development phase of our short about Charlotta Spears Bass, one of the first African American women to own and operate a newspaper in the United States.

Bass followed earlier decades of ‘muckracking’ or reform-minded journalism, publishing the California Eagle in Los Angeles from 1912 until 1951, at a time when newsrooms were male-dominated and few white journalists focused on issues of importance to African Americans. In its pages, she addressed the racism of D.W. Griffith's film The Birth of A Nation, the Ku Klux Klan, LA’s discriminatory hiring practices, police brutality, and restrictive housing covenants. Her uncompromising stance against racial injustice resulted in numerous death threats. After retiring from the newspaper industry, Bass went into politics and was the first African American woman to run for Vice President of the U.S., on the Progressive party ticket in 1952.

We’re excited to develop this short on Bass’ story. Thank you, South Carolina Humanities, for supporting this important work!

UNLADYLIKE2020 Events at Lower Eastside Girls Club and City College Documentary Forum!

We had two amazing events last week, where we shared a sneak peek of the first short in our series, about aviator Bessie Coleman- the first African American woman pilot, in celebration of National Aviation History Month of November. 

At the Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC), we screened the UNLADYLIKE2020 trailer, the Bessie Coleman video, as well as a wonderful short made by one of the girls at the Club. We were thrilled to screen for the general public, as well as the girls and staff of the Club in their planetarium, and to have an incredible team of women from Jet Blue there as special guests. 

Three pilots - Kim McCommon, Chandra Steiner, and Keiko Piccollela - participated in a panel with series creator Charlotte Mangin, and artist and animator Amelie Chabannes, and shared their stories of persevering to become pilots, despite facing many obstacles as women and women of color in the industry. We were all moved by their experiences, and their words of encouragement for the girls. It was very meaningful to see how relevant Bessie's story is today, and how much her life and achievements have meant to these women pilots.

The girls asked great questions, about aviation and animation, and the Club provided a reception where the conversations continued. We are honored to have collaborated with The Lower Eastside Girls Club and the Jet Blue Foundation on this very special event. 

The following night, we screened our trailer and Bessie Coleman video at City College's Documentary Forum for a packed theater of students and community members. After our screening, there was a Q&A with Charlotte Mangin. Many people were interested in where they can see the series in 2020,  and what other stories it will tell.

That event also included a screening of the new documentary by Adele Pham, "Nailed It: Women and Vietnamese in the Nail Industry," which told the story of how 20 Vietnamese refugee women sparked the multi-billion dollar nail industry in the United States. It was a perfect pairing for UNLADYLIKE2020 to screen with a modern day story of women overcoming obstacles to make a huge impact on the country- and tied in amazingly with Bessie’s story, as she worked as a manicurist in a barbershop, where she got the idea of becoming a pilot!

Both of these events were made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement / Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Thank you, LMCC! We are so grateful!

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources, and support, to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Lower Manhattan and beyond.

Series creator, director, and producer Charlotte Mangin, artist and animator Amelie Chabannes, and pilots from Jet Blue Chandra Steiner, Kim McCommon, and Keiko Piccollela take questions from the girls.

Upcoming UNLADYLIKE2020 Event at Lower Eastside Girls Club!

UNLADYLIKE2020 is excited to announce that we will be hosting a public screening event at the Lower Eastside Girls Club. In the club's amazing planetarium, we'll be screening the UNLADYLIKE2020 trailer, and a sneak peek of first episode in the series, about Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman pilot.

The event will kick off with a short film by a girl from the Lower Eastside Girls Club, and the screening of UNLADYLIKE2020 will be followed by a Q&A with series creator, director, and producer Charlotte Mangin and the artist and animator Amelie Chabannes, as well as a reception.

Join us on Tuesday, November 27 at 6:15PM at the Lower Eastside Girls Club at 402 East 8th Street.

This is a free event and all are welcome, but we ask that you please register on the Eventbrite here.

This event is made possible by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, and occurs in partnership with The Futuro Media Group and the Lower Eastside Girls Club. Artwork by Amelie Chabannes.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Received Funding from Ohio Humanities!

