The NAACP and Its Architects

American Experience

History Series / 15 Seasons

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.

Watch Latest: S37 E1

1h 52m / TV-14

Searching for the Bodies

2m 51s

After three civil rights workers went missing in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, Rita Schwerner (the wife of missing Mickey Schwerner) played an important role in getting the press and the nation to pay attention to the case. "Freedom Summer" premieres on American Experience PBS June 24 at 9/8c.

Training for Mississippi

3m 4s

"Is it responsible to bring all those kids into the state, most of whom are probably far too naive to understand what they were getting into in terms of the violent nature of the place." Watch "Freedom Summer" premiering June 24, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

How Many Beatings Have You Taken?

1m 44s

Fannie Lou Hamer helped fight for better representation among Mississippi Democrats in 1964. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of New York City asked for compromise. He didn't know who Fannie Lou Hamer was. Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS on June 24, 2014.

Fannie Lou Hamer's Powerful Testimony

3m 40s

Former sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer's Congressional testimony is so powerful that President Johnson calls an impromptu press conference to get her off the air. But his plan backfires. Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS on June 24, 2014.

Opposition to Freedom Summer

1m 51s

"People in the movement were willing to die, but we didn't want to die in obscurity. So if we brought in students, their colleges, their parents would focus on Mississippi." "Freedom Summer" premieres on American Experience PBS on June 24.

"Miss Mississippi" Finds Trouble

3m 27s

"I went downtown one day, and friends that I had known for 10 years would turn and walk away from me, or hang their heads. Some would speak and walk on as if I had leprosy or something." Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS on June 24 at 9/8c.

Freedom Summer's Widow

1m 16s

"I wish to become an active participant rather than a passive onlooker. As my husband and I are in close agreement as to our philosophy in the Civil Rights struggle, I wish to work near him in whatever capacity I may be most useful. My hope is to someday pass on to the children we may have a world containing more respect for the dignity and worth of all men than that world which was willed to us."

Tensions During Training

5m 16s

During training before Freedom Summer in 1964, tension between the mostly-white volunteers and the mostly-black SNCC staff became evident immediately. "We have to know you. We have to love you, but we don't understand you." "Freedom Summer" premieres on American Experience PBS June 24, at 9/8c.

On a Hair Trigger

2m 15s

Local Mississippi leadership prepared themselves psychologically and militarily for Freedom Summer. The Ku Klux Klan rose up as one that April. Mississippi was on a hair trigger. Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS on June 24, 2014.

The State of Mississippi in 1964

2m 57s

"The Citizens' Council was doing everything the Ku Klux Klan would have done. [...] I joined it because I believed in what they were doing and I believed in trying to preserve the society in which we lived." Watch "Freedom Summer" premiering June 24, 2014 on American Experience PBS.

Pete Seeger and Freedom Summer

1m 56s

Folk singer Pete Seeger was performing for a Meridian, Mississippi church congregation when he got word that the bodies of missing civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney had been found. American Experience interviewed him about this experience in April 2013. "Freedom Summer" premieres on PBS June 24, 2014.

What Was Freedom Summer?

3m 35s

In 1964, a group of civil rights organizations hosted The Mississippi Summer Project, a campaign that would later become known as "Freedom Summer." "It is very important to me that I play my role in civil rights for the U.S. and most of all for myself," wrote one volunteer. "Freedom Summer" premieres on American Experience PBS on June 24 at 9/8c.

Freedom Summer, Chapter 1

8m 58s

Over 10 memorable weeks in 1964 known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers from around the country joined organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in Mississippi, then one of the nation’s most viciously racist, segregated states.

An Integrated Party

1m 48s

On August 6, 1964 the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party held a statewide convention to elect 68 delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention later that month. It was Mississippi's first integrated delegation. Watch "Freedom Summer" on American Experience PBS on June 24, 2014.

Freedom Schools

4m 42s

In Freedom Schools across Mississippi, Freedom Summer workers and volunteers taught "African American History, Civics, African Culture, African Dance. They were learning black history that they were reading books that'd been written by blacks that they'd never heard of." "Freedom Summer" premieres on American Experience PBS June 24 at 9/8c.

Penn Station Central Control

3m

Half a million people pass through New York City's Penn Station every day. During rush hour, a train arrives at a platform every 58 seconds. Phil Kaplan has worked for Amtrak for 37 years, and he takes us for an unusual behind the scenes look at the Central Control room.

Mapping Engineering in America

2m 15s

Like engineering? Explore the Engineering Map of America and see how the most significant feats of science and technology across the US have transformed the landscape. Contribute your own photos and videos at pbs.org/engineeringmap, and download the Mapping History iPhone app!

The Rise and Fall of Penn Station Preview

30s

The Pennsylvania Railroad built tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting New York with New England, and terminating in one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. It covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But 53 years later, the monumental building was destroyed.

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