Imagine the federal government, any federal government, actually paying for state conventions of politically engaged women, at which these women elect delegates to a national conference in Houston, where resolutions on everything from sex discrimination in the insurance industry to abortion on demand would be debated and voted on. It all happened in 1977, back when Jimmy Carter was president, before he dismissed Bella Abzug from his advisory committee for women. Looking back and trying to be brave about what’s happened since are the eloquent likes of Ann Richards, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Eleanor Smeal, with taped snippets of their younger selves along with Billie Jean King, Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, and Maxine Waters, as well as such past and present First Ladies as Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Rosalynn Carter. They all sing “We Shall Overcome,” as if they really might have.

Sisters of ’77
Channel 13 Tuesday, March 1, 10 to 11 P.M.

Related:

• Archive: “Television”
• Articles by John Leonard
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