The UNLADYLIKE2020 team is thrilled to announce that we have received a Media Planning Grant from Ohio Humanities, an organization committed to using grants and public humanities programs to create vibrant communities throughout Ohio. The Media Planning grant will support the research and impact partnerships behind films we’ll be making about three women with close ties to Ohio: actor Theda Bara, sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman, and activist and educator Mary Church Terrell. Below are brief bios on each of these incredible women:

Theda Bara (1890-1955) born Theodosia Goodman, began work on the New York stage under her own name before she was cast as a vampire seductress in her first film, “A Fool There Was,” in 1914. Bara’s magnetic performance made her an overnight success, and between 1915 and 1919, she starred in over forty films, becoming a major draw for audiences as well as for the criticism of censors. While a 1937 fire at the Fox Film vaults destroyed all but a handful of her movies, she endures as a cinematic icon.

Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1954) at age 19 visited the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, where she was inspired to become a sculptor. She became the first American woman of her generation to establish a career in large-scale public sculpture and the first woman sculptor to become a full member of the National Academy of Design. She worked on parts of the Lincoln Memorial and created many memorials of her own, most famously the Spirit of Electricity for the AT&T Corporation headquarters in Manhattan.

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), daughter of former slaves and one of the first African American women to earn a college degree, became known as a national activist for civil rights and suffrage. In 1896 she helped found the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and was president from 1896 to 1901. In 1909 she was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and led several important associations, including the National Association of Colored Women.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Hosted a Screening at Maysles Documentary Center!

UNLADYLIKE2020 hosted a screening of its first video at the Maysles Documentary Center in celebration of National Aviation History Month! The video tells the incredible story of aviator Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to hold an international pilot's license. The screening was followed by a lively panel discussion with series creator Charlotte Mangin, NYU professor and historian Michele Mitchell, who provided important historical context for Coleman's story, and Harlem actress and playwright Madeline McCray, moderated by Sandy Rattley, UNLADYLIKE2020's Executive Producer. McCray then performed an excerpt from “A Dream to Fly,” her play about Coleman. The event also featured a community talk-back and Q&A, and reception, with food and drink provided by Harlem vendors, including Pompette Wine, C-Town Grocery Store, Best Market Harlem, Cantina Taqueria, and Corner Social. Thank you to these establishments for their generosity. Check out the event page on the Maysles website!

Here’s what several audience members had to say:

“Beautiful and urgent story.”

“Excellent film, trailer, panel discussion—excellent. Loved performance by Madeline McCray.”

“We enjoyed so much seeing and hearing history come alive in such a vibrant format. It was fascinating to know more about the historical context too. Loved Madeline’s performance to bring back Bessie Coleman to life.”

This event was made possible by: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York State Council on the Arts, in partnership with The Futuro Media Group. Original artwork by Amelie Chabannes.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Received Funding From the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities

We are excited to announce that we received funding from Rhode Island Council for the Humanities to research two women from the state -- Sissieretta Jones, the first African American to sign on the mainstage at Carnegie Hall, and Annie Smith Peck, the first mountaineer to conquer the highest peak in South America -- and plan a community engagement event in Rhode Island. See more about them below!

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (1868-1933) began singing at an early age in a baptist church ministered by her father. By 1892, she became the first African American to sing on the main stage at Carnegie Hall, at a time when access to most classical concert halls in the U.S. were closed to black performers and patrons.  She performed opera at the White House for four U.S. presidents and became an international sensation, receiving multiple medals and badges which she would often wear simultaneously on top of elegant, glittering gowns. But the rise of Jim Crow laws and segregation, after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, ended her career as a high art musician and necessitated her move into vaudeville.

Annie Smith Peck (1850-1935), one of the first women in America to become a college professor, took up mountain climbing in her forties. She gained international fame in 1895 when she first climbed the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps-- not for her daring ascent, but because she undertook the climb wearing pants rather than a cumbersome skirt. Fifteen years later, at age 58 and after five failed attempts, Peck was the first mountaineer ever to conquer Mount Huascarán (21,831 feet) in Peru, the highest peak in South America. A dedicated supporter of a woman’s right to vote, she hung a “Votes for Women” banner on a nearby summit in 1909. She continued to mountain climb around the world into her eighties.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Received Funding from Humanities Nebraska!

We are excited to announce that we received funding from Humanities Nebraska to support the production of two of our NE-based episodes -- about incredible social worker, Grace Abbott and the first Native American female physician, Susan La Flesche Picotte. You can learn more about them below!

