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- StarsWill LymanHenry KissingerWilliam C. WestmorelandAn in-depth look at the Vietnam War.
- StarsRobert MacNeilJ.L. DillardAlistair CookeA history of the English language from its early beginnings to present day English in all its variations.
- StarsDavid McCulloughSam WaterstonJulie HarrisA comprehensive survey of the American Civil War.
- CreatorHenry HamptonStarsJulian BondCoretta Scott KingJohn LewisA documentary about the American Civil Rights Movement from 1952 to 1965.
- 1985– 3h 28mNot Rated8.4 (12K)TV EpisodeDirectorMartin ScorseseStarsBob DylanB.J. RolfzenDick KangasA chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.
- DirectorKen BurnsStarsHuey LongRussell LongDavid McCulloughKen Burns' portrait of Louisiana governor/U.S. senator Huey Long.
- StarsPeter CoyoteHuy DucJames WillbanksA comprehensive history of the United States' involvement in the bitterly divisive armed conflict in Southeast Asia.
- StarsKeith DavidWynton MarsalisGary GiddinsA survey of the musical form's history and major talents.
- StarsBuzz AldrinMike CollinsSergei KhrushchevFascinating behind-the-scenes look at the moon landing, blending scientific innovation, political maneuvering, media frenzy, visionary zeal, and personal stories in the space race.
- DirectorRobert StoneStarsKilon BaunoJohn SmithermanWarren AustinIt starts with a live radio broadcast from the Bikini Atoll a few days before it is annihilated by a nuclear test. Shows great footage from these times and tells the story of the US Navy Sailors who were exposed to radioactive fallout. One interviewed sailor suffered grotesquely swollen limbs and he is shown being interviewed with enormous left arm and hand.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsAndre BraugherPat AnticiOudie BrownA documentary examining the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old boy from Chicago while visiting relatives in Mississippi, and the broad impact of his death, his funeral, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his white killers.
- StarsDaniel OkrentGeorge F. WillJohn ChancellorA documentary on the history of the sport with major topics including Afro-American players, player/team owner relations and the resilience of the game.
- DirectorOrlando BagwellStarsAlfre WoodardSharon 10XBenjamin 2X
- A chronological look at The Doors, focusing on lead singer, Jim Morrison (1943-1971), from the formation of the band in 1965, it's first gigs, and first album, to Morrison's death, after years of alcohol and drug use.
- StarsPeter CoyoteWilliam CrononDayton DuncanThe history of the U.S. National Parks system, including the initial ideas which led to the world's first national parks and the expansion of the system over 150 years.
- 1985– TV-145.8 (73)TV EpisodeA profoundly enigmatic musical poet, this film artfully pierces through the myths and misconceptions about this humming and hunched figure, whose fingers glided across the piano as no one's before or since.
- 1987– 1h 30m7.2 (28)TV EpisodeDirectorStanley NelsonStarsCarl LumblyCarlos CoombsBrittany CooperLife story of the controversial African-American leader Marcus Garvey.
- StarsLinda HuntThe last member of a diminished Native American tribe from California makes himself known at the beginning of the 20th century.
- 1987– 1h 54mTV-PG8.1 (123)TV EpisodeDirectorRic BurnsStarsPhilip BoscoD. Graham BurnettMargaret S. CreightonThe American Experience looks at the history of American whaling from its off-shore origins in the 17th century to the golden age of deep water whaling and the eventual decline in the decades after the Civil War.
- 1987–7.1 (19)TV Episode
- DirectorJon ElseStarsHans BetheHolm BursomHaakon ChevalierScientists and witnesses involved in the creation and testing of the first ever atomic bomb reflect on the Manhattan project and its fascinating leader, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who upon completion of his wonderful and horrible invention became a powerful spokesperson against the nuclear arms race.
- DirectorKen BurnsSarah BurnsDavid McMahonStarsAntron McCrayKevin RichardsonKharey WiseA documentary that examines the 1989 case of five black and Latino teenagers who were convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. After having spent between 6 and 13 years each in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.
- 1987– 52m7.0 (15)TV EpisodeDirectorRobert DrewStarsClarke BittnerNicholas KatzenbachJohn F. KennedyFilmmaker Robert Drew updates his 1963 documentary Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) which followed the confrontation between President Kennedy and Alabama governor George Wallace.
