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- It starts with a live radio broadcast from the Bikini Atoll a few days before it is annihilated by a nuclear test. Shows great footage from these times and tells the story of the US Navy Sailors who were exposed to radioactive fallout. One interviewed sailor suffered grotesquely swollen limbs and he is shown being interviewed with enormous left arm and hand.
- Lise Yasui explores three generations of her Japanese-American family - from their immigration to Oregon in the early 1900s through their imprisonment in internment camps during World War Two.
- A documentary covering the R&B (rhythm and blues) field from the 1940s to the early 1950s. Included is footage of performances by major R&B singers of the time, and interviews with singers, producers and others involved in the field.
- Documentary exploring the struggles of The Donner Party, a group of American pioneers and their two Indigenous guides who became stranded in the Sierras during a horrible winter.
- The NAACP and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall build a Supreme Court case against the policy of segregation.
- An award-winning documentary of the invasion of Normandy in World War II, using rare archival films and pictures from British, American, and German archives. The narrator provides the overall continuity, but the voices of over 50 participants who were involved in the staging of the invasion in Britain or were on the beaches of France bring the images to life.
- 1987– 1h 28mUnrated7.4 (183)TV EpisodeStruggling to keep the family farm in the family.
- Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also as a relative complete bio of Hearst.
- A docudrama adaptation of Ulrich's Pulitzer-winning book, which was based on thousands of entries in the journal of Martha Ballard, a Maine midwife, in the late 1700's and early 1800's. The movie intercuts between reenactments of Ballard doing her Maine midwifery and related tasks, and Ulrich in her eight years of research on her book; in the end, clear comparisons are made between the work of the two women.
- When he left the White House in 1989, Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular presidents of the century. A former Hollywood star and seemingly simple man, Reagan was consistently underestimated by his opponents. One by one, he overcame them all. Incorporating interviews with key political insiders, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and members of the Reagan family, "Reagan" explores the man who saw America as a "shining city on a hill" and himself as its heroic defender. The program follows Reagan's life from his itinerant boyhood in Illinois to his battle with "communist agitators" in the Screen Actors Guild and his dramatic 1980 victory over Jimmy Carter. Only 70 days into his presidency, a would-be assassin's bullet left him more debilitated than anyone knew. Reagan's massive military buildup and bold challenges to the Soviet Union caused his critics to portray him as a trigger-happy cowboy. But he negotiated deep cuts in nuclear weapons and resolved to end the Cold War. Five years after leaving office, Reagan announced he had Alzheimer's disease and dropped from public view. [info from DVD container]
- 1987– 1h 50m8.5 (117)TV EpisodeAn assassin's bullet ended the life of William McKinley in 1901, making his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, an "accidental" president at the age of 42.
- 1987– 1h 30m8.1 (103)TV EpisodeDocumentary chronicling the history of World War II's "Battle of the Bulge", when the German army launched a major surprise counteroffensive against the American forces that caught them almost completely off-guard, sweeping away major portions of the front line, pushing deep into the rear areas and causing tens of thousands of casualties before it was finally halted.
- 1987–7.5 (72)TV EpisodeAs the campaign to force Jews out of Germany ramps up, the American government blocks efforts to help rescue many of these displaced persons, and Americans' antisemitism only seems to get worse.
- In the 1850s, thousands of homeless children roamed New York City streets in search of food and shelter. The Children's Aid Society sent the children on trains to rural areas, where families would take in the orphans.
- Biography of U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur. Part one looks at his early life and service in World War I.
- The story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in World War II.
- Rising more than 700 feet above the raging waters of the Colorado River, it was called one of the greatest engineering works in history. The Hoover Dam, built during the Great Depression, drew men desperate for work to a remote and rugged canyon near Las Vegas. There they struggled against heat, choking dust and perilous heights to build a colossus of concrete that brought electricity and water to millions and transformed the American Southwest.
- 1987–6.8 (16)TV EpisodeRecounting the historic attack of 1941, including the planning and military outlook of both the United States and Japan at the time.
- A documentary chronicling the events surrounding the murder of famed architect Stanford White by millionaire Harry Thaw over the affections of showgirl Evelyn Nesbitt in New York in 1906.
- A documentary about the history of African American race films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
- 1987– 1h 30mApproved6.7 (51)TV EpisodeThe personal development of George Washington is the focus as Producer David Sutherland brings to life a uniquely human Washington who transformed himself from social climber into a patriot willing to give up everything for a higher cause.
- The film explores the beginnings of America's first amusement park and takes us through its good times all the way up to its end. The show was originally produced for PBS's American Experience.
- 1987– 1h 52mTV-PG8.1 (119)TV EpisodeAward winning filmmaker David Grubin profiles one of the most controversial U.S. presidents, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of power, only to suffer disillusionment and defeat. Witness the events that brought LBJ from Texas to Washington, the White House, and a landslide election in 1964. Follow his triumphs in passing a wave of social legislation then his downward spiral which ends in withdrawal from politics. This is the first of two parts.
- History of the American and Soviet development of the H-bomb.
- Exploration of life in America in the first year of the 20th century, using archive film footage and photographs.
- 1987– 1h 30m7.2 (28)TV EpisodeLife story of the controversial African-American leader Marcus Garvey.