Grace Abbott (1878-1939) was born in Grand Island, Nebraska to activist parents who worked for the Underground Railroad and the women’s suffrage movement in the Midwest. After attending the University of Nebraska, Abbott and her sister Edith moved to Chicago to become residents of Hull House, a settlement house founded in 1889 by social reformer Jane Addams. Living side by side with poor immigrant residents of the community, Abbott became an influential advocate for immigrant rights, and served as director of the Immigrants’ Protective League. From 1921 to 1934, as chief of the U.S. Children’s Bureau in the Department of Labor, Abbot was the highest ranked woman in the U.S. government, where she led the fight to end child labor, common in factories and mills of the time. She helped draft American's Social Security Act and was voted by Good Housekeeping as one of “America’s Twelve Greatest Women” in 1931.

Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) grew up on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska against the backdrop of the Dawes Act of 1887 which sought to do away with Native American tribes and foster assimilation into white society. Overcoming hostility from both her tribe and white society, Picotte graduated from Women’s Medical College and became the first Native American female physician. She returned to the reservation and spent her career making house calls on foot and horse-drawn buggy across its 20,000 acres. Alcoholism was becoming serious problem on the Omaha Reservation, and a personal one for Picotte: her own husband was an alcoholic. Active in the temperance movement, she campaigned publicly against drinking and unscrupulous liquor dealers. In 1913, Picotte fulfilled her lifelong dream of founding a community hospital on the reservation.

UNLADYLIKE 2020 Received Funding from Humanities Montana!

UNLADYLIKE2020 was recently awarded a grant from Humanities Montana to research and begin production of our episode about women's rights advocate-- and the first woman to hold federal office in the U.S— Congresswoman Jeannette Pickering Rankin. See below for more about her, and her incredible life:

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880-1973) was a prominent member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and became involved in the turn-of-the-century peace movement, helping establish the Women’s Peace Party. In 1917, Rankin decided to run for election to the U.S. House of Representatives for her home state of Montana, which had only one congressional district at the time because of its small population. She won the election, and at age thirty-six became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress. She served two non-consecutive terms, and was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. participation in both World War I and World War II.

Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities!

We are honored to have been selected for a highly competitive National Endowment for the Humanities Media Projects Development Grant. These funds will allow us to spend this fall finalizing our research, diving deep into the project's humanities themes, and drafting scripts for all 31 episodes. See full list of awarded projects here.

UNLADYLIKE Event at Maysles Documentary Center!

This event, in celebration of National Aviation History Month, will include a screening of UNLADYLIKE2020’s first video, telling the incredible story of aviator Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to hold an international pilot's license, followed by a panel discussion with special guests, a community talk-back, and refreshments.

Join us on Thursday, November 1, at 7pm at The Maysles Documentary Center, 343 Malcolm X Boulevard, NYC. To RSVP: click here. And check out the event page on the Maysles website!

This event is made possible by: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York State Council on the Arts, in partnership with The Futuro Media Group.

UNLADYLIKE2020 was Selected for IFP Film Week!

UNLADYLIKE2020 is honored to have been selected for the Independent Filmmaker Project's Spotlight on Documentaries forum taking place September 15-20 in Dumbo, Brooklyn. This will be an important opportunity to share the project's vision with the film community and connect with industry reps. We're excited that a majority of the projects chosen this year are directed and created by women! Click here to view the entire IFP Week line-up.

UNLADYLIKE2020 Received Funding from Virginia Humanities!

Our team is thrilled to announce that we have received funding from Virginia Humanities, Virginia's state humanities council. Virginia Humanities connects people and ideas to explore the human experience and inspire cultural engagement. This funding will support the research and production of our episode about the first female bank President, Maggie Lena Walker. We’re very excited to share her story, which you can learn a little bit more about below:

Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934), an African American teacher and businesswoman, became the first female bank president when she founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, VA. As a community leader and entrepreneur, she worked to make tangible improvements in the lives of African Americans and women. At a time when white banks did not readily accept deposits from black customers, Walker not only grew her bank, but grew the economic base of black Richmond by financing over 600 home loans for black families by 1920. She also served as editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, ran a department store and a nationwide insurance system.

UNLADYLIKE2020 received funding from South Dakota Humanities!

