History

American Experience

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools

1h 47m

Explore what happened when the small Mississippi town of Leland integrated its public schools in 1970. Told through the remembrances of students, teachers and parents, the film shows how the town – and America – were transformed.

Episodes

  • The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools

    S35 E8 - 1h 47m

    Explore what happened when the small Mississippi town of Leland integrated its public schools in 1970. Told through the remembrances of students, teachers and parents, the film shows how the town – and America – were transformed.

  • The Busing Battleground: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Busing Battleground

    S35 E7 - 1h 52m

    The Busing Battleground viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that ensued when Black and white students in Boston were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal desegregation order.

  • Casa Susanna: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Casa Susanna

    S35 E6 - 1h 36m

    In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

  • The Sun Queen: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Sun Queen

    S35 E5 - 52m 22s

    Scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun. Though undercut and thwarted by her male colleagues, she persevered to design the first successfully solar-heated house in 1948 and held more than 20 patents.

  • The Movement and the "Madman": asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Movement and the "Madman"

    S35 E4 - 1h 22m

    Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement. Told through firsthand accounts, the film reveals how movement leaders mobilized disparate groups to create two massive protests that changed history.

  • Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History

    S35 E3 - 52m 17s

    Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.

  • Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space

    S35 E2 - 1h 52m

    Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

  • The Lie Detector: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Lie Detector

    S35 E1 - 52m 35s

    Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

Extras + Features

  • Trailer | The Busing Battleground: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Trailer | The Busing Battleground

    S35 E7 - 1m 53s

    The Busing Battleground viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that ensued when Black and white students in Boston were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal desegregation order.

  • After Brown v. Board: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    After Brown v. Board

    S35 E7 - 4m 47s

    Twenty years after the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, most schools across the country hadn't integrated. Then the courts stepped in, again.

  • From the Vault: Bill Russell: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    From the Vault: Bill Russell

    S35 E7 - 2m 18s

    On June 18, 1963, Boston Celtics star and Civil Rights activist Bill Russell addressed the thousands of students who gathered to protest educational inequality and segregation.

  • The Busing Battleground: Who's Who: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Busing Battleground: Who's Who

    S35 E7 - 59s

    In September 1974, Boston schools prepared to integrate via a court-mandated busing plan. The figures facing the moment - activists, agitators, politicians, and students - each had particular interests in mind, and were preparing for the worst.

  • The Tea on Drag: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Tea on Drag

    S35 E6 - 4m 44s

    Through award-winning shows like "RuPaul's Drag Race," drag has re-emerged into American pop culture consciousness. But where does the act come from? How long has it been around? And how is drag different from other kinds of gender nonconforming expression?

  • Trailer | Casa Susanna: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Trailer | Casa Susanna

    S35 E6 - 2m 10s

    In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

  • Chapter 1 | Casa Susanna: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Chapter 1 | Casa Susanna

    S35 E6 - 8m 52s

    Casa Susanna was a refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s-60s.

Schedule

  • Image
    American Experience: TVSS: Iconic

    American Experience

    Roberto Clemente

    Saturday
    Sep 30

    1 Hour

    A committed humanitarian, baseball great Roberto Clemente challenges racial discrimination.
  • Image
    American Experience: TVSS: Iconic

    American Experience

    Roberto Clemente

    Sunday
    Oct 1

    1 Hour

    A committed humanitarian, baseball great Roberto Clemente challenges racial discrimination.

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