- 1987– 6h8.4 (158)TV EpisodeThe story of the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's childhoods - his in a remote backwoods log cabin, hers in a wealthy Kentucky home - and describes their courtship.
- Polio at age 39, president at age 50. Explore the public and private life of a determined man who steered this country through two monumental crises: the Depression and World War II. FDR served as president longer than any other, and his legacy still shapes our understanding of the role of government and the presidency. A film by award winning filmmaker David Grubin. This is the first of two parts.
- The worst nuclear-power-plant accident in U.S. history.
- A documentary based on the book "War Letters; Extraordinary Correspondence From American Wars" by Andrew Carroll.
- For more than thirty years, Eleanor Roosevelt was America's most powerful woman. Millions adored her, but her FBI file was thicker than a stack of phone books. She spoke out fearlessly for civil rights, and the KKK put a price on her head. She helped Franklin D. Roosevelt rise to power and was one of his most valuable political assets, but the media satirized her as an ugly busybody. Drawing on interviews with her closest relatives, friends, and biographers, as well as rare home movie footage, the film reveals the hidden dimensions of one of the century's most influential women. She was born to wealth and power but orphaned at the age of 10. Her private life was marked by tragedy, infidelity, and a never-ending search for intimacy. Yet she persevered, fighting tirelessly for social justice for all and taking a lead role in the United Nations landmark Declaration of Human Rights.
- On August 1, 1942, a 22-year-old Mexican American man was stabbed to death at a party. To white Los Angelenos, the murder was just more proof that Mexican American crime was spiraling out of control. The police fanned out across LA, netting 600 young Mexican American suspects. Almost all those taken into custody were wearing the distinctive uniform of their generation: zoot-suits. The tragic murder and the injustice of the trial that followed, coupled with sensational news coverage of both, fanned the flames of the racial hostility that was already running rife in the city. Within months of the verdict, Los Angeles was in the grip of some of the worst violence in its history.
- Story of the first great American song writer, composer of "My Old Kentucky Home," "Camptown Races," "Listen to the Flower People" and more.
- Few American artists have reached a wider audience, or enjoyed more widespread popularity in their own lifetime, than Ansel Adams. None has had more profound an impact on how Americans grasp the majesty of their continent, or done more to transform how people think and feel about the meaning of the natural world. A visionary photographer, a pioneer in photographic technique and a crusader for the environment, Adams would take part in an extraordinary revolution: in photography, and ways of seeing what he called "the continuous beauty of the things that are." His greatest photographs would seek to capture "the instant of revelation -- of timelessness" amidst the evanescence of the natural world. Ansel Adams is the intimate portrait of a great artist and ardent environmentalist -- for whom life and art, photography and wilderness, creativity and communication, love and expression, were inextricably connected. ANSEL ADAMS, a ninety-minute documentary film written and directed by Ric Burns, and broadcast on national public television in April 2002, provides an elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of this most eloquent and quintessentially American of photographers.
- The great influenza pandemic of 1918 - the worst epidemic ever seen in the United States.
- The story of Carl Graham Fisher, an Indiana entrepreneur who created Miami Beach out of the Florida swamps.
- Biography of U.S. President Harry S Truman.
- During World War II and the era of staunch racial segregation, a Black carpenter's son named Vivien Thomas, who had a talent for surgery, along with a white surgeon named Dr. Alfred Blalock, who defied the medical establishment created a partnership that changed the course of cardiac surgery. With only a high school diploma, Thomas became a leading cardiac pioneer and educator of two generations of the United States' premiere heart surgeons. This moving documentary tells the story of Thomas and his relationship with Blalock, one that ushered in advances in surgery that are still in existence today.
- After his famous flight, Charles Lindbergh becomes known to all the world but struggles with life in the limelight.
- The story of the female investigative reporter, Nellie Bly and her race around the world in less than 80 days.
- A documentary examining the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old boy from Chicago while visiting relatives in Mississippi, and the broad impact of his death, his funeral, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his white killers.
- A documentary recounting the development of the birth control pill.
- Exploding dam kills thousands in massive flood catastrophe in Pennsylvania in 1889.
- In 1875, Captain Richard Pratt ordered 72 Indian warriors suspected who had fought white colonists to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Once there, Pratt began an experiment which involved teaching Indians to read and write, making them learn English and forcing them to be Christians, barring Native languages and religions, and putting even children as young as five in uniforms and drilling them like soldiers. "Kill the Indian and the save the man," was Pratt's brutal motto. A film about cultural genocide that Richard Pratt began to forcibly assimilate Native Americans into white culture with the creation of the Carlilse School for Indians in 1879. Pratt's school, and others like it, claimed noble intentions. The death toll was high from physical abuse and disease. Similar efforts in Australis and Canada are considered genocide, leading to investigations and official government apologies. These forced assimilation efforts lasted well into the 1930s, when they were abandoned as destructive and worsening poverty, unemployment, and suicide rates.
