The NAACP and Its Architects

American Experience

History Series / 14 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 E2

53m

StartUp Success Story

2m 41s

The creation of the Boston subway system — the country’s first — is the subject of the new American Experience film, The Race Underground. It’s also one of our nation’s oldest startup success stories. To explore that angle, we turned to Scott Bailey, managing director of MassChallenge Boston.

Malaria and the Silent Spring

12m 30s

In 1963, the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring—which some called the most controversial book of the year—put the nation and world on alert to the dangers of overuse and misuse of chemical pesticides—in particular, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT.

Rachel Carson, Chapter 1

8m 59s

Rachel Carson is an intimate portrait of the woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world. When Silent Spring was published in September 1962 it became an instant bestseller and would go on to spark dramatic changes in the way the government regulated pesticides.

Rachel Carson preview

30s

Rachel Carson is an intimate portrait of the woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world. When Silent Spring was published in September 1962 it became an instant bestseller and would go on to spark dramatic changes in the way the government regulated pesticides.

Command and Control, Accident Report

1m 8s

Bob Purifoy joined Sandia National Laboratories as an engineer in 1952, and later became its leading advocate for nuclear weapon safety. Bill Stevens was an engineer who served as the first head of Sandia’s nuclear safety department. Both men were shocked when they realized how vulnerable the nation’s nuclear weapons were to accidents.

Command and Control, Deterrence and the Turn of a Key

1m 10s

“The whole reason I sat out there was to prevent anything from happening. That's what deterrence was about. But deterrence is worthless if you don't demonstrate that you are willing to do it.” Lieutenant Allan Childers was a deputy commander of the Titan II Missile Combat Crew. He was on duty the night of the accident in Damascus, Arkansas.

January 2017 premieres

2m 58s

The 2017 season premieres on January 10, 2017, with Command and Control, a chilling, minute-by-minute account of the long-hidden story behind one of America’s most dangerous nuclear accidents. An new portrait of Rachel Carson (January 24), which illuminates the life of the scientist whose writings revolutionized our relationship to the natural world, and the first subway — Race Underground.

Command and Control trailer

2m 18s

A chilling nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September, 1980. A worker accidentally drops a socket, puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead in our arsenal, an incident which ignites a series of feverish efforts to avoid a deadly disaster.

Command and Control, Goldsboro 1961

2m 6s

On January 24, 1961, when a B-52 bomber carrying two powerful hydrogen bombs took off on a routine mission over Goldsboro, North Carolina. During the mission, the plane experienced a fuel leak, and suddenly the B-52 began to break apart mid-air.

Command and Control, Chapter 1

9m 21s

A chilling nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September, 1980. A worker accidentally drops a socket, puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead in our arsenal, an incident which ignites a series of feverish efforts to avoid a deadly disaster.

Oklahoma City: Coming February 2017

30s

Oklahoma City explores how a series of deadly encounters between American citizens and federal law enforcement— including the standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco -- led to the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in April 1995, the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. Airs Tuesday, February 7, 9/8c

Flight Nurse

8m 16s

Lillian Kinkela Keil was one of the most decorated women in WWII and the Korean War, with 11 battle stars, four air medals and more than 450 air evacuations in Europe and in Korea. Starting as an air stewardess, where one had to be a registered nurse at the time, Kinkela then joined the Air Force and started evacuating soldiers off the battle field.

The Battle of Chosin, Web clip

1m 11s

With the rising concern over Communist aggression in Asia and beyond, President Harry S. Truman committed American troops in South Korea, stating that involvement in Korea was necessary for America’s security and survival.

The Battle of Chosin, Chapter 1

9m 37s

On Thanksgiving Day 1950, American-led United Nations troops were on the march in North Korea. U.S. Marine and Air Force pilots distributed holiday meals. But soon after that peaceful celebration, American military leaders , including General Douglas MacArthur, were caught off guard by the entrance of the People’s Republic of China, led by Mao Zedong into the five-month-old Korean War.

The Battle of Chosin Preview

30s

American-led United Nations troops were outnumbered and at risk of annihilation at the Chosin Reservoir by the sudden entrance of the People’s Republic of China, led by Mao Zedong, into the five-month-old Korean War. The two-week battle that followed, fought in brutally cold temperatures, is one of the most celebrated in Marine Corps annals.

The Battle of Chosin, Web clip 2

2m 35s

U.S. Marine veterans of the Battle of Chosin during the Korean War recall their efforts to hold the west side of the reservoir during a second night of attacks. "The Battle of Chosin" premieres November 1 at 9/8c on American Experience PBS.

Tesla The Evolution of Invention

4m 21s

The word “inventor” conjures images of a far-off past. Today, inventor Steve Hollinger keeps the spirit of innovation alive in his workshop, just as more than 100 years ago, Nikola Tesla worked in his to revolutionize the electrical age.

Tesla, Chapter 1

6m 59s

Regarded by many as an eccentric genius, Nikola Tesla's system of alternating current is the basis of the electrical grid that makes daily life possible in the 21st century. One hundred years ago, he paved the way toward robots, radio, radar, remote control, and the wireless transmission of messages and pictures. He dreamed of harnessing the wind and the sun to make free energy available for all.

Tesla Preview

30s

Nikola Tesla's technology revolutionized the electrical age of the 20th century. Although eclipsed in fame by Edison and Marconi, it was Tesla's vision that paved the way for today's wireless world. His fertile but undisciplined imagination was the source of his genius but also his downfall, as the image of Tesla as a “mad scientist” came to overshadow his reputation as a brilliant innovator.

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