PBS has announced that its two night docuseries American Experience: The Vote will premiere July 6 and 7 from 9 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET. The series tells the story of the women's suffrage movement and the ratifying of the 19th Amendment. This comes in time for the 100th anniversary of the passing of the movement.
The 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote in 1920. However, the issue had been raised back in 1840 and was fought for by four women: Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt and Harriet Stanton Blatch. The series will be narrated by Kate Burton and features the voices of Mae Whitman, Audra McDonald, Laura Linney and Patricia Clarkson portraying the four women of the suffrage movement.
Emmy Award-winner Michelle Ferrari wrote, directed and produced the documentary with Mark Samels and Susan Bellows serving as executive producers.
“The hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote was a truly transformative cultural and political movement, resulting in the largest expansion of voting rights in American history,” said Bellows. “It’s also a story that has usually been reduced to a single page in the history books. The Vote restores this complex story to its rightful place in our history, providing a rich and clear-eyed look at a movement that resonates as much now as ever.”
“The lengths to which women had to go in their pursuit of the ballot will likely come as a surprise to most viewers,” said Ferrari. “How many people are aware that suffragists were the first Americans to picket the White House? That those women were jailed, went on hunger strikes and were force-fed by authorities? And that the techniques of non-violent civil disobedience, which we usually associate with the Civil Rights Movement, were employed first by women fighting for the right to vote?”
