Pledge Your Support
Stories to Go
PBS Terms of Use Privacy PolicyWebsite ©1996-2009 WGBH Educational Foundation
This site is produced for PBS by WGBH
|
|
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 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.
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.
The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Earhart disappeared in 1937 while she was attempting to circumnavigate the world by airplane.
America's first superstar, Oakley was the main attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She thrilled audiences with her sharpshooting, and fueled nostalgia for the American frontier West.
The life of the legendary photographer, known best for his black and white images of the wilderness of the American West.
After achieving fame for an exposeé on New York City's mental facility on Blackwell's Island, intrepid journalist Nelly Bly went on a journey around the world breaking the record of Julius Verne's fictional character.
P.T. Barnum -- huckster, con man, promoter, entertainer and founder of "The Greatest Show on Earth" which would become the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Mathematician John Nash's career was cut short by paranoid schizophrenia, but his work became a foundation of modern economic theory. In 1994, as Nash began to show signs of improving, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics.
William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's legendary exploits helped create the myth of the American West that still endures today.
For 21 years, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley ruled the city, building the Sears Tower and O'Hare Airport. He was mayor during Chicago's tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention.
A year in the life of Wyoming cowboys and the ranching families of the American West.
The African American jazz composer and bandleader performed regularly at Harlem's Cotton Club, and thrived from the Depression through World War II, leaving a legacy in music.
Inventor Thomas Edison built the first practical light bulb and revolutionized the world. "The Wizard of Menlo Park" is also credited with the first record player and movie camera, among hundreds of other innovations.
As First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt supported President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies and advocated for civil rights. She became one of the 20th century's most influential women.
The story of a Russian immigrant and anarchist who is said to have inspired the assassination of President William McKinley. "The most dangerous woman in America" was exiled in 1919.
The young CBS reporter changed his pacifist ideals after reporting on the rise of fascism in Europe during World War II. Based on Sevareid's 1946 book of the same name.
A writer's childhood and the development of her photography and writing about the American South. Based on Welty's 1983 autobiography of the same name.
A great playwright's turbulent story: from childhood through the years of his Nobel Prize-winning career (including "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night") to his lonely, painful death.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt restored hope after the Great Depression and led the nation during World War II. Part of the award-winning The Presidents collection.
Cuba's Communist leader defied the odds, surviving his Soviet benefactors, the wrath of U.S. presidents, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and several assassination attempts.
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.
In a nostalgic celebration of old fashioned neighborhood life, the black residents of Tulsa relive their community's remarkable rise and tragic decline.
The story of Liliu'okalani, the last queen and ruler of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii.
The world famous escape artist was an entrepreneur most famous for his underwater acts. He could escape from everything - except his own mortality.
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.
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 last surviving member of a California Indian tribe became a sensation in 1911, but the contact brought him terrible physical and psychological consequences.
Meet the Confederate guerrilla who helped invent his own myth after the Civil War as a Western Robin Hood. In reality, Jesse James was a brutal thief and murderer.
PBS Terms of Use Privacy PolicyADDITIONAL FUNDING PROVIDED BY
