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Norman Lear talks about Sammy Davis, Jr.’s guest appearance on All in the Family and how it became an iconic television moment.

Sammy Davis, Jr. reveals the reasons why the song “Mr. Bojangles” resonated so much with him as an entertainer.

An outspoken political activist and singer-songwriter, Holly Near’s music and life story illustrate how song can have the power to send a clarion call and influence the course of social justice – from the lesbian and women’s movements to anti-war efforts and the fight to ...

Explore the complicated history of the American South and its music through the life of country star Charley Pride. Raised in segregated Mississippi, his journey shows the ways that artistic expression can triumph over prejudice and injustice.

X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin’s work contributed to James Watson and Francis Crick’s discovery of DNA’s structure. Yet, Watson insulted Franklin and depicted her in a negative light in his bestselling book “The Double Helix.”

by Nathaniel Comfort “DNA” is a household word. When we read that potent acronym, or see the sinuous twin curves of the double helix, we think “innate,” “fundamental,” “essential,” “science,” “health.” To say something is “in your DNA” is to say that it's part of ...

DNA Discoveries Before Watson and Crick James Watson’s discovery of DNA’s structure, the double helix, with Francis Crick in 1953, revolutionized human understanding of how life works, but other pioneering scientists paved the way for their trailblazing work. In 1869, Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher first ...

  April 6, 1928: James Watson is born in Chicago. In 1943, James Watson enters the University of Chicago at age 15. He’s convinced he wants to study ornithology, but after reading Erwin Schrödinger’s book “What is Life,” he switches his focus to genetics. He ...

The first major film documentary to examine Sammy Davis, Jr.'s vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th century America.

In this excerpt from American Masters — Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler (2015), Itzhak Perlman reminisces about his first encounter as a teenager with the world-famous violinist Jascha Heifetz. Perlman was a violin student at Juilliard and Heifetz visited to hear the 14-year-old play. After performing ...