American Experience
Season 15 Episode 9 - The Pill
Charting the development of an oral contraceptive during the 1950s and its effect on "the sexual revolution" of the '60s. It was enormous. Says Sylvia Clark, who grew up before the pill was available: "Women began to see themselves for the first time in all of history as economically self-sustaining." The hour examines reasons why, as it profiles the pill's key figures, including biologist Gregory Pincus and gynecologist John Rock; heiress Katharine Dexter McCormick, who financed the research; and Margaret Sanger, the activist who spearheaded it. Among Sanger's motivations: her own mother, who had 18 pregnancies (seven of them miscarriages) and died at 49.
Episodes in Season 15
Jimmy Carter (1): Jimmy Who?
55 min
Jimmy Carter (2): Hostage
55 min
Chicago: City of the Century (1): Mudhole to Metropolis
55 min
Chicago: City of the Century (2): The Revolution Has Begun
55 min
Chicago: City of the Century (3): Battle for Chicago
55 min
The Murder of Emmett Till
55 min
Transcontinental Railroad
55 min
Partners of the Heart
55 min
The Pill
55 min
Daughter from Danang
55 min
Seabiscuit
55 min
Bataan Rescue
55 min
Murder at Harvard
55 min
