American Masters

History Series / 14 Seasons

American Masters, committed to producing comprehensive film biographies about the broad cast of characters who comprise our cultural history.

Watch Latest: S39 E1

1h 23m / TV-14

Love Canal: Children and Toxic Waste

1m 3s / TV-PG

The neighborhood called Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, was neither the first nor the worst toxic waste dump, but it became a national story in the late 1970s thanks to the organizing efforts of Lois Gibbs, who fought to protect Love Canal's children, including her own, from the 20,000 tons of toxic waste in the ground. An excerpt from "American Masters: Fierce Green Fire," airing April 22.

Women in the Environmental Movement

2m 13s

In this web exclusive video, learn why the Indian women of the Chipko Movement became known as tree huggers and what their defensive tactics were. The Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011) founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 and was the first African women to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Watch "A Fierce Green Fire" on April 22, 2014, at 9 pm on PBS.

When Environmental Justice Meets Human Rights

1m 56s / TV-14

The environmental justice movement came from communities that historically bore the brunt of hosting waste sites in their backyards. When a predominantly black county in North Carolina protested a toxic waste landfill, it galvanized the nation to talk about environmental racism. This video with archival footage is an excerpt from American Masters: A Fierce Green Fire, airing April 22, 2014.

Are You an Environmentalist?

2m 12s / TV-14

"This is bigger than the Catholic Church," says Paul Hawken about people's concern about the earth and use of its resources. "There are literally two million organizations in the world that are working on these issues of social justice and the environment because they’re inseparable." Activist Robert Bullard thinks anyone who wants to consume clean resources is an environmentalist.

A Fierce Green Fire - Trailer

2m 30s / TV-14

American Masters: A Fierce Green Fire is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement, spanning 50 years of activism. Chronicling the largest movement of the 20th century, the film tells vivid stories about people fighting – and succeeding – against the odds, from the Grand Canyon to Love Canal, from the oceans to the Amazon. A film by Academy Award-nominee Mark Kitchell.

Danny Glover on Alice Walker's Activism

55s / TV-14

In this film outtake, actor and activist Danny Glover speaks about Alice Walker's literary work in the context of her continuous activism, beginning with the Civil Rights Movement in the South, where she was born and raised.

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth - Trailer

1m 50s

Most famous for her seminal novel "The Color Purple," writer and activist Alice Walker was born into a family of sharecroppers in Georgia and her life unfolded during the violent racism and seismic social changes of mid-20th century America. Women, poverty and civil rights became the inherent themes in in the Pulitzer Prize-winner's writing.

Alice Walker Reads from The Color Purple

1m 15s / TV-PG

In this archival footage, Alice Walker reads from what she calls "the God section" of her novel "The Color Purple." She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel. The text is from a letter the novel's protagonist, Celie, writes to her sister about a conversation she had about God.

Alice Walker Describes Creativity

35s / TV-14

Alice Walker on creativity: "Creation is a sustained period of bliss, even though the subject can still be very sad. Because there's the triumph of coming through and understanding that you have, and that you did it the way only you could do it. You didn't do it the way somebody told you to do it. You did it just the way you had to do it, and that is what makes us us."

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth - Preview

30s

Examine the dramatic life of writer/activist Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple. Her story is told with poetry and lyricism, and includes interviews with Steven Spielberg, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Howard Zinn, Gloria Steinem, Sapphire and Walker herself.

Howard Zinn on Alice Walker, His Former Student

47s / TV-14

The late Howard Zinn gave one of his final interviews for the first film biography of Alice Walker, "Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth." Zinn first met Walker when she became his student at Spelman College. In this web exclusive outtake from the film, Zinn likens Alice Walker to Zora Neale Hurston, Walker's "hero," saying Walker was not afraid to offend either whites or blacks. She was honest.

Alice Walker Shines Light on Zora Neale Hurston

2m 29s / TV-14

Zora Neale Hurston's embrace of black culture and language was an inspiration to Alice Walker. "I realized that unless I came out with everything I had supporting her, there was every chance that she would slip back into obscurity," Walker says of the Harlem Renaissance writer and anthropologist.

Going to College on a Segregated Bus

1m 26s / TV-14

In this web exclusive video, Alice Walker talks about how her father loved education and read everything he could find, even though he was only educated through grade 4 or 5 and lived a life of poverty working on a plantation. Walker recalls the day he put her on a segregated bus to go to Spelman College, where she had earned a scholarship.

Gloria Steinem on Alice Walker, Her Friend

44s / TV-14

"It's not possible to separate Alice from her work," says writer and feminist Gloria Steinem. "Of anyone I've ever known or could possibly imagine, she's the most true .... When people used to ask me in the early days 'What is Alice Walker really like?' I always said, 'She's exactly like you think. There is not a private self and a public self.'" This outtake interview is a web exclusive.

Alice Walker: What's in a Name

55s / TV-14

Alice Walker's great-great-great-great-grandmother was a slave who journeyed on foot with two babies on her hips, from Virginia to Eatonton, Georgia, which is considered Walker's ancestral home. In memory of that walk, Walker chose to keep and embrace her maiden name, Walker.

Salinger - Preview

34s

Salinger — the American Masters series’ 200th episode — is the first work to get beyond "The Catcher in the Rye" author’s meticulously built wall: his childhood, painstaking work methods, marriages, private world and the secrets J.D. Salinger left behind after his death in 2010. The film interviewed 150 subjects, including Salinger’s friends, colleagues and members of his inner circle.

Salinger - Trailer

2m 28s / TV-14

Shane Salerno’s 10-year investigation gets beyond the author's wall of seclusion. American Masters’ 200th episode is the never-before-seen director’s cut of "Salinger," featuring 15 minutes of new material. The intricately structured mystery reveals how World War II influenced his life, his writing methods, his relationships with young women, and literary secrets he left behind after his death.

The Making of American Masters with Creator Susan Lacy

10m

Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of American Masters, talks about the concept behind the series and the making of several films, including those on Martin Scorsese, Paul Simon and Charlie Chaplain. See clips from these films as well as from films on Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Frank Gehry, Diego Rivera and more. This video is from the Pioneers of Thirteen series.

American Masters: 2000-2013 Highlights

3m 13s

A diverse array of talents have been presented by American Masters in the first two decades of the 21st century, among them Lucille Ball, I.M. Pei, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, photographer Edward S. Curtis, and Jimi Hendrix. On January 21, 2014, American Masters premieres its 200th episode: "Salinger," the director's cut, by Shane Salerno.

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