Films: Popular Culture
Browse the entire American Experience series featuring over 250 films. Watch full films online, download teacher’s guides, go behind the scenes, and learn more about your favorite films.
Amelia Earhart : 1 hr
The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Earhart disappeared in 1937 during an attempt to circumnavigate the world by airplane.
The Amish : 2 hrs
Their intense faith and strict adherence to 300-year-old traditions have by turn captivated and repelled, awed and irritated, inspired and confused America.
Annie Oakley : 1 hr
As the star attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Annie Oakley thrilled audiences around the world with her shooting feats. Part of the Wild West collection.
Ansel Adams
The life of the legendary photographer, known best for his black and white images of the wilderness of the American West.
Around the World in 72 Days
Intrepid journalist Nelly Bly went on a journey around the world breaking the record of Julius Verne's fictional character.
Ballad of a Mountain Man : 1 hr
Bascom Lamar Lunsford and his campaign to preserve mountain music and dance.
Barnum's Big Top : 1 hr
P.T. Barnum -- huckster, con man, promoter, entertainer and founder of "The Greatest Show on Earth".
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst fought to suppress a film by Orson Welles, a film that would become one of cinema's masterpieces.
Buffalo Bill : 1 hr
William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's legendary exploits helped create the myth of the American West that still endures today.
The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
The influential musical pioneers from Appalachia whose recordings lifted spirits during the Great Depression.
Chicago 1968 : 1 hr
The 1968 Democratic National Convention saw a clash of political visions on the convention floor and violence outside on the streets of Chicago.
Chicago: City of the Century
The story of Chicago's dramatic transformation from a swampy frontier town to a massive metropolis in the nineteenth century.
A Class Apart : 1 hr
From a small-town Texas murder emerged a landmark civil rights case that successfully challenged Jim Crow-style discrimination against Mexican Americans.
Coney Island
The internationally famous carnival of delights in New York was the birthplace of the hot dog and the roller coaster.
The Crash of 1929 : 1 hr
The unbounded optimism of the Jazz Age and the shocking consequences when reality finally hit on October 29th, 1929.
Death and the Civil War : 2 hrs
The staggering death tolls of the Civil War permanently altered the character of the republic and the psyche of the American people.
Demon Rum : 1 hr
Prohibition's effect on Detroit, Michigan, the first major American city to "go dry," and the growth of the liquor smuggling industry.
Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys? : 1 hr
A year in the life of Wyoming cowboys and the ranching families of the American West.
Eugene O'Neill
A great playwright's turbulent story, from childhood through the years of his Nobel Prize-winning career to his lonely, painful death.
A Family Gathering : 1 hr
The personal journey of three generations of a Japanese American family, including their stint in internment camps during World War II.
The Fight
A man who symbolized African American equality fought a proponent of Hitler's Aryan racial theories on the eve of World War II.
Forbidden City, USA : 1 hr
Before World War II, young Chinese Americans defied cultural tradition in San Francisco's Chinatown, previously closed to outsiders.
Forever Baseball : 1 hr
A wry philosophical essay on what makes baseball the great American pastime.
Freedom Riders : 2 hrs
A courageous band of civil rights activists called Freedom Riders who in 1961 challenged segregation in the American South.
French Dance Tonight : 1 hr
French settlers in Louisiana merged with African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans and others to create Cajun and Zydeco musical traditions.
G-Men - The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover : 1 hr
Of all the alphabet agencies of the New Deal, none captured the public's imagination like J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.
God in America : 6 hrs
For the first time on television, God in America will explore the historical role of religion in the public life of the United States.
Grand Central : 1 hr
A marvel of engineering, architecture, and vision, the story of the Beaux Arts structure on 42nd street that forever changed midtown Manhattan.