- He was boxy, with stumpy legs that wouldn't completely straighten a short straggly tail and an ungainly gait; though he didn't look the part, Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred racehorses in history. In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of Depression-era life, four men turned Seabiscuit into a national hero. They were his fabulously wealthy owner Charles Howard, his famously silent and stubborn trainer Tom Smith and the two hard-bitten, gifted jockeys who rode him to glory. By following the paths that brought these four together and in telling the story of Seabiscuit's unlikely career, this film illuminates the precarious economic conditions that defined America in the 1930s and explores the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of thoroughbred racing. Scott Glenn narrates.
- In 1931 the rains stopped and the "black blizzards" began. Powerful dust storms carrying millions of tons of stinging, blinding black dirt swept across the Southern Plains--the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, western Kansas, and the eastern portions of Colorado and New Mexico. Topsoil that had taken a thousand years per inch to build suddenly blew away in only minutes. One journalist traveling through the devastated region dubbed it the "Dust Bowl." This American Experience film presents the remarkable story of the determined people who clung to their homes and way of life, enduring drought, dust, disease--even death--for nearly a decade. Less well-known than those who sought refuge in California, typified by the Joad family in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," the Dust Bowlers who stayed overcame an almost unbelievable series of calamities and disasters.
- This is about the origins of Tupperware in Massachusetts.
- Documentary on the life of American abolitionist John Brown.
- Documentary on the boxing match between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling, which captured the world's attention on June 22, 1938.
- 1987– 1h 29mUnrated7.3 (461)TV Episode75MetascoreA documentary on the curious American domestic terrorist group, infamous for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst.
- A documentary that draws on input from a broad cross-section of people to examine to last five years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life.
- The story of America's high-altitude U-2 spy plane.
- The grand vision of sculptor Gutzon Borgum and the logistics behind the massive monument located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
- 1987– 55mTV-PG7.1 (99)TV EpisodeRussian immigrant Emma Goldman verbally attacked the U.S. government, big business and World War I before becoming expatriated in 1919.
- Documentary examining the impact and continuing influence of 'Alfred Kinsey''s groundbreaking research on human sexuality.
- Through interviews with film historians and biographers, and through archival footage, the rise and fall of the professional life of actress and businessperson Mary Pickford (1892-1979) - born Gladys Smith - and the associated ebbs and flows in her personal life, are presented. At the height of her fame, she was dubbed "America's Sweetheart" despite being born in Canada. Mary's widowed mother, Charlotte Smith, got herself, Mary and Mary's two siblings into the somewhat disreputable profession of acting - first on the stage, then into the emerging form of moving pictures - as a means of economic survival, but it soon became clear of Mary's star quality compared to her other family members. Mary and Charlotte's foray into the business side of show business was in a means to take control of Mary's own career, against the actions of impresarios and studio executives who may not have had Mary's best interests at heart. Arguably the biggest maneuver in Mary's business life was the formation of United Artists in 1919 with director D.W. Griffith, fellow actor Charles Chaplin and who would become her second of three husbands, fellow actor Douglas Fairbanks, that marriage the most famous of the three despite not being the longest. United Artists was not only a means to distribute the movies made under their production company under their control, but to provide an outlet for all creative artists in the motion picture business some financial security. Mary's slide began in the late 1920s having overextended herself in her own human resource on the business side, and her adoring fans not allowing her to grow up on screen, the advent of talking pictures only one of the many aspects which showed a Mary with who the public could not relate. Mary's Academy Award win as Best Actress in 1930 for Coquette (1929), not a typical Pickford role and the first speaking role to win the award, is largely seen as an award to her contributions to the film industry as opposed to an award for this particular role.
- 1987– 1hTV-PG6.9 (32)TV EpisodeA group of former slaves tries to save its bankrupt school, Fisk University, by performing concerts as the Jubilee Singers. They toured along the path of the Underground Railroad in the United States, as well as England and throughout Europe.
- Part One: The Garish Sun: Robert F. Kennedy devotes himself to his brother John, then deals with the pain of the assassination.
- Tells how in just 60 years Chicago grew from a remote, swampy frontier town into one of the most explosively alive cities in the world.
- 1987–7.2 (47)TV Episode
- 1987–6.8 (36)TV Episode
- Nineteenth-century Spiritualism. Life after death proved by "science."
- 1987–7.0 (32)TV EpisodeA story of the formation and service of the first all-Black military unit in the United States during the Civil War.
- The assassination of President James Garfield in 1880 by Charles Guiteau, who believed his actions were ordained by God, resulted in a trial where the plea "innocent by reason of insanity" was used for the first time.
- Documentary about architect Robert Moses who is responsible for public works projects like the Lincoln Center and the United Nations in New York.
- The true story of the legendary outlaw Jesse James.
- Commander Richard Byrd's winter at the South Pole.
- 1987– 1h 51mTV-PG8.0 (111)TV EpisodeAward winning filmmaker David Grubin profiles one of the most controversial U.S. presidents, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of power, only to suffer disillusionment and defeat. Witness the events that brought LBJ from Texas to Washington, the White House, and a landslide election in 1964. Follow his triumphs in passing a wave of social legislation then his downward spiral which ends in withdrawal from politics. This is the second of two parts.
- A biography of Philo Farnsworth, an inventor of the television.
- The story of Thomas Edison's creation of a safe electric light system.
- Follows the construction of the New York City subway system in the early 1900s.
