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.
Patriots Day
This film follows the 65 "British soldiers" and 67 "American rebels" who reenact the 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord.
The Pill
The story behind the development of the oral contraceptive that put women in control of birth control.
The Polio Crusade : 1 hr
The story of the polio crusade pays tribute to a time when Americans banded together to conquer a terrible disease.
Public Enemy #1
Legendary bank robber John Dillinger garnered the admiration of many struggling Americans, but FBI took him down with a message: crime doesn't pay.
The Quiz Show Scandal
Television game shows became an instant national phenomenon in 1955, but four years later contestant Charles van Doren admitted they were a scam.
The Radio Priest : 1 hr
Roman Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin used the power of radio to rail against the nation's economic system in the Depression.
Riding the Rails : 1 hr
The evocative stories of teenage hoboes crisscrossing America on trains during the Great Depression.
Roberto Clemente : 1 hr
Clemente was an exceptional baseball player whose career sheds light on larger issues of immigration, civil rights and cultural change.
The Rockefellers : 2 hrs
Head of the most powerful family in America, billionaire John D. Rockefeller's vast philanthropy changed his family's reputation.
Seabiscuit : 1 hr
Thoroughbred racehorse Seabiscuit was the long shot that captured America's heart during the Depression.
Silicon Valley : 90 mins
Robert Noyce's invention of the microchip launched the world into the Information Age.
Sister Aimee
The life story of Aimee Semple McPherson, religious evangelist instrumental in bringing conservative Protestantism into mainstream culture.
Soundtrack for a Revolution : 2 hrs
The story of the American civil rights movement is told through its powerful music -- the freedom songs that protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in police wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality.
Stephen Foster
America's first great songwriter, Stephen Foster, wrote 200 songs but died a penniless alcoholic at 37.
Stonewall Uprising : 90 mins
In 1969, homosexuality was illegal in almost every state... but that was about to change. The Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement.
Telegrams from the Dead : 1 hr
A new religion called spiritualism affected the nation in the era of Abraham Lincoln, P. T. Barnum and Frederick Douglass.
That Rhythm, Those Blues : 1 hr
The evolution of rhythm and blues through the careers of singers Ruth Brown and Charles Brown, with contemporary performances by both.
Tupperware! : 1 hr
This funny, probing program re-examines assumptions about American culture in the 1950s.