Our team is excited to announce that UNLADYLIKE2020 has received funding from South Dakota Humanities Council, which supports education, literary, and public humanities programs throughout the state. This funding will support the research behind our film about Zitkála-Šá, who was born in South Dakota- as well as engagement events in South Dakota during Native American Heritage Month, November, in 2020, sharing the film and our research.

Zitkála-Šá (1876–1938), also known by the name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was born on a reservation in South Dakota and sent to a Quaker missionary-run boarding school at age 8. Trained as a violinist at the New England Conservatory of Music, she wrote the libretto for the first Native American opera in 1913. As an author, she published in prestigious national magazines such as Harper’s and The Atlantic, writing about Native American struggles to retain their cultural identities amid pressure to assimilate into European American culture. Becoming a political activist, she joined the Society of American Indians, and in 1926 co-founded the National Council of American Indians to lobby for U.S. citizenship, civil rights, and preserving Native American heritage and ways of life.

UNLADYLIKE2020 received funding from Utah Humanities!

Our team is thrilled to announce that UNLADYLIKE has received funding from Utah Humanities! Utah Humanities (UH) empowers groups and individuals to improve their communities through active engagement in the humanities. The grant will support research on two trailblazing women from Utah - Martha Hughes Cannon and Zitkála-Šá - and to organize two public events presenting our research on these women. We look forward to doing this exciting work! Below is some info about these amazing women:

Martha Hughes Cannon (1857-1932) came from a Welsh-born immigrant family that traveled West with the Mormon Church to settle in Utah in the 1860s. After obtaining a medical degree and working as a physician, she became the fourth of six wives in a polygamous marriage, during the height of a national crackdown on polygamy. In 1896, she was elected the country’s first female state senator, defeating her own husband who was also on the ballot. A leader in Utah’s women’s suffrage movement, she helped put women’s suffrage into the state’s constitution, and also set up Utah’s first board of health and food safety laws.

Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938), aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Native American musician, educator, and civil rights activist who lived on the Ute Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah for 14 years. You can find more about her amazing accomplishments and life, in the post above!

Announcing UNLADYLIKE2020's Academic Advisory Board

We are pleased to introduce you to our incredible Humanities Advisory Board. Please join us in welcoming this group of eight esteemed scholars from universities across the U.S., each with a different perspective on Progressive Era history and women's and gender studies. 

Michael Bronski is a Professor of Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. He is an LGBTQ activist and the author of A Queer History of the United States. 

Yong Chen is a Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, an expert in late 19th and 20th Century Asian American social and cultural history, and the author ofChinese San Francisco 1850-1943: A Transpacific Community. 

Hasia Diner is a Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History, Director of Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History and Director of Undergraduate Studies in NYU's Department of History. Her books include Her Works Praise Her: A History of Jewish Women in America from Colonial Times to the Present.

Mary Jo Tippeconic Fox is Comanche/Cherokee and an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. She is a Research Professor/Social Scientist of American Indian Studies, and affiliate faculty in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona and co-edited Serving Native American Students in Higher Education.

Cynthia E. Orozco is a Professor of History and Humanities at Eastern New Mexico University, Ruidoso. She is the founder of the Chicana Caucus of the National Association for Chicano Studies and the author of No Mexicans, Women, or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.

Stephanie J. Shaw is a Professor of History at Ohio State University. She also teaches in the Department of Women’s Studies and the Department of Black Studies, and is the author of What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers During the Jim Crow Era. 

Karen Manners Smith is a Professor Emerita of History at Emporia State University, specializing in the history of American women in the Progressive Era. Her books includeA Student Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and New Paths to Power: American Women 1890-1920.

Nancy C. Unger is a Professor and Chair of History at Santa Clara University, where she teaches Women’s History, the History of Gays and Lesbians in the U.S., and the Progressive Era. She is the author of Belle La Follette: Progressive Era Reformer, and co-editor of A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 

UNLADYLIKE2020 received a grant from California Humanities

UNLADYLIKE2020 has received a grant from the California Documentary Project (CDP), a competitive grant program of California Humanities.

CDP grants are awarded to support film, audio, and interactive media projects that add a new layer to a complex and growing portrait of California. This grant will help UNLADYLIKE2020 produce our films about Progressive Era women from California: Mary Tape, Ynes Mexia, Charlotte Amanda Spears Bass, Marguerite Thompson Zorach, and Louise Arner Boyd. Thank you to California Humanities for supporting our creative vision!