- The telephone was first introduced at the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and was an instant success. Although first rented only to "persons of good breeding" and seen as an expensive luxury for doctors and businessmen, the telephone soon transformed American life. Trees gave way to telephone poles as operators known as "hello girls" began to connect a sprawling continent.
- The building of the railroad between Sacramento, California and Omaha, Nebraska.
- America's love affair with the quiz show is dealt a blow when it's revealed that the games are fixed.
- 1987–7.5 (29)TV EpisodeThe story of Emeline Bachelder, an early 19th-century New Englander who married a younger man - only to discover that he was the son she had give up when she was fourteen.
- A documentary about the Battle of Ong Thanh and the protest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the Vietnam War.
- An exploration of the Native Americans of 1830s western America, as seen through the eyes of European travelers Prince Maximilian of Bavaria and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer.
- A profile on American writer Eudora Welty.
- The historical events of nineteenth-century America as depicted in the quilts of the country's women.
- The story of Father Charles Coughlin who, during the Depression, used the radio to protest against what he saw as society's ills.
- 1987–6.3 (14)TV EpisodeWriter James Agee and photographer Walker Evans revisit the Alabama tenant system depicted in their 1936 book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men".
- 1987– 56m6.6 (39)TV EpisodeThe life of Geronimo, as told by the Chiricahua Apaches.
- In 1931, Honolulu's tropical tranquility was shattered when a young Navy wife made an allegation of rape against five islanders.
- 1987– 1h6.4 (22)TV EpisodeA look at modern-day cowboys in the Wyoming Rockies.
- 1987– 52m7.0 (15)TV EpisodeFilmmaker Robert Drew updates his 1963 documentary Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) which followed the confrontation between President Kennedy and Alabama governor George Wallace.
- Sept 6, 1970 the Popular Front for the Liberation hijacked four planes to attract attention to the Palestinian cause and secure the release of several of their comrades, then they blew them up.
- The spread of Prohibition from Henry Ford's Detroit factories nationwide
- 1987– 58m6.2 (15)TV EpisodeJournalist Eric Sevareid recounts his experiences growing up during the Great Depression and World War II.
- A profile of historian Angie Debo and her exposure of the governmental conspiracy to steal mineral-rich lands from their tribal owners.
- Follows the 1924 attempt by four U.S. Army Air Corps biplanes to circumnavigate the globe.
- 1987– 56m7.9 (87)TV EpisodeAn account of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the subsequent effort to rebuild.
- America's experiences in France during World War I.
- 1987– 2h8.1 (134)TV EpisodeThe life and career of American playwright Eugene O'Neill.
- This final chapter provides a powerful portrait of the events leading up to and following 9/11, reaching back to when the idea of a "world trade center" was first conceived and the towers were constructed. Explore the physical, economic, and symbolic aftermath of the attack and what Americans can learn from the recovery effort.
- This one hour documentary examines the life of the famed Sharp Shooter and Wild West performer, Annie Oakley from her birth in mid nineteenth century rural Pennsylvania to her death in 1926. Many myths are overturned and the program also features a little known trial when Annie Oakley had to sue The Hearst Newspaper chain all throughout the country for libel when they reported the activities of someone who was impersonating the famed sharpshooter and besmirching her reputation.
- The creation of the 1,500-mile Alaska-Canada Highway.
- A biography of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
- The story of the Apollo 8 mission to the moon.
- The story of Cyrus Field and the creation of the transatlantic telegraph line.
- The story of the Nuremberg Trials and Robert Jackson, the chief prosecutor.
- Documentary about Chicago's mayor, Richard J. Daley.
- 1987– 1h6.9 (24)TV EpisodeA chronicle of the organized efforts to help slaves find freedom in the north.
- 1987–6.8 (17)TV Episode
- Jimmy Carter ran for president on a wave of post-Watergate disaffection with Washington politics. But inexperience, inflation, recession, and the Iran hostage crisis, derailed his presidency dramatically. His crowning achievement, the Camp David Accords, created a framework for Middle East peace, inspiring his life since. The film traces his ascent from Plains, Georgia, to the Oval Office and explores the role of religion in his career. This is the first of two parts.
- Richard M. Nixon was one of American history's most powerful figures. Recalling events etched in U.S. memory, this three-hour program explores a fateful mix of strength and weakness that made him president, and then brought him down. Events revealing Nixon's distinctive signature in American politics, from a meteoric rise to Congress to the presidency and the morass of Watergate, unfold in three parts: The Quest, Triumph, and The Fall. This is the second of three parts.
- In the spring of 1927, after weeks of incessant rains, the Mississippi River went on a rampage from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana, inundating hundreds of towns, killing as many as a thousand people and leaving a million people homeless. In Greenville, Mississippi, efforts to contain the river pitted the majority black population against an aristocratic white plantation family, the Percys. It also pitted the Percys against themselves. This is a dramatic true story of greed, power and race during one of America's greatest natural disasters.
- 1987– 1h 30m7.6 (54)TV EpisodePart one focuses on people and events from 1865-68.
- 1987– 1h 30m7.4 (44)TV EpisodePart two follows several blacks and whites in the south between 1867 and 1877.
