Deaf, dumb, and blind, she lived “at sea in a dense fog.” And then her teacher came. (As seen in “The Miracle Worker.”)

Loss after loss, Harvey Milk kept battering at the door. If he could only “give them hope.” (As seen in “Milk.”)

Coal miners distrusted Barbara Kopple until she hunkered down with them -- for three years -- and came home with a living, breathing masterpiece.

Women had marched, picketed protested for 70 years. Then the Silent Sentinels were jailed, tortured, force fed. And you’re too busy to vote? (As seen in “Iron Jawed Angels.”)