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.

52m 54s

Death and the Civil War, Chapter 1

11m 22s

How the young United States dealt with the unprecedented and overwhelming number of dead in the Civil War. The Ric Burns film is based on the book "This Republic of Suffering" by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust.

Death and the Civil War Extended Promo

2m 15s

How the young United States dealt with the unprecedented and overwhelming number of dead in the Civil War. The 2-minute extended promo for Death and the Civil War, premiering on PBS Sept 18, 8/7c. The Ric Burns film is based on the book "This Republic of Suffering" by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust.

Jesse Owens Preview

30s

The most famous athlete of his time, his stunning triumph at the 1936 Olympic Games captivated the world even as it infuriated the Nazis. Despite the racial slurs he endured, Jesse Owens' grace and athleticism rallied crowds across the globe. But when the four-time Olympic gold medalist returned home, he could not even ride in the front of a bus.

Jesse Owens, Chapter 1

10m 28s

The most famous athlete of his time, his stunning triumph at the 1936 Olympic Games captivated the world even as it infuriated the Nazis. Despite the racial slurs he endured, Jesse Owens' grace and athleticism rallied crowds across the globe. But when the four-time Olympic gold medalist returned home, he could not even ride in the front of a bus.

Jesse Owens Behind the Scenes

2m 25s

The most famous athlete of his time, his stunning triumph at the 1936 Olympic Games captivated the world even as it infuriated the Nazis. Despite the racial slurs he endured, Jesse Owens' grace and athleticism rallied crowds across the globe. But when the four-time Olympic gold medalist returned home, he could not even ride in the front of a bus.

Panama Canal Animation

39s

From the program "TR, the Story of Theodore Roosevelt," an animation of the locks system of the Panama Canal demonstrates how a ship would travel across the Panamanian Isthmus. This "lake and lock" canal was favored by Roosevelt, who Chief Engineer George Goethals called "the real builder of the Panama Canal."

The Columbia Basin Project

1m 5s

In the spring of 1952, work was finally underway on the Columbia Basin Project, a huge system of canals, tunnels, and aqueducts that would flow out of the Grand Coulee reservoir. The irrigation system carried water from Grand Coulee Dam to 66,000 acres of farmland. By 2012, the acreage increased more than ten fold to 671,000.

Diverting the Columbia River

2m 40s

The biggest challenge in building Grand Coulee Dam was diverting the flow of the Columbia. To make this happen, the workers had to build cofferdams, temporary structures that keep the river at bay, allowing workers to dig out the mud and expose the granite bedrock on which the dam would rest. The west side cofferdam was completed on March 23, 1935. Soon after, the water level rose 32 feet.

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