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American Experience

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What it is

American Experience is TV's most-watched history series and brings to life incredible characters and compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today. Acclaimed by viewers and critics alike, American Experience documentaries have been honored with every major broadcast award, including 30 Emmy Awards, 4 duPont-Columbia Awards, and 18 George Foster Peabody Awards.

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Bombshell

s38e01 · 2026-01-07

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Episode guide

15 this season · 429 total
s12e01 New York: The Country and the City 1609-1825 1999-11-15 01:00

New York: The Country and the City 1609-1825

s12e01 · 1999-11-15 · 01:00

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s12e02 New York: Order and Disorder 1825-1865 1999-11-16 01:00

New York: Order and Disorder 1825-1865

s12e02 · 1999-11-16 · 01:00

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s12e03 New York: Sunshine and Shadow 1865-1898 1999-11-17 01:00

New York: Sunshine and Shadow 1865-1898

s12e03 · 1999-11-17 · 01:00

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s12e04 New York: The Power and the People 1898-1918 1999-11-18 01:00

New York: The Power and the People 1898-1918

s12e04 · 1999-11-18 · 01:00

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s12e05 New York: Cosmopolis 1919-1931 1999-11-19 01:00

New York: Cosmopolis 1919-1931

s12e05 · 1999-11-19 · 01:00

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s12e06 Eleanor Roosevelt 2000-01-11 01:00

Eleanor Roosevelt

s12e06 · 2000-01-11 · 01:00

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s12e07 Houdini 2000-01-25 01:00

Houdini

s12e07 · 2000-01-25 · 01:00

This american experience tells the story of history's greatest showman,

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s12e08 Nixon's China Game 2000-02-01 01:00

Nixon's China Game

s12e08 · 2000-02-01 · 01:00

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s12e09 The Duel 2000-02-15 01:00

The Duel

s12e09 · 2000-02-15 · 01:00

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s12e10 John Brown's Holy War 2000-02-29 01:00

John Brown's Holy War

s12e10 · 2000-02-29 · 01:00

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s12e11 George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part I 2000-04-24 00:00

George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part I

s12e11 · 2000-04-24 · 00:00

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s12e12 George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part II 2000-04-25 00:00

George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part II

s12e12 · 2000-04-25 · 00:00

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s12e13 Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory 2000-05-02 00:00

Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory

s12e13 · 2000-05-02 · 00:00

On November 16, 1871, a group of unknown singers — all but two of them former slaves and many of them still in their teens -- arrived at Oberlin College in Ohio to perform before a national convention of influential ministers. After a few standard ballads, the chorus began to sing spirituals -- 'Steal Away' and other songs' associated with slavery and the dark past, sacred to our parents,' as soprano Ella Sheppard recalled. It was one of the first public performances of the secret music African Americans had sung in fields and behind closed doors.'Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory,' produced by Llewellyn Smith, tells the story of a group of former slaves who battled prejudice and oppression to sing their way into a nation's heart. Eventually, they would perform for presidents and queens, tour the United States and Europe, and establish songs like 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' and 'This Little Light of Mine' as a cherished part of the nation's musical heritage. The program features today's Fisk Jubilee Singers performing these and many other spirituals; Dion Graham narrates.The concert in Oberlin was the turning point in a daring fundraising experiment for impoverished Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where the singers were students. Established in January 1866, Fisk taught freed slaves how to count their wages, how to write the new names they had chosen for themselves, and read both the ballot and the Bible. Despite emancipation, the South was a dangerous place: Fisk students who dared teach in the countryside were routinely assaulted and whipped by Ku Klux Klan nightriders; one was shot at in his classroom; another had her school building burned to the ground.Charged with keeping the financially troubled school afloat, treasurer George Leonard White proposed taking Fisk's most gifted singers on a fundraising tour of the North. Before they even left town, they encountered resistance: the parents were afraid to let their children go; White's fellow teachers opposed the tour; and the American Missionary Association, the northern religious organization that operated Fisk, refused to help, worried that the chorus's appeal for funds would jeopardize their own fundraising activities. But White persevered.Following the path of the Underground Railway, the group made its debut in Cincinnati. Despite the warm reception, donations totaled less than $50. Night after night, it was the same: crowds loved their singing, but the collection plate yielded barely enough to cover their expenses. Yet, no one turned back.Life on the road took its toll. White and the singers endured rheumatism, bronchitis, chronic coughs. Their clothes ran to rags. But after the triumphant Oberlin performance, word started to spread. In December, the Jubilee Singers appeared at Henry Ward Beecher's weekly prayer meeting at Brooklyn's Plymouth Church. 'Every church wanted the Jubilee Singers from that time on,' wrote Maggie Porter. They sang for Mark Twain, President Ulysses S. Grant, congressmen, diplomats.After less than two weeks' rest, the singers were back on the road, touring the Eastern United States. Eventually, they would tour Europe to universal acclaim and sing for the royal families of Holland, Germany, and Britain.The group raised what today would be millions of dollars, but they paid a terrible price. Worn down by the relentless schedule, an advance man suffered a nervous breakdown. George White lost his wife to typhoid fever. White himself nearly died of a pulmonary hemorrhage. Contralto Minnie Tate's voice was torn to shreds. Tenor Benjamin Holmes's nagging cough was caused by tuberculosis. They faced discrimination on the road and from the press. A grueling tour of Germany -- ninety-eight days, forty-one towns, sixty-eight concerts -- brought with it low morale, frayed nerves, and rivalries among the singers.After almost seven years of touring, the Jubilee Singers returned home. Fisk honored them for raising the funds to complete Jubilee Hall and save their school.But their contributions extended far beyond Fisk University. They had introduced the world to the power of spirituals and challenged racial stereotypes on two continents. 'In their wake, hotels, railways, steamship lines, and boards of education integrated their facilities. The Jubilees not only introduced the world to the music of black America, they championed the liberties of all Americans,' says Andrew Ward, co-writer of the documentary and author of 'Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers.' More than 125 years later, the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University continue the concert tradition begun by that courageous, original chorus of former slaves.

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s12e14 Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life 2000-05-09 00:00

Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life

s12e14 · 2000-05-09 · 00:00

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s12e15 George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography 2000-05-23 00:00

George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography

s12e15 · 2000-05-23 · 00:00

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