- 1987–5.8 (10)TV Episode
- This episode analyzes the reasons for and the consequences of the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
- Survivors recall the hurricane that devastated Rhode Island and New York's Long Island.
- 1987– 2h7.8 (52)TV Episode
- 1987– 1h6.7 (18)TV Episode
- The controversial rise of John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil multinational, the largest and most powerful company in the world at the time.
- Faced with growing public odium and frequent lawsuits, the Rockefeller family is forced to change with the times as John D. Rockefeller's son and his descendants seek to rebrand the family name by focusing on philanthropy and politics.
- In 1925 a Tennessee high school teacher is arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. A momentous trial ensues, pitting fundamentalist preaching against freedom of thought and speech.
- Examines the stock market crash of 1929 with interviews from descendants of several Wall Street insiders.
- 1987– 53mTV-PG6.6 (128)TV EpisodeThe history of jeans, from their roots in slavery to the Wild West, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop.
- The world's first successful in-vitro fertilization takes place in Great Britain resulting in a live birth on July 25,1978.
- 1987– 52mNot Rated7.1 (39)TV EpisodeThe life and times of The Carter Family, one of the earliest and most-influential group in American country and roots music.
- From his humble beginnings as an immigrant, to his infamous death, the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton is explored.
- 1987– 1h 54mTV-PG7.8 (55)TV EpisodeEpisode five tells the African-American experience and the birth of the new media industries.
- 1987– 1h 54mTV-PG8.2 (59)TV EpisodeEpisode two looks at New York's rise as a burgeoning cultural center and multi-ethnic port.
- 1987– 1h 51mTV-PG8.2 (59)TV EpisodeEpisode three turns the spotlight on greed and wealth.
- 1987– 2h 17mTV-PG8.1 (51)TV EpisodeEpisode seven chronicles the history of New York from the end of the Second World War to the present.
- 1987– 1h 54mTV-PG8.2 (51)TV EpisodeReveals the immense new forces that were unleashed in New York.
- 1987– 1h 52mTV-PG8.3 (76)TV EpisodeEpisode one begins in 1609 and chronicles the arrival of the Dutch.
- 1987– 1h 54mTV-PG8.1 (57)TV EpisodeEpisode four follows New York into a new century.
- Soon after the United States entered World War II, President Roosevelt received information that Germany and Japan were developing biological weapons. In response, the U.S. and its allies rushed to develop their own germ warfare program, enlisting some of America's most promising scientists in the effort. This program examines the race to develop biological weapons in the 40s and 50s, and the challenges and moral dilemmas the scientists faced
- The story of "march king" John Philip Sousa and the connections between his music and the mood of the nation during his time.
- Sister Aimee tells the dramatic life story Aimee Semple McPherson, the controversial, charismatic, wildly popular evangelist who was instrumental in bringing conservative Protestantism into mainstream culture and American politics.
- 1987– 1h 30m8.2 (105)TV EpisodeTodays theme is Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple.
- Thousands of young people flock to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in the summer of 1967.
- Somewhat different than part 1, which was a selective treatment of Mormon history, part 2 explores the lives of many different kinds of Mormons, going for more breadth than depth. As such only one family interviewed represented the bulk of actively participating Mormons, while the rest of those interviewed represented mostly fringe members, inactive members, ex-members.
- The following topics are covered: history of Joseph Smith based almost entirely on 2nd and 3rd person accounts, Haun's Mill massacre, early polygamy, modern polygamy as practiced by excommunicated Mormons, Mountain Meadows massacre with arguments blaming church leadership, the action-less Mormon militia, and the burning of an anti-Mormon press, and delay in giving the priesthood to non-whites until the 1970's. What isn't covered: 1st person accounts by members of the early days of the church, percentages of how many were involved in the topics covered, building of the Nauvoo (the largest city in Illinois) out of a swamp, 1000+ deaths that resulted from building Nauvoo (mostly malaria), the extermination from Kirtland, the extermination from Nauvoo, the 1000's that died on the trek to Salt Lake City as required by the Extermination Order by Gov. Boggs, the ensuing volunteer-staffed Mormon battalion of the US Government and their 2000 mile march, the rape and expulsion of nearly all Mormons and repossession of their property in the mid-west, the influx of 100,000's of Mormons from England where most of the converts originated, the church welfare system that abolished poverty among Mormons during the great depression, and anything about the years from 1900 through 1970 or from 1980 to present.
- 1987– 55m7.0 (58)TV EpisodeProfiling the pioneering aviator whose plane disappeared during her 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the Earth.
- 1987–6.9 (43)TV Episode
- 1987–6.7 (40)TV Episode
- On 27 January 1967, the disastrous failure of Apollo 1 risked the cancellation of America's space program altogether. Within two years of the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to escape the Earth's gravity and orbit the moon.
- 1987–8.4 (87)TV EpisodeTracking the early years of the space race beginning in 1957 as the U.S. struggles to catch up with the Soviet Union.
- 1987–8.6 (78)TV EpisodeThe years 1969-1970 take Americans to the moon and back; what happens to scientific and engineering programs after goals are achieved.
- 1987–7.9 (179)TV EpisodeCelebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the 1969 three-day music and art fair at a farm in New York that marked the end of one of the most turbulent decades in American History.
