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American Experience Films

Browse the entire American Experience series featuring over 200 films. Watch full films online, download teacher’s guides, go behind the scenes, and learn more about your favorite films.

Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided

The story of a frontiersman farmer and a wealthy Confederate slave-owner's daughter. He would become president of the nation during its worst crisis, the Civil War, and free slaves as the Great Emancipator.

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Adam Clayton Powell

A civil rights leader in Harlem before entering politics, Powell was one of the most charismatic black leaders of the 20th century. He served as a New York congressman during the Fifties and Sixties.

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After the Crash

After the stock market crashed in 1929, thousands suffered unemployment and poverty in the Great Depression. The most desperate year, 1932, brought World War I veterans' Bonus March, the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the New Deal.

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The Alaska Pipeline

An 800-mile pipeline transports crude from the largest oil field in North America. Native Alaskans, oil company representatives, environmentalists, geologists, politicians, and others tell the story of its construction.

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Alexander Hamilton

The story of a founding father who laid the groundwork for the nation's modern economy -- including the banking system and Wall Street. He was also a primary author of the Federalist Papers.

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Alone on the Ice

Richard Byrd was hailed as the greatest American polar explorer after claiming to fly an airplane over both the north and south poles. In 1934 he became the first to experience winter in Antarctica's interior.

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