Product Review

The Harvey Girls: Opportunity Bound explores how starting in the 1880's, over 100,000 brave young women made an unusual decision to leave home and travel west to work as waitresses along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The Harvey Girls, as they were called, opened up the doors of both the American West and the workplace to women. "Opportunity Bound" features rare interviews with the few remaining Harvey Girls and the award-winning author of "Appetite For America" Stephen Fried. The film also looks at the life of Fred Harvey and his company which left its mark by not only promoting opportunities in the workplace for women but by being among the first companies to promote cultural diversity in the workplace. The Harvey Girls were true pioneers and paved the way for generations of independent young women to come. This important part of women's history was glossed over in the 1940's musical movie starring Judy Garland, and has never before been the focus of an historical documentary film.