Mrs. America’ ERA miniseries gives women of color their due
By LYNN ELBER
This combination photo shows Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., the first black woman elected to Congress and an outspoken advocate for women and minorities in this 1971 file photo, left, and actress Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm in a scene from the miniseries “Mrs. America,” an FX original series premiered April 15 on Hulu. (AP Photo, left, and Sabrina Lantos/FX via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Mrs. America,” which dramatizes the Equal Rights Amendment fight that pitted a surprising and determined opponent against a deep bench of supporters, is a marvel in many ways.
The impressive cast includes Cate Blanchett and Margo Martindale. The miniseries was created by a woman, Dahvi Waller, and largely written and directed by women. It drills down on how the constitutional amendment was blocked while deftly painting both the broader and finer points of America circa 1970, when a wife, as a jaw-dropping moment illustrates, needed her husband to co-sign for credit.
One more achievement: While the story is driven by Blanchett’s conservative powerhouse Phyllis Schlafly, attention is paid to the women of color who fought for civil rights and to make “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s and ’70s — successor to the suffrage movement — address the obstacles they alone faced.
Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne) and Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman) are among the movement’s white luminaries featured in “Mrs. America,” but alongside them are African Americans including trailblazing politician Shirley Chisholm and firebrand activist and attorney Florynce “Flo” Kennedy, who are played, respectively, by Uzo Aduba and Niecy Nash.
While Chisholm is best known, “there are many Shirleys of the world we have never heard of,” Aduba said. “That’s why it’s so exciting to see a project like this, telling not only Shirley’s story but quite a few of these women that, I would argue, the population at large doesn’t know their names.”
Chisholm was the first African American congresswoman, the first major-party black candidate to seek the presidency and the first female Democrat to run. She’s heard loud and clear in episode three, which is anchored in the 1972 Democratic convention and the machinations that pit Chisholm against what should be her sisters-in-arms.
In a revealing scene, Chisholm is pressured to end her bid in favor of eventual Democratic nominee Sen. George McGovern, with New York Rep. Bella Abzug (Martindale) chastising her for failing to get a campaign green light from the power brokers.
Aduba, a two-time Emmy winner for “Orange Is the New Black,” quotes Chisholm’s succinct reply: “I didn’t get anywhere in this life waiting on someone’s permission.”
The first three episodes of the miniseries debut Wednesday on FX on Hulu, the streaming platform’s hub offering FX series and exclusive releases such as “Mrs. America.” The remaining six episodes will be out weekly through May 27, with an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Paulson, Elizabeth Banks, John Slattery, James Marsden and Jeanne Tripplehorn.
