American Experience

Tracking the early years of the space race beginning in 1957 as the U.S. struggles to catch up with the Soviet Union.

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.

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.

The years 1969-1970 take Americans to the moon and back; what happens to scientific and engineering programs after goals are achieved.

Documentary on the boxing match between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling, which captured the world's attention on June 22, 1938.

The history of jeans, from their roots in slavery to the Wild West, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop.

Profiling the pioneering aviator whose plane disappeared during her 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the Earth.

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).

From PBS and American Experience - Using scientific accounts, diaries, photographs and letters, this film reveals how poor planning, personality clashes, questionable decisions and pure bad luck conspired to turn a noble scientific mission into a human tragedy.

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

Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, including interviews with Weaver's daughter, Sara, and federal agents involved in the confrontation, Ruby Ridge is an account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement.

The life of author L. Frank Baum, creator of the classic novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which has inspired films, books and musicals.

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.

This documentary, part of American Experience (1988) series, examines the events leading up to what is now seen as the defining moment in the establishment of the gay rights movement in the United States: the riot at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in the summer of 1969. At that time, homosexuality was not only illegal, it was classified as mental illness. Bars like Stonewall were controlled by the mob and the police were paid to either look the other way or conduct their raids early in the day. On this night however, the police arrived when the bar was full. The reaction was swift with crowds quickly forming outside the bar. The next night, a crowd estimated in the thousands again confronted the police. As a result of these actions, the gay community made themselves known for the first time. A year later, in the summer of 1970, many of those involved staged the first Gay Pride parade.

The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.

Recounts the founding (1620) and early years of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century. Includes the real story of the "First Thanksgiving".

Biography and political career of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.

Biography and political career of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States.

On April 2, 1936, when the 22-year-old son of a sharecropper entered the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, he was barely able to control his anger in the face of Nazi racism. But instead of letting himself be distracted, the young athlete channeled his raw emotions into one of the most remarkable achievements in athletic history: four gold medals in two days.

Explore the life of one of the best-known and most influential religious leaders of the 20th century.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Two antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 cause President Richard Nixon to cancel his "madman" plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam.