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American Experience

PBS · 1988– · Airing now · History · ★ 7.8/10

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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American Experience episode guide

Season 1 · 16 episodes · Oct 4, 1988 – Jan 17, 1989
  1. The Great San Francisco Earthquake
  2. Radio Bikini
  3. Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo
  4. Not So Wild a Dream
  5. The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
  6. Do You Mean There are Still Real Cowboys
  7. Kennedy vs. Wallace: A Crisis Up-Close
  8. Geronimo and the Apache Resistance
  9. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Revisited
  10. That Rhythm, Those Blues
  11. The Radio Priest
  12. Hearts and Hands
  13. Views of a Vanishing Frontier
  14. Eudora Welty: One Writer's Beginnings
  15. The World That Moses Built
  16. Sins of Our Mothers
Season 2 · 15 episodes · Oct 3, 1989 – Jan 16, 1990
  1. The Great Air Race of 1924
  2. Demon Rum
  3. A Family Gathering
  4. The Great War: 1918
  5. Forever Baseball
  6. Mr. Sears' Catalogue
  7. Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven
  8. Adam Clayton Powell
  9. Journey to America
  10. Ballad of a Mountain Man
  11. Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
  12. Orphans of the Storm
  13. Forbidden City, USA
  14. Battle for Wilderness
  15. Roots of Resistance: A Story of the Underground Railroad
Season 3 · 14 episodes · Oct 1, 1990 – Feb 4, 1991
  1. Lindbergh
  2. Nixon: The Quest
  3. Nixon: Triumph
  4. Nixon: The Fall
  5. God Bless America and Poland, Too
  6. Insanity on Trial
  7. The Satellite Sky
  8. The Crash of 1929
  9. The Iron Road
  10. French Dance Tonight
  11. Wildcatter: A Story of Texas Oil
  12. After the Crash
  13. Los Mineros
  14. Coney Island
Season 4 · 15 episodes · Sep 30, 1991 – Feb 17, 1992
  1. LBJ: Beautiful Texas
  2. LBJ: My Fellow Americans
  3. LBJ: We Shall Overcome
  4. LBJ: The Last Believer
  5. The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry
  6. Scandalous Mayor
  7. The Johnstown Flood
  8. Pearl Harbor: Surprise and Remembrance
  9. G-Men: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover
  10. Duke Ellington: Reminiscing in Tempo
  11. The Quiz Show Scandal
  12. Love in the Cold War
  13. Wild by Law
  14. Barnum's Big Top
  15. In the White Man's Image
Season 5 · 12 episodes · Sep 20, 1992 – Mar 1, 1993
  1. The Kennedys: Part 1
  2. The Kennedys: Part 2
  3. The Donner Party
  4. Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
  5. George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King
  6. Last Stand at Little Big Horn
  7. If You Knew Sousa
  8. Simple Justice
  9. Knute Rockne and His Fighting Irish
  10. Sit Down and Fight
  11. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
  12. Goin' Back to T-Town
Season 6 · 9 episodes · Oct 27, 1993 – May 25, 1994
  1. Amelia Earhart: The Price of Courage
  2. The Hunt for Pancho Villa
  3. Eisenhower: Soldier
  4. Eisenhower: Statesman
  5. The Hurricane of '38
  6. Ishi: The Last Yahi Indian
  7. Malcolm X: Make It Plain
  8. America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference
  9. D-Day Remembered
Season 7 · 13 episodes · Oct 11, 1994 – May 9, 1995
  1. FDR: The Center of the World (1882-1921)
  2. FDR: Fear Itself (1922-1933)
  3. FDR: The Grandest Job in the World (1933-1940)
  4. FDR: The Juggler (1940-1945)
  5. Telegrams from the Dead
  6. Midnight Ramble
  7. Battle of the Bulge
  8. One Woman, One Vote
  9. America's War on Poverty
  10. The Way West: Westward (1845-1864)
  11. The Way West: Approach of Civilization (1865-1869)
  12. The Way West: War for the Black Hills (1870-1876)
  13. The Way West: Ghost Dance (1877-1893)
Season 8 · 9 episodes · Oct 16, 1995 – Feb 26, 1996
  1. Murder of the Century
  2. Edison's Miracle of Light
  3. Chicago 1968
  4. The Orphan Trains
  5. Freedom on My Mind
  6. Daley: The Last Boss
  7. The Battle Over Citizen Kane
  8. The Wright Stuff
  9. Spy in the Sky
Season 9 · 23 episodes · Oct 6, 1996 – Jul 28, 1997
  1. T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt: The Long Campaign
  2. T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt: The Bully Pulpit
  3. T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt: The Good Fight
  4. T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt: Black Care