- 1987– 1h 26mTV-PG7.9 (152)TV EpisodeEach of the episodes focuses on important historical events and concludes with a short contemporary story that links the past to the present.
- Exploring the Hatfield-McCoy feud through the years 1863-1891, which involved two rural families of the West Virginia-Kentucky area along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River.
- This documentary surveys the rise and fall of the notorious Communist-hunting Republican senator from Wisconsin, who helped spread a climate of suspicion and fear in early 1950s America.
- Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is today one of the most-recognized figures in American literary history: poet, patriot and faithful advocate of democracy. His name graces shopping malls, highway rest stops, and local high schools.
- Chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley takes on food manufacturers to banish dangerous substances threatening the health of consumers, laying the groundwork for U.S. consumer protection laws and the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
- This program tells the gripping tale of medical intervention gone awry.
- Story of P.T. Barnum and his role in developing the American Circus into a large business and a cultural force.
- The work of a notable civil rights crusader in the late 19th and early 20th century.
- 1987–7.1 (19)TV Episode
- In 1886, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show played to over one million people in New York City. It was one of the most elaborate shows on earth. There were cowboys and Indians, sharp shooters including the famed Annie Oakley, hundreds of horses, buffalo, elk and donkeys, with more than 200 cast members, all moving about in a sweeping western landscape of mountains and plains. It would go on to dazzle crowds in London, Paris, Rome and Barcelona, cementing the legend of the Wild West in the minds of people around the globe. Behind the extravaganza was one man -- a meager plainsman turned international celebrity and frontier hero, whose meteoric rise to fame was made possible only by his genius, and his hucksterism. His name was William Cody, better known to the world as Buffalo Bill.
- On January 8, 1902, a commuter train traveling through a tunnel in New York City's Grand Central Depot ran into another train, killing 17 people. An engineer's innovative response to the crisis gave birth to one of America's greatest establishments: Grand Central Terminal.
- 1987– 53mTV-147.4 (77)TV EpisodePlant breeder Norman Borlaug solves India's famine problem and leads a "Green Revolution" of agriculture programs around the world, saving 1 billion lives and winning a 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
- Biography and political career of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.
- Japanese American researcher Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, aka Mr. Tornado, created the Fujita scale of tornado intensity and damage and is credited with advancing modern understanding of severe weather phenomena.
- Roberto Clemente is an in-depth look at an exceptional baseball player and committed humanitarian who challenged racial discrimination to become baseball's first Latino superstar. Featuring interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors David Maraniss and George F. Will; Clemente's wife Vera; Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda; and former teammates, the documentary presents an intimate and revealing portrait of a man whose passion and grace made him a legend.
- Second of 2 2-hour episodes. Final few years of the struggle for woman suffrage, focusing substantially on the efforts of Alice Paul. Also sometimes airs as 4 one-hour episodes.
- Biography and political career of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.
- 100 years after the 19th Amendment passed, The Vote tells the dramatic story of the hard-fought and transformative campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, resulting in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.
- This installment provides a provocative look at the collision of race, culture and the burgeoning science of anthropology as it recounts the life of Minik, later named Minik Wallace, a Greenland Inuit who came to America in 1897 courtesy of explorer Robert Peary. Considered an uncommon species at the time, 7-year-old Minik and four other Eskimos were taken to New York City for study at the American Museum of Natural History.
- The work of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, America's first female cryptanalyst, brings down Al Capone, breaks up a Nazi spy ring in South America, and lays the foundation for the National Security Agency (NSA).
- William Randolph Hearst builds the nation's largest media empire by the 1930s. Born into one of America's wealthiest families, he used his outlets to achieve unprecedented political power, then ran for office himself.
- 1987– 1h 55mTV-148.1 (106)TV EpisodeThe Blinding of Isaac Woodard: How a horrific incident of racial violence became a powerful catalyst for the civil rights movement. In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in WWII, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. The local chief of police savagely beat him, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind. The shocking incident made national headlines and, when the police chief was acquitted by an all-white jury, the blatant injustice would change the course of American history. Based on Richard Gergel's book "Unexampled Courage", the film details how the crime led to the racial awakening of President Harry Truman, who desegregated federal offices and the military two years later. The event also ultimately set the stage for the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education" decision, which finally outlawed segregation in public schools and jump-started the modern civil rights movement.
- The story behind the mail order tome that brought merchandise (or dreams of it) within reach of Americans far and wide.
- 1987– 1h 18mTV-PG7.8 (116)TV EpisodeIn February of 1909, the indomitable Chiricahua Apache warrior and war shaman Geronimo lay on his deathbed. He summoned his nephew to his side, whispering, "I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive." It was an admission of regret from a man whose insistent pursuit of military resistance in the face of overwhelming odds confounded not only his Mexican and American enemies, but many of his fellow Apaches as well. Born around 1820, Geronimo grew into a leading warrior and healer. But after his tribe was relocated to an Arizona reservation in 1872, he became a focus of the fury of terrified white settlers, and of the growing tensions that divided Apaches struggling to survive under almost unendurable pressures. To angry whites, Geronimo became the archfiend, perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, the upholder of the old Chiricahua ways. To other Apaches, especially those who had come to see the white man's path as the only viable road, Geronimo was a stubborn troublemaker, unbalanced by his unquenchable thirst for vengeance, whose actions needlessly brought the enemy's wrath down on his own people. At a time when surrender to the reservation and acceptance of the white man's civilization seemed to be the Indians' only realistic options, Geronimo and his tiny band of Chiricahuas fought on. The final holdouts, they became the last Native American fighting force to capitulate formally to the government of the United States.