- DirectorMichael EpsteinThomas LennonStarsRichard Ben CramerWilliam AllandThomas AndersonDocumentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also as a relative complete bio of Hearst.
- The Native American influence in popular music, including the Native American roots of early pioneers of the blues and jazz and how Native Americans helped define the evolution of the folk-rock era that took hold in the 1960's and 1970's.
- 1999–8.3 (19)TV EpisodeDirectorStanley Nelson
- DirectorBarak GoodmanStarsAubrey DanielFred WidmerLawrence La CroixAmerican Experience investigates the My Lai massacre an atrocity during the Vietnam War that killed more than 300 unarmed civilians.
- 1985– 1h 30mTV-147.6 (580)TV EpisodeDirectorBob SmeatonStarsJimi HendrixMitch MitchellNoel Reddingthe Definitive documentary about the extraordinary life of the greatest guitarist of all time, features new performance footage, home movies and an archive of unearthed primary documents.
- DirectorKent JonesMartin ScorseseStarsMartin ScorseseThis episode page reflects the re-showing of the original title A Letter to Elia (2010) as part of the American Masters Series
- DirectorMichael EpsteinStarsJohn LennonRoy CicalaEarl SlickA look at the period of time musician John Lennon and his family spent living in New York City during the 1970s.
- DirectorStanley NelsonFrom PBS and American Experience - This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil-rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders.
- DirectorKen BurnsLynn NovickStarsEdward HerrmannPhilip BoscoJulie HarrisA biography of the life and work of the American architect.
- 1985– 1h 45mTV-147.9 (61)TV EpisodeThis episode page reflects the reshowing of the original title Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015) as part of the American Masters Series
- DirectorMark BusslerStarsRichard DreyfussPatrick JordanJennifer Lee DakeExploding dam kills thousands in massive flood catastrophe in Pennsylvania in 1889.
- StarsMartha S. JonesAndia WinslowHenry Louis Gates Jr.A comprehensive and compelling history of the United States immediately following the Civil War.
- StarsPeter CoyoteMarty StuartVince GillThe story of the creation of modern Country music.
- DirectorRic BurnsStarsJosh HamiltonBarbara FeldonEli WallachFew American artists have reached a wider audience, or enjoyed more widespread popularity in their own lifetime, than Ansel Adams. None has had more profound an impact on how Americans grasp the majesty of their continent, or done more to transform how people think and feel about the meaning of the natural world. A visionary photographer, a pioneer in photographic technique and a crusader for the environment, Adams would take part in an extraordinary revolution: in photography, and ways of seeing what he called "the continuous beauty of the things that are." His greatest photographs would seek to capture "the instant of revelation -- of timelessness" amidst the evanescence of the natural world. Ansel Adams is the intimate portrait of a great artist and ardent environmentalist -- for whom life and art, photography and wilderness, creativity and communication, love and expression, were inextricably connected. ANSEL ADAMS, a ninety-minute documentary film written and directed by Ric Burns, and broadcast on national public television in April 2002, provides an elegant, moving and lyrical portrait of this most eloquent and quintessentially American of photographers.
- 1985– 1h 54mNot Rated7.4 (3.3K)TV Episode76MetascoreDirectorStanley NelsonStarsCarl LumblyMiles DavisReginald PettyMusicians, scholars, family and friends reflect on the life of jazzer Miles Davis to reveal the man behind the legend. Full access to Davis' estate provides rare footage and photos, outtakes from recording sessions and new interviews.
- StarsPeter CoyoteGeorge F. WillGeoffrey C. WardA documentary that weaves together the stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of one of the most prominent and influential families in American politics.
- DirectorDavid BreashearsStarsNeal BeidlemanDavid BreashearsGuy CotterDavid Breashears relives the rescue effort to save climbers who were stranded near the summit of Mount Everest during a ferocious storm on May 10, 1996.
- StarsPeter CoyotePete HamillCatherine Gilbert MurdockThe story of the American activist struggle against the influence of alcohol, climaxing in the failed early 20th century nationwide era when it was banned.
- DirectorRic BurnsLi-Shin YuThe 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.
