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

Trailer | Riveted: The History of Jeans

1m 45s

Discover the fascinating story of this iconic American garment. From their roots in slavery to the Wild West, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the fabric on which the history of American ideology and politics is writ large.

Roberto Clemente Preview

30s

Born in Puerto Rico, Clemente was an exceptional baseball player and humanitarian whose career sheds light on larger issues of immigration, civil rights and cultural change. He would die in a tragic plane crash.

Yellow Journalism

7m 38s

On the evening of February 15, 1898, a massive explosion tore through the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor, Cuba. The explosion sank the vessel, killed over 260 sailors and shocked the American public. Days later, William Randolph Heart’s newspaper, The New York Journal, ran a sensational headline.

Trailer | Citizen Hearst

1m 45s

Explore the life of William Randolph Hearst. The model for Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, he controlled a vast media empire, wielded unprecedented power and influence, and forever transformed the media’s role in American life and politics.

Joseph Pulitzer

1m 18s

Joseph Pulitzer was a newspaper editor and publisher. In 1883 he moved to New York City, where he purchased The New York World. The World became the most popular newspaper at the time, printing a quarter million copies on weekday mornings.

William Randolph Hearst

1m 18s

William Randolph Hearst believed he was not reporting history but was instead creating it. By the end of the 1920s, Hearst owned newspapers in almost every major city, as well as magazines and even radio stations.

Sandra Day O’Connor: First Woman on the Supreme Court

1m 10s

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan promised to nominate the first woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. He made good on that promise in 1981, when he announced Sandra Day O’Connor’s nomination.

Trailer | Sandra Day O'Connor: The First

2m 20s

The Supreme Court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor. A pioneer who both reflected and shaped an era, she was the deciding vote in cases on some of the 20th century’s most controversial issues—including race, gender and reproductive rights.

Last Days in Afghanistan

10m 26s

In this exclusive conversation, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s executive producer Cameo George speaks with the acclaimed filmmaker about the parallels between the 1975 evacuation of Vietnam and the recent American withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the lessons that America’s history in Vietnam offer today.

Trailer | Mr. Tornado| American Experience

30s

The remarkable story of the Ted Fujita, whose groundbreaking work in research and applied science saved thousands of lives and helped Americans prepare for and respond to dangerous weather phenomena.

The Polio Crusade Preview

30s

The story of the polio crusade pays tribute to a time when Americans banded together to conquer a terrible disease. The medical breakthrough saved countless lives and had a pervasive impact on American philanthropy that continues to be felt today.

Billy Graham: American Evangelist

1m 14s

William Franklin Graham, Jr., an American evangelist and preacher was born on November 7, 1918 in rural North Carolina. In 1934, Graham attended a traveling revival meeting and had a religious experience.

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