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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.
Following the Great Depression, anti-Semitism was on the rise in America. The US government's response to the Holocaust was slow and fueled by complex social and political factors.
Just days after the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre. As a fractured nation mourned, a manhunt closed in on his assassin, the twenty-six-year-old actor, John Wilkes Booth.
In the Philippines, the most daring rescue mission of World War II took place when Army Rangers liberated 513 prisoners of war three years after the Bataan Death March.
Towards the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler tried his final gamble, a massive surprise assault across the Allied front in Belgium and Luxembourg, in the single biggest and bloodiest battle American soldiers ever fought.
After the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, British and American pilots delivered tons of food and fuel to the German city by airplane for nearly a year in the first battle of the Cold War.
Following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic National Convention saw a clash of political visions on the convention floor and violence outside between police and protesters on the streets of Chicago.
An African American minister whose dream of ending racism galvanized millions of Americans in the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968 but left an enduring legacy.
One of the most popular New Deal programs, the CCC put three million young men to work in camps across America during the height of the Great Depression.
From a small-town Texas murder emerged a landmark civil rights case. The little-known story of the Mexican American lawyers who took Hernandez v. Texas to the Supreme Court, challenging Jim Crow-style discrimination.
On June 6, 1944, Operation Overlord went into effect. Allied troops invaded Normandy, fighting to free Europe from Nazi occupation and end World War II.
The dramatic story of a Vietnamese mother, the Amerasian daughter she sent away for adoption, and their reunion 22 years after the Vietnam War.
Alexander Hamilton -- founding father and coauthor of the Federalist Papers -- went up against political rival and former vice president Aaron Burr in one of history's most famous duels.
This acclaimed 14-hour series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954-1985, tracing African Americans' struggle for equality and justice.
Ten years after American troops arrived in South Vietnam, communists seized Saigon in an attack that brought the war to a startling conclusion. The final chapter in American Experience's 11-hour series, Vietnam.
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.
Joe Louis became a symbol of African American equality and democracy. Max Schmeling represented Hitler's Aryan racial theories and fascism. The two boxers fought in 1938 -- on the eve of World War II.
During World War II more than a thousand women signed up to fly with the U.S. military as WASPS. 38 died in service, though they received no benefits as they had no official military status.
The Freedom Summer of 1964 saw whites and blacks coming together in a nonviolent army to register African American voters, create schools and bring national attention to the struggle for racial equality.
The Alabama governor and four-time presidential candidate promised segregation forever, but after an assassination attempt he asked to be forgiven by African Americans.
The Native American leader fought against U.S. expansion onto Apache tribal land. The story of a tragic collision of two civilizations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Murderer, martyr, hero - John Brown's violent crusade against slavery would divide the nation and spark the Civil War.
A portrait of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert as they confront Alabama governor George Wallace over his determination to keep the all-white University of Alabama segregated.
A saga of ambition, wealth, family loyalty and personal tragedy. From Joseph Kennedy's rise on Wall Street, through John, Robert and Edward's successes and scandals, the family has left a storied political legacy.
Against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, General George Custer and his men were badly surprised and surrounded. The quick battle with no white survivors, told from both sides.
Sworn in after the assassination of JFK, Lyndon Johnson pushed progressive programs like the Civil Rights Act through Congress and won a term as president before the Vietnam War eroded his support. Part of the award-winning The Presidents collection.
The international race to develop biological weapons during the 20th century, the challenges scientists faced, and the moral dilemmas posed by their eventual success. Watch Bonus Footage at the bottom of the chapter menu.
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