TV's Smiling Feminist: Dinah Shore

Host Cynthia Bemis Abrams explores the feminist legacy of Dinah Shore, who claimed she wasn't a feminist. Cynthia charts Dinah's early years, her radio career and the (then-radical) stands she took to ensure Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and other black performers received respectful treatment and airtime on TV and radio. As a woman with connections, she leveraged power in the 1950s that was rare. Cynthia goes on to explain how again Dinah leveraged her position to become the godmother to women's golf. Televised tournaments increased women player pay as Dinah fused her relationship with her national sponsors to add on the tournaments.—Cynthia Bemis Abrams