- DirectorStephen IvesStarsJennifer Lee AndrewsBlythe DannerBrandon J. DirdenExplore America's tortured, nearly three-year journey to war. In August 1914, a war unprecedented in size and violence broke out on the European continent. Ever the idealistic diplomat, Wilson vowed to keep his country out of "the Great War." His neutrality was supported but reports from Europe began to challenge America's delicate position. From behind the battle lines came reports detailing German atrocities in Belgium and France: history's first chemical attack and the sinking of the British liner Lusitania, killing 128 Americans. But Wilson stood firm, asserting that America would not fight - this was not her war. Despite Wilson's pleas, American men and women, volunteered in the hospitals and on the fighting fields of France, and by 1916, there was a growing sense that the war was coming closer to home. On April 2, Wilson asked a joint session of Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, proclaiming that "the world must be made safe for democracy."
- DirectorAmanda PollakStarsJennifer Lee AndrewsBlythe DannerBrandon J. DirdenAmericas entry into World War 1 is recalled, including the speed of mobilization.
- DirectorRob RapleyStarsJennifer Lee AndrewsBlythe DannerBrandon J. DirdenChart the ways in which the bloodiest battle in American history, and the ensuing peace, forever changed a president and a nation. In the fall of 1918, the deadly flu swept through cities at home and at the front. When the tide of war turned, the Germans wanted a cease-fire on Wilson's terms. On November 11, 1918, the war was over, but for Wilson, the last fight remained. He negotiated the terms of the peace treaty and won the world over to his League of Nations, but felled by a stroke, he failed to convince the Senate to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, with tragic consequences. While Wilson had heralded the triumph of American values abroad, many were worried about democracy at home; with citizens persecuted, "aliens" interned, and cities torn apart by race riots. The Great War changed the country forever. African Americans who had fought in the war found ways to continue to push for change. Women's suffrage gained converts, including Wilson. And America stepped onto the world stage.
- 1987– 1h 29mUnrated7.3 (461)TV Episode75MetascoreDirectorRobert StoneStarsRuss LittleMichael BortinTimothy FindleyA documentary on the curious American domestic terrorist group, infamous for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst.
- DirectorRob RapleyStarsOliver PlattT. Ryder SmithCarol BerkinThe stories of the major figures of the pre-American Civil War political movement to eliminate slavery.
- DirectorRob RapleyStarsOliver PlattJeanine SerrallesIngrid AlliThe divide between North and South deepens, touching off a crisis that is about to careen out of control.
- DirectorRob RapleyStarsOliver PlattJeanine SerrallesIngrid AlliThe battle between pro-slavery and free-soil contingents rises to fever pitch.
- 1987–7.9 (179)TV EpisodeDirectorBarak GoodmanCelebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the 1969 three-day music and art fair at a farm in New York that marked the end of one of the most turbulent decades in American History.
- DirectorDavid GrubinStarsWinston ChurchillDavid McCulloughEleanor RooseveltPolio at age 39, president at age 50. Explore the public and private life of a determined man who steered this country through two monumental crises: the Depression and World War II. FDR served as president longer than any other, and his legacy still shapes our understanding of the role of government and the presidency. A film by award winning filmmaker David Grubin. This is the first of two parts.
- DirectorDavid GrubinStarsDavid McCulloughWinston ChurchillAdolf HitlerPolio at age 39, president at age 50. Explore the public and private life of a determined man who steered this country through two monumental crises: the Depression and World War II. FDR served as president longer than any other, and his legacy still shapes our understanding of the role of government and the presidency. A film by award winning filmmaker David Grubin. This is the second of two parts.
- 1987– 1h 30m8.2 (105)TV EpisodeDirectorStanley NelsonStarsStanley ClaytonHue Fortson Jr.Vernon GosneyTodays theme is Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple.
- StarsJudi DenchSalome JensJay WinterA unique first-person narrative, sewn together from genuine testimonies of frontline soldiers.
- 1985– TV-147.4 (50)TV EpisodeDirectorJim BrownStarsJohnny CashWaylon JenningsKris KristoffersonAn oral history of the Mount Rushmore of Country Music.
- StarsKeith DavidJamie FoxxDocumentary chronicles the personal and professional life of Jackie Robinson from his birth in 1919 to his death in 1972. Robinson's rise from humble beginnings to became an American hero and pivotal figure in American history are detailed.
- DirectorMichael EpsteinStarsGeorge BartenieffWarren BeattyWalter BernsteinThrough playwright Arthur Miller and director Elia Kazan, the film explores the blacklist: its origins, the key agents of the Red Scare, and the damage done not only to those subpoenaed, but to America's political system as well.
