Lorena Weeks successful sued Southern Belle in 1967 for passing her up for a promotion.

Did you know that thanks to a Georgian named Lorena Weeks, all women have better opportunities in the telecommunications industry? In 1967, Weeks was passed over for a switchman promotion at the Southern Belle company. She was told the job was reserved for men because men were breadwinners. That reason wasn’t good enough for Weeks. She sued the company and eventually won her case. (Scroll down to watch a video clip of her. )

These are the types of she-roes you’ll meet in the new PBS documentary Makers:Women Who Make America that airs tonight on Georgia Public Broadcasting at 8 p.m. They really give meaning to the often overused phrase “Girl Powerl”. Through a series of profiles, we see just how powerful women really are at all walks of life, from people like Weeks or Barbara Burns, the first female coal miner to big names in the equal rights movement like Gloria Steinheim.

Watch Southern Bell on PBS. See more from Makers: Women Who Make America.

The creators of the documentary have made a rich site to help you bring this point home to your female and male students. This can be used of course for Women’s HIstory month too which comes around the corner in March.

There is a lesson plan titled “Discontent and Transformation” that covers gender discrimination and the Weeks case.

Here are other suggestions from the site on how to incorporate this series into the classroom at multiple grade levels.

  • Talking Points - Some suggestions for starting a conversation about the documentary MAKERS: Women Who Make America.

  • Suggestions for using MAKERS - Some general suggestion for using MAKERS.com including some MAKERS you may want to highlight.
  • K-8 Exercises - It's never to early to start the conversation about the role of women in society.
  • High School Exercises - Bring the MAKERS into your classroom with these exercises.
  • College Exercises - Open the conversation about the MAKERS in your college classroom.
  • MAKERS Calendar - Explore the best times to talk about the issues and the MAKERS who make America great.

Don’t forget to visit our Women’s History month resource page to get more material for your lessons. Is there a figure in history that we should tell people about? Let us know.