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Special Collection
Television's most-watched history series, American Experience, brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that have shaped America's past and present. This collection offers you quick access to videos, interactives, and articles from American Experience, on air and on the Web.
| RESOURCE | GRADE LEVEL | MEDIA TYPE |
|---|---|---|
Abolitionist Leader William Lloyd GarrisonThis video adapted from American Experience: “The Abolitionists” profiles William Lloyd Garrison, founder of The Liberator and a leader of the American Anti-Slavery Society, whose position on the slavery question generated strong and often violent resistance to the abolitionist cause. |
6-12 |
Video |
AC / DC: What's the Difference?This animated essay from the American Experience Web site explains the difference between alternating and direct electric current and offers in-depth explanations about the role played by a battery, light bulb, wire, and generator. |
6-12 |
Interactive |
Alexander Hamilton: Early InfluencesIn this video segment from American Experience, learn about how the events of Hamilton's youth in the West Indies influenced the direction of his life. |
5-12 |
Video |
The Bayonet ConstitutionThis video from American Experience describes the events that forced Hawaiian King Kalakaua in 1887 to accept a new constitution for Hawai‘i that limited his power and gave increased influence to white landowners. |
8-12 |
Video |
The Beginning of the Cold WarAmerican Experience: This Cold War video examines the steps that Harry Truman took to provide American support for governments threatened by the spread of Communism, a policy that came to be known as the Truman Doctrine. |
9-12 |
Video |
Building the Alaska Oil PipelineThis video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE tells the story of how environmentalists, Alaska Native peoples, and engineers concerned about the effects of permafrost challenged plans for the Alaska oil pipeline. |
6-12 |
Video |
Building the Erie CanalIn this video segment adapted from American Experience, learn about the construction of the Erie Canal, the biggest public works project of its time. |
5-12 |
Video |
A Case for the Separation of PowersThis video segment adapted from American Experience introduces how John Adams called for the separation of powers in the Massachusetts Constitution into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. |
5-12 |
Video |
Elements of SteelThis resource from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site, which contains both an interactive activity and illustrated text, looks at the composition of different types of steel and their impact on technology. |
6-12 |
Interactive |
Escalation of the Vietnam War by LBJAmerican Experience: This video chronicles the deliberations that led President Lyndon Johnson to escalate U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. |
9-12 |
Video |
Ex-slave Frederick Douglass Joins the AbolitionistsThis video adapted from American Experience: “The Abolitionists” describes the contributions of Frederick Douglass, a former slave, to the abolitionist movement in the early 1840s. |
6-12 |
Video |
The Exchange StudentThis video segment from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes the experience of Jim Zwerg, a white college student who was among the Freedom Riders seeking to end illegal discrimination against African Americans during the civil rights era. |
6-12 |
Video |
FDR: New Deal ProgramsAmerican Experience: In this video, examine the economic challenges facing President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal Programs he proposed to bring the United States out of the Great Depression. |
9-12 |
Video |
Forgotten InventorsThis illustrated feature from the American Experience Web site highlights the frequently forgotten inventors of several useful, innovative technologies. |
3-12 |
Interactive |
Freedom Riders Challenge SegregationThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes how a group of black and white Americans planned to challenge illegal racial segregation by riding buses across Southern states. |
6-12 |
Video |
Freedom Riders Create ChangeThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" highlights the impact of the 1961 Freedom Rides on the efforts to end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. |
6-12 |
Video |
Fresh TroopsThis video segment from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes how the Nashville student movement trained future Freedom Riders in nonviolence, and why these students were so essential in sustaining the Freedom Rides. |
6-12 |
Video |
Fusion: Testing the First Hydrogen DeviceThis video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE features original footage of the U.S. test of the first hydrogen device, code-named "Mike", that would trigger thermonuclear fusion. |
6-12 |
Video |
Fusion: The Hydrogen BombJust after World War II, nuclear scientists turned their attention from fission to fusion. This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE looks at the beginnings of thermonuclear power generation. |
6-12 |
Video |
The GovernorThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes Alabama Governor John Patterson's refusal to ensure the safety of the Freedom Riders, despite the efforts of President Kennedy and other federal officials. |
6-12 |
Video |
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's CabinThis video adapted from American Experience: “The Abolitionists” describes how Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was an act of protest against the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and built support for the abolitionist movement. |
8-12 |
Video |
How the Mexican-American War Affected SlaveryThis video adapted from American Experience: “The Abolitionists” describes how new territory acquired by the United States in the Mexican-American War, and the Great Compromise of 1850 that it generated, fueled greater division between abolitionists and slave owners. |
6-12 |
Video |
How to Build A RoadGeology and weather introduced a variety of unexpected problems when construction crews were building the Alaska Highway. In this interactive activity from the American Experience Web site, see how Army engineers improvised solutions to blaze a trail through the wilderness. |
3-12 |
Interactive |
Ike and Little RockThis video segment, adapted from American Experience: "Ike", profiles the president's controversial response to the Little Rock school desegregation crisis in 1957. |
