Mrs. America miniseries on Hulu.com
I found this show while perusing Hulu, which is a classic past time during this quarantine. This show has proven to be a great way to spend time and has also taught me so much about the women’s movement.
The show follows the two “sides” of the women’s movement when groups were working to pass and also block the ERA. The conservative backlash to the ERA is shown with Cate Blanchett playing Phyllis Schlafly, a woman whose writing we read for class, but whose personality and specific work I did not know much about until I started watching this show. One of the most fascinating things that the show highlights is that there were just as many factions in the conservative movement as there were within the women’s liberation movement. This was most specifically shown when some Conservative leaders from the south were espousing racist sentiments while they were talking about the need to stop the ERA. Schlafly goes through the challenges that any leader must face of figuring out how to unite the group in order to make her message the most potent, while also ensure that racism doesn’t pervade the group and give the liberals further disrespect the Conservative movement.
1st Photo
2nd Photo
On the same theme of factions, the Women’s Lib group also faces a lot of group tensions ranging from those between Chisholm (played by Uzo Aduba) and Steinem (played by Rose Byrne) , Friedan (played by and Steinem, and so many more. These tensions highlight the politically sticky aspect of the work these women were doing, as well as the generational/racial/religious differences between these strong, smart and strategic women.
MRS. AMERICA — Pictured: Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem. CR: Sabrina Lantos/FX 
Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan in “Mrs. America.”
Shirley Chisholm
Uzo Aduba playing Shirley Chisholm – Photo 2
Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan – Photo 3
While I can’t sum up how awesome this show is in one journal post and I don’t want to just summarize the plots of each episode, I would HIGHLY recommend giving this miniseries a watch. It truly brings the personalities and the experiences of these famous and influential women to life. I enjoyed every minute of watching the first 4 episodes and I can’t wait to watch more as they come out!
Ps: the cast is just all around INCREDIBLE. While Blanchett is billed as the main character, each episode follows more closely specific women within the movement(s).
Among the great actors/actresses in the show are:
Elizabeth Banks, Uzo Aduba, Rose Byrne, Cate Blanchett, John Slattery, Sarah Paulson, James Marsden, Bobby Canavale, Margo Martindale and Tracey Ullman.