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

Coming Home, from The Amish: Shunned

"I worked in the city for two years. I got used to city life - you know, the throb, the heartbeat of the city, the sirens blasting - and I liked it. But the city could be so full of people, and you could be so lonely. Everybody was in a hurry, everybody had a place to go." The Amish: Shunned premiers on American Experience/PBS February 4, 2014.

"Never to Come Back"

2m 37s

"The last time I left, the seventh time, I knew I would never, ever return that day. Cried like a baby. Tried to leave three notes, ripped 'em all up. I realized no matter how hard I tried to explain, nobody would understand." Watch a profile of Joe, who first left his Amish family when he was 16 years old.

"It was Pretty Awesome"

2m

"For me, I wanted to experience a different life. I wanted to go out and drive a truck, or something like that. I just thought that would be cool. Back then, that was everything to us. To have phones, radios and stuff like that - of course our parents, they didn't like that." Levi left his Amish family when he was 17. See his story in The Amish: Shunned on American Experience PBS February 4.

"I Think I am Homesick"

2m 50s

"I think I am homesick. I miss my family. I write three letters, but they didn’t write back so far. I don’t think that they have a lot to say if I am not staying Amish." The Amish: Shunned premiered on PBS American Experience February 4, 2014.

Finding Home

6m 7s

Katie Troyer left the Amish and found home. "I was given the option – go back into church and swallow it all up and be a good person there or jump. And I jumped." The Amish: Shunned premiers on PBS American Experience February 4, 2014.

Coming in February 2014

2m 59s

American Experience Executive Producer Mark Samels describes what's coming in February to PBS. The Amish: Shunned centers on seven people who have been shunned as well as voices from the Amish community defending the practice. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were emblematic figures that became legend. The Rise and Fall of Penn Station about a railroad company's effort to conquer Manhattan.

1964 Preview

31s

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

1964 Chapter 1

7m 5s

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and 3 civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. In myriad ways, 1964 was the year when Americans faced choices.

Tales From the Poisoner's Handbook

2m 35s

History and forensic science come together in our interactive graphic novel based on the documentary The Poisoner's Handbook. Investigate the cause of death in four historic poisoning cases, and explore toxicology with Alexander Gettler and New York City Medical Examiner Charles Norris in the 1920s.

The Poisoner's Handbook Chapter 1

9m 1s

In the early 20th century, the average American medicine cabinet was a would-be poisoner's treasure chest, with radioactive radium, thallium, and morphine included in everyday products. In New York City in the 1920s, medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler, turned forensic chemistry into a formidable science and set the standards for the rest of the country.

Coming in January 2014

2m 59s

Check out what's coming up in January 2014 on American Experience. Watch this three-minute video in which our Executive Producer Mark Samels details our new films premiering in January, and read the synopses below. (Our Coming in February video is coming soon!)

JFK and Military Service: The Rescue

2m 40s

On a starless night in August 1943, a Japanese destroyer split Kennedy's PT-109 boat in half. The crew had been left for dead, but the future president felt it was his duty to get his men to safety -- and he was going to spare no effort to do so.

JFK on Policing the World: The Vietnam Question

2m 59s

Kennedy felt buildup of a military arsenal wasn't enough to show the United States would not cower to communism. So he decided to make a stand in a place few Americans at the time had ever heard of: Vietnam.

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