Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel

Stever Brodner creates a second sketch of Cab Calloway to Calloway's classic hit "Minnie The Moocher" for the documentary AMERICAN MASTERS Cab Calloway: Sketches, premiering nationally Monday, February 27 at 10 p.m. (check local listings). Brodner's completed sketch comes alives and dances alongside Matthew Rushing, choreographer/principal dancer of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in the spring of 1937, to the dismay of some critics and the delight of others. Mitchell received news of the prize by phone, along with multiple requests for interviews. Hating publicity, she fled to a gospel concert at a small black church in Atlanta with her husband and close associates. The press scoured the city but never found her.

Scholars and devoted readers of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 classic novel have been arguing the book's literary merits for decades. Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel premieres nationally on Monday, April 2 from 9-10 p.m.

Born in 1900, young Margaret Mitchell was profoundly influenced by a violent race riot perpetrated by white mobs against innocent blacks. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 ravaged her home city and haunted the hub of the South for decades.

Margaret Mitchell was no ordinary writer. The one book she published in her lifetime - Gone With the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, 75 years ago. With over 30 million copies sold to date, it is one of the world's best-selling novels. The film adaptation broke all box office records, and received 10 Academy Awards. Premieres nationally Monday, April 2 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

As part of a segment filmed during pledge for Georgia Public Broadcasting, Pamela Roberts, director of Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel, gave an interview about her creative process and commitment to telling the true story of Gone With The Wind and the life of Margaret Mitchell. Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel premieres nationally on Monday, April 2 from 9-10 p.m.

One of the great writers of our time, Pat Conroy tells a poignant story of growing up in the South and listening to his mother read Gone With the Wind with heartfelt emotion and joy. The author of The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini and The Lords of Discipline attributes his mother's impassioned love of Gone With the Wind to his decision to become a novelist.

The most important person in Margaret Mitchell's life was her mother Maybelle Stephens Mitchell. Maybelle was a powerful public figure who fought in the first two decades of the 20th century to get women the right to vote. Mitchell was in awe of her mother and felt she could never live up to her mother's expectations.

The premiere of the blockbuster movie Gone With the Wind took place in Atlanta on December 15, 1939. With crowds swelling to the hundreds of thousands, it was apparent the South had been waiting a long time for this moment. For many, Margaret Mitchell's story of survival helped to redeem the South from decades of pain and suffering experienced after the Civil War and Reconstruction.