- DirectorSam PollardStarsLaurence FishburneTurron Kofi AlleyneMichael BaconA documentary that recounts the many ways in which American slavery persisted as a practice many decades after its supposed abolition.
- DirectorSharon GrimbergStarsThomas DohertyJoseph McCarthyThis documentary surveys the rise and fall of the notorious Communist-hunting Republican senator from Wisconsin, who helped spread a climate of suspicion and fear in early 1950s America.
- DirectorStephen IvesStarsDaniel AmigoneRobert ByrdJohn CampbellThis film tells the story of an assassin, James Earl Ray, his target, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the seething, turbulent forces in American society that led these two men to their violent and tragic collision in Memphis in April 1968.
- DirectorSue WilliamsStarsJeanine BasingerScott EymanRobert CushmanThrough interviews with film historians and biographers, and through archival footage, the rise and fall of the professional life of actress and businessperson Mary Pickford (1892-1979) - born Gladys Smith - and the associated ebbs and flows in her personal life, are presented. At the height of her fame, she was dubbed "America's Sweetheart" despite being born in Canada. Mary's widowed mother, Charlotte Smith, got herself, Mary and Mary's two siblings into the somewhat disreputable profession of acting - first on the stage, then into the emerging form of moving pictures - as a means of economic survival, but it soon became clear of Mary's star quality compared to her other family members. Mary and Charlotte's foray into the business side of show business was in a means to take control of Mary's own career, against the actions of impresarios and studio executives who may not have had Mary's best interests at heart. Arguably the biggest maneuver in Mary's business life was the formation of United Artists in 1919 with director D.W. Griffith, fellow actor Charles Chaplin and who would become her second of three husbands, fellow actor Douglas Fairbanks, that marriage the most famous of the three despite not being the longest. United Artists was not only a means to distribute the movies made under their production company under their control, but to provide an outlet for all creative artists in the motion picture business some financial security. Mary's slide began in the late 1920s having overextended herself in her own human resource on the business side, and her adoring fans not allowing her to grow up on screen, the advent of talking pictures only one of the many aspects which showed a Mary with who the public could not relate. Mary's Academy Award win as Best Actress in 1930 for Coquette (1929), not a typical Pickford role and the first speaking role to win the award, is largely seen as an award to her contributions to the film industry as opposed to an award for this particular role.
- DirectorKen BurnsStarsDavid McCulloughJeremy IronsDerek JacobiDocumentary showing the history of the world-famous Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, the impact it still has on people and the state of liberty as a personal and political concept in America in 1985.
- 1987– 1h 51mTV-PG7.7 (142)TV EpisodeDirectorDavid GrubinStarsHarold AgnewJeremy BernsteinRobert ChristyThis biography presents a complex and revealing portrait of one of America's most influential scientists.
- StarsDavid Ogden StiersKenneth JacksonMike WallaceExploration of New York City's rich history as a complex and dynamic city that has played an unparalleled role in shaping the nation and reflecting its ideals.
- 1987– 1h 17mTV-PG8.0 (163)TV EpisodeDirectorChris EyreStarsMarcos AkiatenCassidy AllaWilliam BelleauIn March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit (actor Marcos Akiaten, Chiricauha Apache), the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of native help. Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit's diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit's son (actor Annowon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag), the Wampanoag and their native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.
- 1987– 1h 26mTV-PG7.9 (152)TV EpisodeDirectorRic BurnsChris EyreStarsBenjamin BrattMichael GreyeyesDwier BrownEach of the episodes focuses on important historical events and concludes with a short contemporary story that links the past to the present.
- 1987– 1h 16mTV-PG8.0 (129)TV EpisodeDirectorChris EyreStarsJackson WalkerElijah AbdullahThomas N. BeltThe Cherokee would call it Nu-No-Du-Na Tlo-Hi-Lu, "The Trail Where They Cried." On May 26, 1838, federal troops forced thousands of Cherokee from their homes in the Southeastern United States, driving them toward Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way. For years the Cherokee had resisted removal from their land in every way they knew. Convinced that white America rejected Native Americans because they were "savages," Cherokee leaders established a republic with a European-style legislature and legal system. Many Cherokee became Christian and adopted westernized education for their children. Their visionary principal chief, John Ross, would even take the Cherokee case to the Supreme Court, where he won a crucial recognition of tribal sovereignty that still resonates. The Supreme Court ruling proved no deterrent to President Andrew Jackson's demands that the Cherokee leave their ancestral lands. A complex debate divided the Cherokee Nation, with Chief Ross urging the Cherokee to stay, and Major Ridge, a respected tribal leader, urging the tribe to move West and rebuild, going so far as to sign a removal treaty himself without the authority to do so. Though in the end the Cherokee embrace of "civilization" and their landmark legal victory proved no match for white land hunger and military power, the Cherokee people were able, with characteristic ingenuity, to build a new life in Oklahoma, far from the land that had sustained them for generations.
