Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Filmmaker Ken Burns is no stranger to the Peabody Awards, having won previously for documentaries ranging from The Civil War to Frank Lloyd Wright. His exceptional work continues with Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The four-hour PBS production, written by long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward and narrated by Sally Kellerman, brings heart, soul and considerable poignancy to the stories of these two leaders of the women’s suffrage movement. Neither lived to see their crowning triumph-women going to the polls for the first time on Nov. 2, 1920. Mr. Burns and co-producer Paul Barnes have done a remarkable job of fleshing out this historic collaboration between two otherwise disparate women. Ms. Stanton, voiced by Ronnie Gilbert, was a plump, poetic mother of seven children. Ms. Anthony (Julie Harris) was a grim-faced, grind-it-out activist who never married. “I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them,” Stanton once wrote of their partnership. Not for Ourselves Alone insightfully depicts their perseverance in the face of repeated setbacks, many from within the burgeoning women’s movement. It is an inspiring story of hopes, dashed dreams and dogged determination. For an enlightening look at two women whom history books have shortchanged, a Peabody goes to Not for Ourselves Alone.