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The War on Rats

1m 41s
In 1900, the first case of bubonic plague to ever be confirmed in North America was diagnosed in San Francisco. Scientists did not understand how the disease was transmitted but had long theorized that rats played a role.
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Rupert Blue

44s
In 1901, Rupert Blue launched a public health campaign that ended a deadly bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco.
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Dr. Joseph Kinyoun

44s
Dr. Joseph Kinyoun created the Hygienic Laboratory, the nation’s first federal laboratory of medical bacteriology which later became the National Institutes of Health.
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Owens Valley Paiute

55s
The Native inhabitants—the Paiute people of the Owens Valley territory in what is now the State of California built sophisticated irrigation canals to channel water runoff from the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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William Mulholland

52s
In 1922, to meet the growing water needs of Los Angeles, William Mulholland began building the St. Francis Dam to create a reservoir for the Los Angeles–Owens River aqueduct.
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Zoot Suit Riots Teaser

30s
In August 1942, the murder of a young Mexican-American man ignited a firestorm in the City of the Angels. In no time at all, ethnic and racial tensions that had been building up over the years boiled over.
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Chapter 1 | The American Diplomat

10m 49s
Discover how three Black diplomats broke racial barriers at the US State Department during the Cold War. Asked to represent the best of American ideals abroad while facing discrimination at home, they left a lasting impact on the Foreign Service.
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Reframing The March on Washington

9m 47s
Edward R. Murrow, head of the United States Information Agency began producing a documentary about the upcoming March on Washington. But as the project neared completion, Murrow was losing a battle with cancer. And the film’s political opponents wanted to make sure it would never be seen. President Lyndon B. Johnson tasked a groundbreaking diplomat, Carl Rowan, with seeing the project through.
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Trailer | The American Diplomat

1m 46s
Discover how three Black diplomats broke racial barriers at the US State Department during the Cold War. Asked to represent the best of American ideals abroad while facing discrimination at home, they left a lasting impact on the Foreign Service.
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Carl Rowan

52s
Carl Rowan was one of the highest ranking African American in the history of the State Department during the 20th century. In 1964 Lyndon Johnson appointed Rowan as director of the U.S. Information Agency.
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Terence Todman

53s
Terence Todman’s diplomatic career spanned four decades: he was a U.S. ambassador to six nations and achieved the prestigious rank of career ambassador.
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Edward Dudley

45s
Edward Dudley saw that Black foreign service officers were restricted to the “Negro Circuit,” serving in just a handful of countries while white officers were transferred all over the world.
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