- 1987– 1h 18mTV-PG7.8 (116)TV EpisodeDirectorSarah ColtDustinn CraigStarsKeith BassoBenjamin BrattCollin G. CallowayIn February of 1909, the indomitable Chiricahua Apache warrior and war shaman Geronimo lay on his deathbed. He summoned his nephew to his side, whispering, "I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive." It was an admission of regret from a man whose insistent pursuit of military resistance in the face of overwhelming odds confounded not only his Mexican and American enemies, but many of his fellow Apaches as well. Born around 1820, Geronimo grew into a leading warrior and healer. But after his tribe was relocated to an Arizona reservation in 1872, he became a focus of the fury of terrified white settlers, and of the growing tensions that divided Apaches struggling to survive under almost unendurable pressures. To angry whites, Geronimo became the archfiend, perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, the upholder of the old Chiricahua ways. To other Apaches, especially those who had come to see the white man's path as the only viable road, Geronimo was a stubborn troublemaker, unbalanced by his unquenchable thirst for vengeance, whose actions needlessly brought the enemy's wrath down on his own people. At a time when surrender to the reservation and acceptance of the white man's civilization seemed to be the Indians' only realistic options, Geronimo and his tiny band of Chiricahuas fought on. The final holdouts, they became the last Native American fighting force to capitulate formally to the government of the United States.
- 1987– 1h 30mTV-PG7.9 (115)TV EpisodeDirectorStanley NelsonStarsDennis BanksClyde BellecourtBenjamin BrattOn the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars, horns blaring, rolled into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. The protesters were demanding redress for grievances-some going back more than 100 years-and the expulsion of Pine Ridge tribal leader Dick Wilson, who governed the reservation through corruption and intimidation. In Wounded Knee, the gripping and controversial story of the armed standoff between American Indian activists and the federal government that captured the world's attention for 71 suspenseful days is brought to life.
- DirectorDavid Van TaylorStarsJules FeifferLynn JohnstonAmy LagoThe life and career of the American cartoonist who created the Peanuts comic strip.
- 1994–20101h 58mTV-PG8.3 (206)TV EpisodeDirectorKen BurnsLynn NovickStarsKeith DavidHank AaronFelipe AlouThis latest entry covers the period from the early 1990's onward. Labor relations deteriorated badly in the early part of that decade leading to the players strike in August 1994. The Montreal Expos were the best team in baseball at the time but when a Federal judge blocked the owners from unilaterally imposing a contract (which would have let them use replacement players) it quickly came to an end and the players returned to work under the old contract. Attendance dropped after that but the game recovered quickly with the heroics of Cal Ripkin Jr. By the end of 1990's, fans were caught up in the home run derby presented by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. There was also the first whiff of scandal when McGwire was accused of using steroids. It was also an era when new baseball stadiums were built in many cities, evoking an earlier age when the parks were built specifically for the sport. The curse of the Bambino finally came to an end with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. Barry Bonds broke McGwire's three year-old season home-run record and later Hank Aaron's HR record. The issue of drug use eventually led to Congressional hearings after the BALCO scandal and the Mitchell Report, which named many stars as having used performance enhancing drugs. This inning is dedicated to the late, great Buck O'Neil.
- 1994–20102h 5mTV-PG8.3 (160)TV EpisodeDirectorKen BurnsLynn NovickStarsKeith DavidHank AaronFelipe AlouAs the new millenium dawns, Baseball is more popular and profitable than ever, but suspicions and revelations about performance enhancing drugs keep surfacing, calling the integrity of the game itself into question.
- 1985– 1h 25mTV-147.6 (147)TV EpisodeDirectorPeter FrumkinStarsPeter CoyoteRick SharpRobin WileyHear the story of Woody Guthrie's creative energy, personal imperfections and family tragedy.
- StarsRichie MoriartyMichael MurphyRobert J. ThompsonThe history of the performing entertainment form in American history.
