‘Shaking It Up’ profiles Texan who broke ground for women in journalism and politics

A biographical documentary on a journalist and White House aide who became a prominent advocate for women’s rights debuts on public television stations in March. 

“Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter,” tells the story of Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter, a Texan who left reporting to work with Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson and later became an activist for the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Co-directed and co-produced by her daughter Christy Carpenter and documentary filmmaker Abby Ginzberg, the film looks at significant chapters of Liz Carpenter’s life and multifaceted career. It also highlights how her distinctive sense of humor helped open doors and forge relationships. 

Carpenter was a key aide to Lyndon Johnson, starting during the 1960 presidential campaign when he joined the Democratic presidential ticket with then-Senator John Kennedy. Carpenter worked with LBJ during his vice-presidency, then as chief of staff and press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson. 

Former PBS host and documentary producer Bill Moyers, an aide to Johnson and White House press secretary during his presidency, appears in the film to describe Carpenter’s work in the White House. He characterizes her relationship with LBJ as “volatile” because Carpenter often challenged him.

Moyers also describes Carpenter’s sense of humor. After the Johnsons brought two dogs to the White House, someone asked Liz how she knew so much about the new pets’ dog house. Moyers recalls her reply: “Because I sleep there.”

Carpenter also assisted Lady Bird Johnson as she worked to build support for the administration’s War on Poverty programs. She organized press and campaign tours for the First Lady, including Lady Bird’s Whistle-Stop tour through the American South after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barring racial segregation and discrimination.

Carpenter remained in Washington after President Johnson left office. She worked in public relations and became very active in the movement to secure passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. After Congress failed to pass the amendment in 1970, Carpenter was among more than 300 women’s rights activists involved in founding the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. The organization was created to increase women’s participation in political and public life. 

“She was a Texan, so you felt that warm and friendliness as if there were no social strata whatsoever,” says feminist leader and author Gloria Steinem, one of several interviewees who appear in the film. “She had a vision — a unified vision — that was far beyond what most people in political life would have thought.” 

‘Four-dimensional woman’

The idea for “Shaking It Up” sprang from an article that Christy Carpenter wrote months after Liz died in 2020, “When the 19th Amendment was born, so was my feminist Mom.” The piece celebrated Liz Carpenter’s 100th birthday and connected her life to the “seismic victory” of securing women’s suffrage. Liz Carpenter was born Sept. 1, 1920, five days after ratification of the 19th Amendment. 

Ginzberg’s friendship with Christy Carpenter goes back to their studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where they were roommates. Ginzberg read Carpenter’s article and saw a bigger story.

“I felt like reducing her to print made it two-dimensional, and … this is a three- or four-dimensional woman in the world,” Ginzberg said. “I really wanted to see that captured in a way that’s not so easy to do when someone’s already passed.” 

“I suspected that we would be able to find enough footage of Liz doing her thing that you would, as a viewer, end up really feeling her,” she added. Ginzberg’s filmmaking career has focused on social justice documentaries, including “Waging Change,” a 2020 documentary on restaurant workers trying to make their livings off of tip-supplemented wages of $2.13 per hour. 

Securing film footage of Liz Carpenter in action was an obstacle for the production, Christy Carpenter said. Capturing her sense of humor was especially difficult. So much of what Liz did was “on the stump … speaking on behalf of a candidate or giving another kind of speech.” 

Ginzberg said she made a point to include elements of Liz’s humor where she could. One humorous moment captured on film was how she opened a speech to a group of women activists, “My plan today is to make this a hot-pants speech, long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be inspiring.” 

“I have not made films about people who are funny before, and so I was really drawn to any place we could get a chuckle, a laugh — anything,” Ginzberg said. “That was part of Liz’s unique gift and it’s part of a gift to the audience if you can make them laugh. So Liz helped us in that way.”

The filmmakers knew from the beginning that “Shaking It Up” was meant for public television. Christy Carpenter has extensive experience as a public media board member. She served on the CPB board from 1998-2003 and went on to board director roles at KCET Public Television, which is now part of the Los Angeles-based Public Media Group of Southern California, and Austin PBS. 

Those experiences “just underscored my belief that public television was the place … for it to be,” Carpenter said. “… It’s a system that likes to produce things that are educational and inspiring and uplifting and so forth [which] just made this a perfect fit.”

The filmmakers financed the film through a combination of individual gifts, foundation support, and a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Christy Carpenter sees “Shaking It Up” as educational for young viewers that might not be familiar with the society and political landscape her mother inhabited and navigated. Liz Carpenter’s life was significant and her story reflects “the broader undercurrent of change in America during the latter half of the 20th century,” she said. 

‘A story that people really need to see’

“Shaking It Up” premiered at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival last March, and has been screened at eight other festivals so far, including DOC NYC and Dallas International Film Festival. 

Its broadcast debut in March coincides with Women’s History Month. Stations reaching 77% of TV households have committed to airing it as of Feb. 25, according to Trac Media Services. That includes all 11 public television stations in Texas. American Public Television is distributing the film. The film will also be available to stream on Passport, the PBS streaming platform for station members.

Austin PBS, presenting station for “Shaking It Up” on APT, hosted a sold-out screening Feb. 11.  Attendees were captivated by the film, according to Chief Content Officer Sara Robertson. Liz Carpenter’s life and career aren’t well known, especially outside of Texas, Robertson said. She was impressed by Carpenter’s contributions to Texas and national politics and found the film’s themes of how a strong woman used humor to be powerful. 

“What … really resonated with me was how current the topics were,” Robertson said. “Even though this happened in the past, it’s still resonating today. …The takeaway was this is a story that people really need to see now.”

Additional screenings are scheduled for March and April in Texas and Tennessee.  

Ginzberg hopes that people who see the film will learn about Liz, and come to see politics in a different light. “Every film evolves in terms of the moment it’s released,” she said.

“… It’s like things could get better but we need a vision of what better looks like,” Ginzberg said. “This film reflects that vision, I believe. I think it’s really important for people to just know this history.”