Overlooked (obituary feature)

Overlooked No More is a recurring feature in the obituary section of The New York Times, which honors "remarkable people" whose deaths had been overlooked by editors of that section since its creation in 1851. The feature was introduced on March 8, 2018, for International Women's Day, when the Times published fifteen obituaries of such "overlooked" women, and has since become a weekly feature in the paper.

The project was created by Amisha Padnani, the digital editor of the obituaries desk,^[1] and Jessica Bennett, the paper's gender editor. In its introduction, it was admitted that the paper's obituaries had been "dominated by white men", and that the project was intended to help "address these inequities of our time".^[2][3][4][5]

In May 2018, it was reported that the Times had partnered with Anonymous Content and Paramount Television to develop a drama anthology franchise based on the feature, with each season chronicling a notable woman.^[6]

1. Ida B. Wells, (1862–1931), "took on racism in the deep south with powerful reporting on lynchings"^[7]
2. Qiu Jin, (1875–1907), "beheaded by imperial forces, was 'China's Joan of Arc'"^[8]
3. Mary Ewing Outerbridge, (1852–1886), "helped bring tennis to the United States"^[9]
4. Diane Arbus, (1923–1971), "a photographer, whose portraits have compelled or repelled generations of viewers"^[10]
5. Marsha P. Johnson, (1945–2002), "a transgender pioneer and activist"
6. Sylvia Plath, (1932–1963), "a postwar poet unafraid to confront her despair"
7. Henrietta Lacks, (1920–1951), "whose cells lead to a medical revolution"
8. Madhubala, (1933–1969), "a Bollywood legend whose tragic life mirrored Marilyn Monroe's"
9. Emily Warren Roebling, (1843–1903), "the woman behind the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge"
10. Nella Larsen, (1891–1964), "wrestled with race and sexuality in the Harlem renaissance"
11. Ada Lovelace, (1815–1852), "mathematician who wrote the first computer program"
12. Margaret Abbott, (1878–1955), "an unwitting olympic trailblazer"
13. Belkis Ayón, (1967–1999), "a Cuban printmaker inspired by a secret male society"
14. Charlotte Brontë, (1816–1855), "Novelist known for Jane Eyre"
15. Lillias Campbell Davidson, (1853–1934), "an early advocate for women's cycling"

During February 2019, in honor of Black History Month, the paper published obituaries for "a prominent group of black men and women" who were not examined at the time of their deaths.^[11] Padnani wrote that readers' suggestions of whom to write about "have yielded some of the most-read obituaries".^[12]

1. Gladys Bentley, (1907–1960), "a gender bending blues performer who became 1920s Harlem royalty".
2. Scott Joplin, (1867–1917), "a pianist and ragtime master who wrote 'The Entertainer' and the groundbreaking opera 'Treemonisha'.
3. Margaret Garner, (1833–1858), "who killed her own daughter rather than return her to the horrors of slavery".
4. Major Taylor, (1878–1932), "a world champion bicycle racer whose fame was undermined by prejudice".
5. Zelda Wynn Valdes, (1905–2001), "a fashion designer who outfitted the glittery stars of screen and stage".
6. Alfred Hair, (1941–1970), "a charismatic businessman who created a movement for Florida's black artists".
7. Nina Mae McKinney, (1912–1957), "an actress who defied the barrier of race to find stardom in Europe".
8. Granville T. Woods, (1856–1910), "an inventor known as the 'Black Edison'".
9. Oscar Micheaux, (1884–1951), "a pioneering filmmaker prefiguring independent directors like Spike Lee and Tyler Perry".
10. Mary Ellen Pleasant, (1814–1907), "born into slavery, she became a Gold Rush-era millionaire and a powerful abolitionist".
11. Elizabeth Jennings Graham, (1827–1901), "Life experiences primed her to fight for racial equality. Her moment came on a streetcar ride to church."
12. Philip A. Payton Jr., (1876–1917), "a real estate magnate who turned Harlem into a black mecca".
13. Moses Fleetwood Walker, (1857–1924), "the first black baseball player in the big leagues, even before Jackie Robinson".

In April 2019, Netflix and Higher Ground Productions (the production company founded by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama) announced that they would be adapting Overlooked into a scripted anthology series. The series would be produced by Liza Chasin of 3dot Productions and Joy Gorman Wettels of Anonymous Content.^[35]

In May 2019, The Waa-Mu Show at Northwestern University presented a new, student-written musical based on Amisha Padnani and the Overlooked series, entitled For the Record.^[36]

• The New York Times: Overlooked