- 1999– 1h 49mR7.8 (4.5K)TV Episode82MetascoreDirectorAlex GibneyStarsKenneth LayPeter CoyoteJohn BeardCorporate audio and videotapes tell the inside story of the scandal involving one company's manipulation of California's energy supply and its, and how its executives wrung a billion dollars out of the resulting crisis.
- 1987– 1h 28mUnrated7.4 (183)TV EpisodeDirectorSteven AscherJeanne JordanStarsBob BlankenshipDean EiltsMarge HaroldStruggling to keep the family farm in the family.
- DirectorPamela Mason WagnerStarsEdie AdamsCynthia AdlerDesi Arnaz Jr.For more than 30 years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into humorous disasters.
- StarsSean BarrettVeronika HyksEva HartSeries documenting the history of the twentieth century through the testimony of those who lived through it.
- DirectorMichelle FerrariStarsCorey StollTracing the movement to breed a "better" American race, which turned the science of heredity into an instrument of social control that led to forced sterilization campaigns.
- DirectorRic BurnsStarsArtemus CraggCalypso CraggJulian ElferRecounts the founding (1620) and early years of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century. Includes the real story of the "First Thanksgiving".
- DirectorAndrew GoldbergStarsJulianna MarguliesRon SunyPeter BalakianThe first Genocide of the 20th century when over a million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I, between 1915 and 1918.
- DirectorRobert UthStarsGary Sinise45,000 World War I veterans, impoverished by the Great Depression, who marched on Washington D.C. in the summer of 1932 seeking payment of the compensation promised them for their war service.
- 1985– 3h 48mTV-147.7 (301)TV EpisodeDirectorRichard SchickelStarsClint EastwoodSusan OrleanJohn BarrymoreDocumentary about the first 85 years of Warner Bros. Studios, with scenes from hundreds of films that reflect the values, morals and attitudes of several generations, especially in the United States.
- StarsStacy KeachTim L. SmithThe evolution of the modern naval warship, from the days of wooden vessels under sail to today's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, submarines, and missile cruisers.
- 1985– 1h 25mNot Rated7.7 (137)TV EpisodeDirectorAnne MakepeaceStarsSheila TouseyBill PullmanThe dramatic story of eminent photographer Edward S. Curtis and the creation of his monumental portfolio of Native American images. Descendants of his photographic subjects tell stories about the photos and reveal their meaning to Indian people today.
- DirectorJohn BoothStarsWill LymanThe sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, 1915.
- DirectorSidney BernsteinStarsTrevor HowardSidney BernsteinAlfred HitchcockIn 1945, camera crews went with the American and British armies in the nazis death camps and filmed the horror they found there. A group of directors among whom was Alfred Hichcock developed a script to present these horrors and be sure that people remember. Forty-eight years later it came out from the cave of the Imperial War Museum and was edited as forecast.
- DirectorDaniel A. MillerStarsEmilio AguinaldoGilberto ArribasPaul AustinHistorical documentary on the Spanish-American war, the events surrounding it, and the people involved. Highlights events in Cuba and the Philippines.
- StarsGene GalushaRobert J. LurtsemaWar and Peace in the Nuclear Age is a PBS produced 13 part documentary of appx 55 minutes each covering the Nuclear threat since it's inception in World War II to the present.
- StarsIan HolmSvetlana AlliluyevaStephen CohenThe story of Stalin's life and terrible career, told mainly in interviews with survivors of his terror.
- 1987–7.5 (71)TV EpisodeDirectorMarty OstrowStarsHal LindenAs the campaign to force Jews out of Germany ramps up, the American government blocks efforts to help rescue many of these displaced persons, and Americans' antisemitism only seems to get worse.
- DirectorPearl BowserBestor CramStarsToni Cade BambaraRobert HallElton FaxA documentary about the history of African American race films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
- StarsAngela BassettJeremy RabbThe history of African Americans.
- DirectorLexy LovellMichael UysStarsRichard ThomasThe story of young teens who hopped freight trains in search of work and adventure during the Great Depression.
- DirectorNick ReadStarsWill LymanTony BradfordIn 1940, World War II was Britain's to lose. It did not.
- DirectorLarry KleinStarsDavid MacaulayDerek JacobiRichard BebbTravel back to late 18th century Lowell, MA, now infamous for its textile mills and its "Lowell Girls," the poor, barely-educated waifs who helped turn those mills into sweatshops.