American Experience

1988

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American Experience

8.6 | TV-PG | en | Documentary

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 Forgotten Hero: Walter White and The NAACP

Feb. 24,2025

While many consider the birth of the civil rights movement to be 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, the stage had been set decades before by activists of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Some of the NAACP leaders are familiar, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Thurgood Marshall, but Walter White, head of the NAACP from 1929 to 1955, has been all but forgotten. With his blond hair and blue eyes, Walter White looked white; he described himself as “an enigma, a Black man occupying a white body.” Like virtually all light-skinned African Americans of his day, White was descended from enslaved Black women and powerful white men. But he was Black — by law, identity, and conviction and spent his entire life fighting for Black civil rights. Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP traces the life of this neglected civil rights hero and seeks to explain his disappearance from our history.

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EP2 Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act

Mar. 24,2025

The emotional and dramatic story of the decades-long push for equality and accessibility that culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. A story of courage and perseverance, the film highlights the determined people who literally put their bodies on the line to achieve their goal and change the lives of all Americans.

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EP3 Mr. Polaroid

Mar. 31,2025

Before the iPhone, the Polaroid camera let people instantly chronicle their lives. Along with instant photo mania, its company culture became the model for Silicon Valley. Mr. Polaroid is the story of Edwin Land, the man behind the camera.

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EP4 Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

Aug. 26,2025

A chronicle of how Los Angeles' devastating smog problem in the 1940s and 50s led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act.

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A chronicle of how Los Angeles' devastating smog problem in the 1940s and 50s led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act.

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EP5 Hard Hat Riot

Sep. 30,2025

Hard Hat Riot tells the story of a struggling metropolis, a flailing president, a divided people, and a bloody juncture when the nation violently diverged ― culminating in a new political and cultural landscape that radically redefined American politics and foreshadowed the future.

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EP6 Kissinger (1): The Necessity of Power

Oct. 27,2025

The story of Henry Kissinger, the enigmatic powerbroker who served in the topmost echelons of U.S. diplomacy. Celebrated or reviled, his contradictions reflect those central to late 20th century U.S. foreign policy. With interviews from proteges and colleagues, Kissinger endeavors to understand his relentless drive for power, and how his policies shaped today’s world.

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EP7 Kissinger (2): The Opportunist

Oct. 28,2025

Discover how Henry Kissinger's anti-Communist zeal would shape U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, China, Chile, and the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century, through the voices of historians and colleagues.

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EP8 Bombshell

Jan. 06,2026

The efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth about the bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

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The efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth about the bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

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8.6 | TV-PG | en | Documentary | More Info

Released: 1988-10-04 | Released Producted By: GBH , Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: http://www.pbs.org/show/american-experience/

info

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Genre

Documentary

Watch Online

American Experience (1988) is now streaming with subscription on PBS America

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American Experience Audience Reviews

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Grumpy This program used to be called "The American Experience." Then it was suddenly and deliberately truncated to "American Experience" as part of a mysterious "update." An act which should live--in infamy.Why did the producers of this program remove the "the" from the beginning of the title? I believe that this is something that should not, as Bush the Elder once said, "stand." Who dictated that the "the" should be removed? What sense does it make to take a perfectly reasonable title--"The American Experience" which describes what all Americans have in common, and what makes us Americans--and remove one word, thereby changing the meaning to, well, nothing. "American Experience" is a nonsense phrase. It's stupid.If this was done "just because" I'd like to question the wisdom of spending money to change all the logos and promotional material, and re-do all the voice-overs and promotions. Scarce resources were spent on a stupid and pointless change for no reason? I don't believe it. This was done for a reason, and I'd like to know why it was done. If the motives were political, then it's a disgrace.

bilmar-1 This is a wonderful film of a time past when in the future nothing has changed...so if you love history, watch it. Angie Debo was a tireless researcher who did not understand why it is alright to take land that does not belong to you, become rich, and watch others die or become dependents to the state because you stole from them. Has it become too time-honored a tradition in America?The filmmaker, Martha Sandlin, does an excellent job of condensing very complicated material and bringing to life a woman who lived a full and energetic life.BUT IMDb, please!!!! You have the wrong picture for Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo. PLEASE CORRECT IT!

dlto 622 American Experience is a superior program on PBS (no commercials, thank goodness) about events in American history that have been largely forgotten in recent history. Consider watching: The series on the Presidents shows the humanity of the man in the White House and how he shaped America to vision, sometimes successfully, and many times unsuccessfully.Steven Foster,a pre-Civil War songwriter who was the first mega-star. He was the first to popularize African-American style music into mainstream society, and tried to become a respectable composer. By the time at the outbreak of the Civil War he was a has-been, and tragically died in 1864.The Orphan Train was about the history of the New York Children's Aid Society (founded by President Theodore Roosevelt's father) and their mission to get children off the streets of New York and place them in homes in the Midwest and Southwest. The interview with people who had been transported was fascinating and heart wrenching.The Dust Bowl was about the devastation in the 1930's that involved the plains of the Midwest. After watching, you begin to appreciate novels/movies about this period such as Grapes of Wrath and Three Faces West; and those who lived in the affected areas and what hardships and tragedies they endured.Jonestown Flood, another tragic event in American history which in growing up I had heard about, but did not know the extent of events and how horrible it really was.

jtf87 American Experience is a series that is so large and grand that it is nearly too difficult to describe in review form. For over twenty years, PBS has made dozens of documentary films for this series which are often the best that can be found. The topics covered are too great to elaborate on. From Roberto Clemente to Harry Truman to the great Johnstown Flood, American Experience gives the viewer a higher appreciation of our nation's past along with its many struggles and many triumphs. American Experience allows us to have a better understanding of what we as a people have been and what we represent to ourselves and the world.