On July 2, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally-televised ceremony at the White House.

What’s the street-level experience of voters in today’s America? In a triumph of documentary storytelling, P.O.V.’s Election Day combines 11 stories — shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight — into one. Watch now…

From Ragtime to Billy Bathgate to City of God, writer E.L. Doctorow uses historical fiction to tell the story of the American experience. On April 2007 in Washington, there was a joint meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society on the theme of “The Public Good: Knowledge as [...]

The 6th season of History Detectives begins Monday, June 30, 9 pm(check local listings), with a diary of a WWII pilot. Read about their new online, participatory investigations as well…

100 years ago today, the skies in a remote area of Siberia split open, and havoc rained on the earth for hundreds of miles in every direction. The Tunguska explosion is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth’s recent history. Read more….

In 1942, the Japanese army needed a new supply route to support its troops in Burma. Under backbreaking conditions, Allied P.O.W.s, along with 1000s of Asian laborers, were ordered to complete a railway linking Thailand and Burma that would include the infamous “bridge on the River Kwai.”

This lecture/panel discussion casts the New Deal in contemporary terms. Two writers talk about their strikingly different interpretations of the New Deal … and its meaning for both Election 2008 and the country’s future.

Clemente’s talent and inimitable style drew legions of fans, but he was more than an exceptional baseball player. He was also a committed humanitarian who challenged racial discrimination and worked for social justice. This episode of American Experience is from April 21, 2008, and is watchable in Spanish also. GO

First-time filmmaker Katrina Browne makes a troubling discovery –her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U. S. history. She and nine fellow descendants set off to retrace the Triangle Trade — from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, [...]

The American Experience film “Summer of Love” portrays the culmination of the 1960s counter-culture movement. It relates the striking picture of San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district during the summer of 1967 — from the utopian beginnings, when peace and love prevailed, to the chaos, unsanitary conditions, and widespread drug use that ultimately signaled the end. [...]