The political theater that put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, and Anita Hill and the issue of sexual harassment in the national conversation happened in 1991, but the recent HBO movie “Confirmation”  rehashed those debates.

Angela Wright Shannon, then known as Angela Wright — or the other woman who accused Thomas of inappropriate words and behavior — got to see herself portrayed by Academy Award-winning Jennifer Hudson in that film, which she was asked to consult on but chose not to. She heard characters repeat the words of a column she wrote, not for publication but for a writing sample, which was leaked to the office of Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Joseph Biden  and led to a subpoena.

[Related: At Stake in Anita Hill movie: Joe Biden’s Legacy] When I was features editor of The Charlotte Observer in the mid-1990s, Shannon was a reporter on my staff. She had worked for Thomas in the 1980s as director of public affairs at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  Now 61, she works in Charlotte as a freelance writer, editor and actor and cares for her 50-year-old developmentally delayed and deaf sister, Cheryl. After watching the HBO movie, she decided she still had something to say.

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Although many younger people are discovering the remarkable Anita Hill and that hideous episode in American history for the first time, the story still feels fresh to me, and remains infuriating all these years later.

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HBO’s “Confirmation” doesn’t totally overcome the creative shortcomings that are common with biopics. But what it does very effectively is go behind the pageantry of the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings.

“Confirmation” stars “Scandal’s” Kerry Washington, who also served as an executive producer, as law professor Anita Hill as she is pulled from her life of academia to testifying in the 1991 confirmation hearings of Thomas, who was nominated to the US Supreme Court by George H.W. Bush. Hill claimed that while working as Thomas’ assistant at two government agencies, he sexually harassed her on several occasions.

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In October 1991, NPR’s Nina Totenberg broke the story of Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. With the HBO movie on the events out this weekend, Totenberg joins us to talk about the events of that fall.

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Anita Hill’s 1991 testimony at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearing will breathe new life in the HBO movie “Confirmation.” Considered by many as the sexual harassment tipping point, Hill’s allegations paved the way for many modern gender discussions. (Nicki DeMarco / The Washington Post)

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Twenty-five years ago, Anita Hill testified about sexual harassment from then-nominee Clarence Thomas. Now a new HBO film dramatizes the high-profile political battle that captured the nation’s attention and changed Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Hill joins Gwen Ifill to look back at the case, her experience and how it would have been different today.

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Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
Documentary Debuted March 20, 2014