American Masters

History Series / 15 Seasons

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

Watch Latest: S39 E3

1h 36m / TV-MA

Amyra León: Strange Grace

15m 18s

Filmmaker Malika Zouhali-Worrall provides a portrait of Amyra León, the musician, poet, author and activist who channels deeply personal experiences of pain and healing into raw, majestic, and often cathartic performances that celebrate love, Blackness and womanhood.

Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon

11m 54s

Filmmaker Ligaiya Romero amplifies the life and work of Maia Cruz Palileo, the multi-disciplinary, Brooklyn-based artist who explores themes of migration and the permeable concept of home in their works, inspired by the oral history of their family’s arrival in the United States from the Philippines.

Vincent Valdez: The Beginning is Near

11m 1s

Filmmaker Ray Santisteban highlights the art of Vincent Valdez, the San Antonio, TX-born artist who emphasizes themes of social justice, memory, and ignored or under-examined historical narratives in his work.

Anik Khan: Street Level

13m 9s

Filmmaker Sofian Khan explores the music of Anik Khan, the Bangladesh-born, Queens, NY-raised hip-hop artist whose music sketches the immigrant experience with rare poetic flare and incisive depth, with a whole masala of influences at his fingertips.

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: The New Chief

11m 20s

Filmmakers Amitabh Joshi and Erik Spink spotlight Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, the Grammy-nominated, modern jazz musician from New Orleans who defies the expectations of jazz music while challenging how music is taught in universities nationwide.

Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance

8m

Filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris explores how the reality and resistance of Native Americans inspire the work of Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk, igniting discussions about environmentalism, Native rights, and numerous other current topics.

Damon Davis: Apologue for the Darkest Gods

11m 52s

Filmmaker Elissa Blount Moorhead provides a look into the art of award-winning, post-disciplinary artist Damon Davis, the St. Louis native whose work spans across illustration, painting, printmaking, music, film, and public art that explores the African American experience.

Jacques Pépin makes easy and delicious crêpes

6m 5s

"I always had crêpes as a child, and made them countless times for my daughter and granddaughter. There is nothing easier than making crêpes. I put a piece of butter to melt in a skillet, and by the time that butter is melted I have mixed enough milk, flour, and an egg to make half a dozen crêpes. You can serve them with jam inside or something savory, like ham or cheese. Easy and delicious."

Jacques Pépin makes buttermilk pancakes

3m 3s

"Very often, especially during the holidays, I buy cream—and very often I have cream left over. After a week or so I put that cream in the food processor and make butter—we can always use butter. And of course, with the butter you also get buttermilk. Occasionally I will use the buttermilk to make pancakes, which is easy to do. I serve them with whatever fruit I happen to have around."

Jacques Pépin makes an easy cream cheese soufflé

3m 28s

"For an elegant first course for a nice dinner you can make these cream cheese soufflés, which are extremely easy to do. A mixture of whipped cream cheese and an egg is placed into some little containers, or you can make one larger one. Serve them alone on a plate, or with a salad."

Jacques Pépin makes cocotte eggs

3m 48s

"A nice way to serve eggs is to cook them in a little container we call a “cocotte”, a little soufflé mold or ramekin. You can eat them with a little spoon right out of the cocotte, usually the yolks will still be runny, or you can unmold them—usually onto a round crouton or a toast—for a bit more of a presentation."

Jacques Pépin makes rice cakes with eggs

3m 22s

"I often have leftover rice—from going to a Chinese restaurant, or just leftover from something I cooked at home, sometimes plain, sometimes seasoned in one way or another—and when I do I like to put it in a skillet to make a kind of rice pancake, which is crusty on the bottom. On top I usually put a couple of eggs at the last minute, to make a great lunch dish."

Jacques Pépin makes a country omelet

6m 6s

"This is kind of a rough omelet, a bit in the style of a Spanish tortilla or an Italian frittata. I sauté potato and onion, and with that I add the eggs and cheese, I like Gruyère in this case, and some chives, and I add a layer of tomato on top and that goes under the broiler for a couple of minutes to be served slid out of the skillet or unmolded on the plate. A great lunch."

Jacques Pépin makes fried eggs

3m 21s

"I showed my granddaughter, how to make a fried egg my way—that is cooking it at a low temperature so that the white stays very tender and the yolk is running lightly, and the top is glazed. It’s one way of doing it, and I hope you enjoy it, too."

Jacques Pépin makes classic scrambled eggs

4m 55s

"The way I scramble eggs is to put them into a heavier saucepan over moderate heat, and to use a whisk to constantly move the eggs, ensuring that they get the creamiest texture without large curds. This is usually finished with a little bit of cream. It’s a sophisticated way of enjoying eggs, one I often serve as a first course for an elegant dinner."

Jacques Pépin makes a seafood omelet

6m 40s

"I like omelets in any form, but the seafood omelet that I’m doing here is a bit more rich and sophisticated than most. I sauté some shrimp and scallops, (you could also use some fish), a bit of scallion, mushroom, all together, which takes only a couple of minutes. It’s a very elegant dish for a light supper."

Jacques Pépin makes Eggs Jeannette

6m 27s

"Eggs Jeannette is an essential recipe for me, as it is something my mother used to make. Hard cooked eggs, yolks removed and mixed with garlic and parsley, then returned to the whites and sautéed stuffed side down. Finally they’re served with a mustard vinaigrette. A very easy-to-do, delicious, and unusual way to enjoy eggs."

The First Black Woman to Run for Vice President of The U.S.

12m 32s

Charlotta Spears Bass (1874-1969) one of the first African American women to own and operate a newspaper, and the first African American woman to run for Vice President of the United States, crusaded for over 40 years against racial violence, and discrimination in schools, housing, and the job market, in the pages of the California Eagle.

Zitkála-Šá: Trailblazing American Indian Composer and Writer

11m 39s

Zitkála-Šá co-composed and wrote the libretto for the first American Indian opera and co-founded the National Council of American Indians to lobby for increased political power for American Indians.

Jeannette Rankin: The First Woman Member of U.S. Congress

12m 38s

Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) made history as the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. participation in World War I and World War II. A determined suffragist, she helped women in her home state of Montana win the vote and introduced what later became the 19th Amendment to secure suffrage for women nationwide.

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