6-12 |
Video |
Implementing BrownPoint/counterpoint commentary on the president's actions after the Brown ruling; from American Experience: "Eisenhower." |
6-12 |
Video |
The InspirationThis video segment from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes the influence of India's Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent tactics on the struggle to end illegal discrimination against African Americans in the United States. |
6-12 |
Video |
Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979American Experience:This video covers the events that led to the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 and the ultimate release of the hostages after negotiations had failed. |
9-12 |
Video |
LBJ and the Great SocietyAmerican Experience: This video describes the social welfare legislation known as the "Great Society" undertaken by President Lyndon Johnson and examines how increasing involvement in Vietnam affected its implementation. |
9-12 |
Video |
FDR: The Lend-Lease ActAmerican Experience: This video examines the Lend-Lease Act, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to German attacks on Great Britain in the early years of World War II, before the U.S. had entered the war. |
9-12 |
Video |
Nuclear Blast DamageThis illustrated document from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site examines the "zones of destruction" caused by nuclear weapons. |
6-12 |
Document |
Nuclear Blast FootageThese video clips from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site feature actual footage of thermonuclear blast testing done in the 1950s. |
6-12 |
Video |
Nuclear Reaction: Three Mile IslandThis video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE examines the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. |
6-12 |
Video |
The Overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalaniThis video from American Experience documents the coup d'état of January 1893 and its aftermath, when a group of sugar plantation owners, businessmen, and descendants of missionaries sought to overthrow Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai‘i. |
8-12 |
Video |
Rachel Carson's Silent SpringIn this video segment adapted from American Experience: "Rachel Carson's Silent Spring," learn how the lethal impact of the pesticide DDT on wildlife inspired biologist Rachel Carson to write Silent Spring. |
6-12 |
Video |
Reconstruction and Black EducationThis mini-documentary from the American Experience: "Reconstruction" Web site follows post-Civil War development of public education for African Americans in the South and the resistance it sparked. |
3-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 1: A Handful of LawyersThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" profiles Charles Houston's strategy for attacking segregation and how he trained the legal team that eventually argued the Brown case. |
6-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 2: Social Science EvidenceThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" documents Dr. Kenneth Clark's "doll test," which became important social science evidence in the Brown case. |
6-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 3: The Trial BeginsThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" captures the legal issues and opening arguments in Brown v. Board of Education. |
6-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 4: Arguing the Fourteenth AmendmentThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" explores the issue at the heart of Brown v. Board of Education: whether the Fourteenth Amendment applied to segregated schools. |
6-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 5: Marshall's Closing StatementThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" reenacts Thurgood Marshall's closing statement in Brown v. Board of Education. |
6-12 |
Video |
Simple Justice 6: Justice Warren Reads the DecisionThis segment from American Experience: "Simple Justice" explores the dynamics and arguments among the Supreme Court justices who ruled in Brown v. Board of Education. |
6-12 |
Video |
Southern Abolitionist Angelina GrimkéThis video adapted from American Experience: “The Abolitionists” describes the efforts of Angelina Grimké, the daughter of a prominent southern slaveholding family, to end slavery and obtain equal rights for women. |
6-12 |
Video |
The Student LeaderThis video segment from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" profiles one of the African American student leaders who employed nonviolent direct action in the early 1960s to challenge illegal racial segregation both on her own college campus and nationally. |
6-12 |
Video |
The TacticThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes the adoption of nonviolent direct action as the critical tactic in challenging illegal racial segregation in the Southern United States in the early 1960s. |
6-12 |
Video |
Technology TimelineThis interactive timeline from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site features influential technological innovations from 1750 to 1990. |
3-12 |
Interactive |
Test Yourself: How Panic Proof Are You?Test how panic proof you are by taking this 1953 atomic attack panic quiz from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site. |
6-12 |
Interactive |
Three Mile Island: What HappenedThis interactive activity from the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Web site looks at the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history. |
6-12 |
Interactive |
Trail of TearsThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "We Shall Remain" features reenactments that depict how the Cherokee were forced by the U.S. government to leave their homes in Georgia and march to new lands west of the Mississippi. |
9-12 |
Video |
Transcontinental Railroad Recruits Chinese LaborersThis video segment adapted from American Experience examines the participation of Chinese laborers in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad during the 1860s. |
9-12 |
Video |
Truman and the Atomic Bomb — World War IIAmerican Experience: Watch this video to learn what led President Harry Truman to decide to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end World War II. |
9-12 |
Video |
The Young WitnessThis video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes the response of a young Alabama girl who witnessed an attack on the Freedom Riders. |
6-12 |
Video |