- Following the Civil War, a group of young ex-slaves in Nashville, Tenn., set out to save their bankrupt school by giving concerts. Throughout the North and in venues across Europe, they introduced audiences to the power of spirituals.
- 1987–8.3 (63)TV EpisodeThe film of the ships in New York harbor at the time of T.R.'s return is run backwards, as the smoke is seen going back into the smoke stacks.
- 1987– 1h 16mTV-PG8.0 (129)TV EpisodeThe Cherokee would call it Nu-No-Du-Na Tlo-Hi-Lu, "The Trail Where They Cried." On May 26, 1838, federal troops forced thousands of Cherokee from their homes in the Southeastern United States, driving them toward Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way. For years the Cherokee had resisted removal from their land in every way they knew. Convinced that white America rejected Native Americans because they were "savages," Cherokee leaders established a republic with a European-style legislature and legal system. Many Cherokee became Christian and adopted westernized education for their children. Their visionary principal chief, John Ross, would even take the Cherokee case to the Supreme Court, where he won a crucial recognition of tribal sovereignty that still resonates. The Supreme Court ruling proved no deterrent to President Andrew Jackson's demands that the Cherokee leave their ancestral lands. A complex debate divided the Cherokee Nation, with Chief Ross urging the Cherokee to stay, and Major Ridge, a respected tribal leader, urging the tribe to move West and rebuild, going so far as to sign a removal treaty himself without the authority to do so. Though in the end the Cherokee embrace of "civilization" and their landmark legal victory proved no match for white land hunger and military power, the Cherokee people were able, with characteristic ingenuity, to build a new life in Oklahoma, far from the land that had sustained them for generations.
- 1987– 1h 17mTV-PG8.0 (163)TV EpisodeIn March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit (actor Marcos Akiaten, Chiricauha Apache), the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of native help. Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit's diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit's son (actor Annowon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag), the Wampanoag and their native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.
- A profile of former president Jimmy Carter. In 1980, after one term, he lost in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, receiving 41 percent of the popular vote. In the following years, however, he forged a new legacy as a respected statesman and humanitarian. The documentary charts his ascent during the turbulent 1970s; explores the role of his wife Rosalynn as his confidant and adviser; and details his successful post-presidency years.
- On Easter Sunday, 1939, contralto Marian Anderson stepped up to a microphone in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Inscribed on the walls of the monument behind her were the words "all men are created equal." Barred from performing in Constitution Hall because of her race, Anderson would sing for the American people in the open air. Hailed as a voice that "comes around once in a hundred years" by maestros in Europe and widely celebrated by both white and black audiences at home, her fame hadn't been enough to spare her from the indignities and outright violence of racism and segregation. Voice of Freedom interweaves Anderson's rich life story with this landmark moment in history, exploring fundamental questions about talent, race, fame, democracy and the American soul.
- In 1951 in the town of Edna, Texas, a field hand named Pedro Hernandez murdered his employer after exchanging words at a gritty cantina. From this seemingly unremarkable small-town murder emerged a landmark civil rights case that would forever change the lives and legal standing of tens of millions of Americans. A team of unknown Mexican American lawyers took the case, Hernandez v. Texas, all the way to the Supreme Court, where they successfully challenged Jim Crow-style discrimination against Mexican Americans. In his law office in San Antonio, a well-known attorney named Gus Garcia listened to the desperate pleas of Pedro Hernandezs mother, who traveled more than one-hundred-and-fifty miles to ask him to defend her son. Garcia quickly realized that there was more to this case than murder; the real concern was not Hernandezs guilt, but whether he could receive a fair trial with an all-Anglo jury deciding his fate. Garcia assembled a team of courageous attorneys who argued on behalf of Hernandez from his first trial at the Jackson County Courthouse in Texas all the way to Washington, DC. It would be the first time a Mexican American appeared before the Supreme Court. The Hernandez lawyers decided on a daring but risky legal strategy, arguing that Mexican Americans were a class apart and did not neatly fit into a legal structure that recognized only black and white Americans. As legal skirmishes unfolded, the lawyers emerged as brilliant, dedicated, humorous, and at times, terribly flawed men.
- 1987–7.0 (18)TV Episode"The Time Has Come 1964-1966": Explores Black militancy and the roots of the Black power movement. Also tracks the influence of ideas of Black separatism and Black nationalism on a new generation of Blacks and analyzes the long-term impact they had on whites who supported the freedom movement. "Two Societies 1965-1968": Northern cities served as the backdrop for confrontations on a scale the civil rights movement had never seen before the mid-1960s. Scarred by widespread discrimination, Black inner-city neighborhoods became sites of crumbling houses, poverty and street violence. Although the Black-led movement for social change and equality in the North had a long history, it had not received the same media attention the struggle in the South had.
