American Experience (1988)

Season 30

January 8, 2018 9 Episodes

Episodes

Into the Amazon
Episode 1
10.0

Into the Amazon

Jan 9, 2018

114 minutes

The remarkable story of President Theodore Roosevelt’s journey with legendary Brazilian explorer Candido Rondon into the heart of the South American rainforest to chart an unexplored tributary of the Amazon.

The Secret of Tuxedo Park
Episode 2
10.0

The Secret of Tuxedo Park

Jan 16, 2018

55 minutes

In the fall of 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his country’s most valuable military secret — a revolutionary radar component — to a Wall Street tycoon, Alfred Lee Loomis. Using his connections, his money, and his brilliant scientific mind, Loomis and his team of scientists developed radar technology that played a more decisive role than any other weapon in World War II.

The Gilded Age
Episode 3
10.0

The Gilded Age

Feb 6, 2018

113 minutes

Meet the titans and barons of the glittering late 19th century, whose materialistic extravagance contrasted harshly with the poverty of the struggling workers who challenged them. The vast disparities between them sparked debates still raging today.

The Bombing of Wall Street
Episode 4
10.0

The Bombing of Wall Street

Feb 13, 2018

55 minutes

Explore the story behind the first terrorist attack in the U.S., a mostly-forgotten 1920 bombing in the nation’s financial center that left 38 dead – a crime that remains unsolved today.

The Island Murder
Episode 5
4.0

The Island Murder

Apr 17, 2018

55 minutes

In the summer 1931, Honolulu's tropical tranquility was shattered when a young Navy wife made a drastic allegation of rape against five nonwhite islanders. What unfolded in the following days and weeks was a racially-charged murder case that would make headlines across the nation, enrage Hawai'i's native population, and galvanize the island's law enforcers and the nation's social elite.

The Chinese Exclusion Act
Episode 6
3.2

The Chinese Exclusion Act

May 29, 2018

55 minutes

The origin, history and impact of the 1882 law that made it illegal for Chinese workers to come to America and for Chinese nationals already there to become U.S. citizens.

The Circus (1)
Episode 7
10.0

The Circus (1)

Oct 8, 2018

55 minutes

Explore the early days of this popular, influential and distinctly American form of entertainment during an era when master showmen P.T. Barnum, James Bailey and the Ringling Brothers transformed the nation’s popular culture.

The Circus (2)
Episode 8
10.0

The Circus (2)

Oct 9, 2018

55 minutes

Revisit the heyday of this distinctly American form of entertainment when former rivals Barnum, Bailey and the Ringling Brothers joined forces to present the “greatest show on earth” in big cities and small towns across the country.

The Eugenics Crusade
Episode 9
3.2

The Eugenics Crusade

Oct 16, 2018

55 minutes

The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the unlikely –– and largely unknown –– campaign to breed a “better” American race, tracing the rise of the movement that turned the fledgling science of heredity into a powerful instrument of social control.