This program traces the lives of 17th Century women in America. Their significant - though often ignored contributions - to American History are portrayed through the life of one exceptional and courageous woman, Elizabeth Winthrop.

Elizabeth Winthrop arrived alone on American shores in 1631. She was a young widow with a small child. Over her lifetime, she established four homesteads and raised and educated a large family. She was one of the first women in the New World to hold property in her own name. Like many colonial women, Elizabeth Winthrop exhibited remarkable courage in the face of tremendous adversity.
Jackie Judd of ABC News narrates this women's history documentary with noted historians describing the role of women in building a nation. Joni Steele Kimberlin is co-producer.

"Women like Elizabeth Winthrop . . . had a kind of courage we are only very rarely called upon to have in our society . . . getting in a rocket and going to the moon is going to a place about which we know far more than she knew about New England."
Dr. Jane Kamensky,
Brandeis University