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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.
A biography of the 41st U.S. president, from his service in World War II to his days in the Oval Office with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the race riots in Los Angeles and the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The Alabama governor and four-time presidential candidate promised segregation forever, but after an assassination attempt he asked to be forgiven by African Americans.
Before he became the first U.S. president, service to the colonies would profoundly change George Washington. The man who came to symbolize the American Revolution scorned attempts to participate in any system but democracy.
The Native American leader fought against U.S. expansion onto Apache tribal land. The story of a tragic collision of two civilizations.
A nostalgic and humorous look at how old world Chicago lives side by side with the new.
In a nostalgic celebration of old fashioned neighborhood life, the black residents of Tulsa relive their community's remarkable rise and tragic decline.
The Klondike Gold Rush in Canada's Yukon Territory, the largest American gold rush, inspired a Charlie Chaplin film when 100,000 people made the treacherous journey in search of riches.
Discovery of a precious metal inspired worldwide migration by Forty-Niners, the eager gold-seekers who settled the westernmost state and turned California into a land of opportunity and fierce competition.
San Francisco built one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" during the Great Depression while battling wind, fog, ocean currents, and earthquake-prone land.
The dramatic story of the construction of New York City's Grand Central Terminal in 1913, lauded as the greatest railroad terminal in the world, with electrified train service under the city streets.
The first around-the-world air race was sponsored to prove that the airplane had a commercial future. Four pilots took off from Seattle and two returned 175 days later.
In 1900 Major Walter Reed proved that mosquitoes spread yellow fever. The discovery halted an outbreak during the construction of the Panama Canal, and led to the disease's eventual eradication.
Vivid memories of those trapped in the terrifying temblor of 1906 that killed thousands of Californians.
The laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable - an underwater communications link between North America and Europe - is a remarkable story of mid-19th century ingenuity and perseverance.
With over a million already dead, heroic American soldiers and nurses served in the closing battles of World War I. New mechanized weapons led to the bloodiest war of the 20th century.
The bizarre saga of the Symbionese Liberation Army, Patty Hearst's kidnapping, Hearst's conversion to her captors' cause, and the bank robberies and shootouts that followed.
The story of Liliu'okalani, the last queen and ruler of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii.
In September 1970, militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked five commercial airplanes, giving birth to a new era of terrorism.
During the Great Depression, Americans built the Hoover Dam, overcoming technical challenges to erect one of the greatest engineering works in history.
The world famous escape artist was an entrepreneur most famous for his underwater acts. He could escape from everything - except his own mortality.
After notorious revolutionary leader Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico, General John Pershing and his 150,000 man cavalry set out to get Villa, dead or alive.
Before radar had been invented, the worst hurricane to hit America devastated the East Coast and killed over 600 people in a terrible natural disaster.
An African American civil rights leader, Ida B. Wells was born into slavery before becoming a journalist in Memphis. When three of her friends were hanged, Wells was radicalized.
John Philip Sousa was America's favorite bandmaster. His organization was the first to make money on tour, and he helped invent the small town marching band.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was a decorated general, a skillful politician, a tough Cold War adversary and one of America's least understood presidents. Part of the award-winning Presidents collection.
Schools taught Native Americans to imitate white men in a liberal "civilizing" mission in 1875. A story of cultural genocide - a humanist experiment gone bad.
In 1936 Angie Debo uncovered a widespread conspiracy and the U.S. government's theft of Native Americans' oil rich lands in Indian Territories of Oklahoma.
The worst epidemic in American history killed over 600,000 Americans during World War I. Nicknamed "Spanish influenza" it died out quickly the following winter.
The trial of Charles Julius Guiteau, who assassinated President James A. Garfield, turned into a public battle over the meaning of insanity.
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