- 1987–7.1 (21)TV Episode"Power. 1966-1968": Explores the influence of the idea of Black power on freedom movement. Follows leaders of three Black communities in their efforts to gain political and economic power that would enable advancements in employment, housing and education. "The Promised Land 1967-1968": Martin Luther King, Jr. stakes out new ground for himself and the rapidly fragmenting civil rights movement. He is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee at the Lorraine Motel.
- 1987–7.1 (19)TV Episode"Ain't Gonna Shuffle No More 1964-1972": Explores a call to pride and a push for unity to galvanize Blacks. Cassius Clay challenges America to accept him as Muhammad Ali, who refuses to fight in Vietnam. Students at the traditionally Black Howard University fight to bring the growing Black consciousness movement and their African heritage inside the walls of the institution. "A Nation of Law? 1968-1971": Black activism is increasingly met with violent and unethical response from local and federal law enforcement. A five-day inmate takeover at Attica Prison calls the public's attention to conditions there leaves 43 dead, of which 39 were killed by police.
- Episode: (2008)1987–7.1 (23)TV Episode"The Keys to the Kingdom 1974-1980": In the 1970s, anti-discrimination rights are put to the test. Boston Whites violently resist the federal school desegregation order. Atlanta's mayor Jackson proves affirmative action can work, but Bakke decision challenges that policy. "Back to the Movement 1979-Mid 1980s": Explores new and old challenges that Black communities faced 25 years after civil rights struggle began. Also explores Black communities in Miami and Chicago and chronicles their dramatically different responses to these challenges.
- Follow George H.W. Bush from his childhood into war as a combat pilot in the U.S. Navy. Later, the Bushes moved to the oil fields of Texas where he became a Republican leader, the party that he would lead - and struggle with - as President.
- George H.W. Bush: Part II -- President Bush was a pivotal player during a critical moment in world history. But despite soaring approval ratings following victory in the Persian Gulf, his years as president after the war were marked by almost unrelieved decline.
- 1987– 1h 30mTV-PG7.6 (108)TV Episode
- This film interweaves the personal accounts of polio survivors with the story of an ardent crusader who tirelessly fought on their behalf while scientists raced to eradicate this dreaded disease
- 1987– 1h 51mTV-PG7.7 (142)TV EpisodeThis biography presents a complex and revealing portrait of one of America's most influential scientists.
- 1987– 1h 30mTV-PG7.9 (115)TV EpisodeOn the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars, horns blaring, rolled into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. The protesters were demanding redress for grievances-some going back more than 100 years-and the expulsion of Pine Ridge tribal leader Dick Wilson, who governed the reservation through corruption and intimidation. In Wounded Knee, the gripping and controversial story of the armed standoff between American Indian activists and the federal government that captured the world's attention for 71 suspenseful days is brought to life.
- 1987– 1h8.0 (47)TV EpisodeThe Lincoln marriage is both tempestuous and passionate: she has a temper; he suffers bouts of depression. But they share a powerful political ambition.
- 1987– 1h8.0 (46)TV EpisodeWhen the Lincolns arrive in Washington in 1861, the country is breaking apart. The country's president-elect is unknown, untested and mistrusted.
- 1987–7.4 (28)TV Episode
- 1987–7.1 (23)TV Episode
- 1987–6.9 (21)TV Episode
- Jimmy Carter ran for president on a wave of post-Watergate disaffection with Washington politics. But inexperience, inflation, recession, and the Iran hostage crisis, derailed his presidency dramatically. His crowning achievement, the Camp David Accords, created a framework for Middle East peace, inspiring his life since. The film traces his ascent from Plains, Georgia, to the Oval Office and explores the role of religion in his career. This is the second of two parts.
- Documentary on the life of civil rights advocate Powell, including his career as a Harlem minister and a US Congressman.
- 1987–5.7 (11)TV EpisodeStory of a folklore historian who sought to preserve the traditional music of the Appalachians for posterity.
- American Experience looks at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Vice President Hubert Humphrey won his party's nomination for president amid massive civil unrest and violence perpetrated by Chicago Police and anti-Vietnam War protesters.
- A woman taken to America during Operation Babylift returns to Vietnam in order to meet her birth mother.
- Polio at age 39, president at age 50. Explore the public and private life of a determined man who steered this country through two monumental crises: the Depression and World War II. FDR served as president longer than any other, and his legacy still shapes our understanding of the role of government and the presidency. A film by award winning filmmaker David Grubin. This is the second of two parts.
- The Americanization of Chinese people in the 1920s and 30s, including public roles that ran counter to their cultural history.
- The distinctive music of Louisiana including Cajun and Zydeco performances.
- To understand J. Edgar Hoover's rise to power is to understand the America of the 1920s and 1930s and the building of both the power and the mythology of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- 1987–6.6 (11)TV Episode
- 1987–6.0 (10)TV Episode
- Polish immigration in the 1910s and the contributions of Poles to the United States.
- A profile of the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma - once a flourishing but segregated community.
- The last member of a diminished Native American tribe from California makes himself known at the beginning of the 20th century.
- A tribute to the over 12 million immigrants entering the United States between 1890-1920.
- The short but notable career of the coach and his team with stories from some of those who remember him.