  5. The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie
  6. Hawaii's Last Queen
  7. The Telephone
  8. Big Dream, Small Screen
  9. New York Underground
  10. Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern
  11. Around the World in 72 Days
  12. Gold Fever
  13. Vietnam: A Television History: Roots of a War (1946-1954)
  14. Vietnam: A Television History: America's Mandarin
  15. Vietnam: A Television History: LBJ Goes to War
  16. Vietnam: A Television History: America Takes Charge
  17. Vietnam: A Television History: America's Enemy
  18. Vietnam: A Television History: Tet
  19. Vietnam: A Television History: Vietnamizing the War
  20. Vietnam: A Television History: Cambodia and Laos
  21. Vietnam: A Television History: Peace is at Hand
  22. Vietnam: A Television History: Homefront USA
  23. Vietnam: A Television History: The End of the Tunnel
Season 10 · 10 episodes · Oct 5, 1997 – Apr 13, 1998
  1. Truman: An Accident of Democracy
  2. Truman: The Moon, the Stars and All the Planets
  3. Truman: Hell
  4. A Midwife's Tale
  5. Mr. Miami Beach
  6. Influenza 1918
  7. Reagan: Lifeguard
  8. Reagan: An American Crusade
  9. Surviving the Dust Bowl
  10. Riding the Rails
Season 11 · 13 episodes · Nov 18, 1998 – May 24, 1999
  1. America 1900: Spirit of the Age
  2. America 1900: Change Is in the Air
  3. America 1900: A Great Civilized Power
  4. America 1900: Anything Seemed Possible
  5. Race for the Super Bomb
  6. Hoover Dam
  7. Alone on the Ice
  8. Rescue at Sea
  9. Meltdown at Three Mile Island
  10. Lost in the Grand Canyon
  11. MacArthur: Destiny
  12. MacArthur: The Politics of War
  13. Fly Girls
Season 12 · 15 episodes · Nov 14, 1999 – May 22, 2000
  1. New York: The Country and the City 1609-1825
  2. New York: Order and Disorder 1825-1865
  3. New York: Sunshine and Shadow 1865-1898
  4. New York: The Power and the People 1898-1918
  5. New York: Cosmopolis 1919-1931
  6. Eleanor Roosevelt
  7. Houdini
  8. Nixon's China Game
  9. The Duel
  10. John Brown's Holy War
  11. George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part I
  12. George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire Part II
  13. Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory
  14. Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life
  15. George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography
Season 13 · 15 episodes · Oct 16, 2000 – Apr 23, 2001
  1. The Rockefellers: Part 1
  2. The Rockefellers: Part 2
  3. Secrets of a Master Builder
  4. Return with Honor
  5. Streamliners: America's Last Trains
  6. Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
  7. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Ambition
  8. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - We are Elected
  9. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Shattered
  10. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Dearest of All Things
  11. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - The Frightful War
  12. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided - Blind with Weeping
  13. Scottsboro: An American Tragedy
  14. Fatal Flood
  15. Stephen Foster
Season 14 · 14 episodes · Sep 30, 2001 – May 12, 2002
  1. New York: City of Tomorrow 1929-1941
  2. New York: The City and the World 1945-2000
  3. War Letters
  4. Woodrow Wilson: A Passionate Man
  5. Woodrow Wilson: The Redemption of the World
  6. Mount Rushmore
  7. Miss America
  8. Zoot Suit Riots
  9. Monkey Trial
  10. Public Enemy #1
  11. Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film
  12. A Brilliant Madness
  13. Ulysses S. Grant: Warrior
  14. Ulysses S. Grant: President
Season 15 · 13 episodes · Nov 11, 2002 – Jul 14, 2003
  1. Jimmy Carter: Jimmy Who?
  2. Jimmy Carter: Hostage
  3. Chicago: City of the Century: Mudhole to Metropolis
  4. Chicago: City of the Century: The Revolution Has Begun
  5. Chicago: City of the Century: Battle for Chicago
  6. The Murder of Emmett Till
  7. The Transcontinental Railroad
  8. Partners of the Heart
  9. The Pill
  10. Daughter from Danang
  11. Seabiscuit
  12. Bataan Rescue
  13. Murder at Harvard
Season 16 · 9 episodes · Sep 8, 2003 – May 3, 2004
  1. New York: The Center of the World
  2. Reconstruction: The Second Civil War: Revolution
  3. Reconstruction: The Second Civil War: Retreat
  4. Citizen King
  5. Remember the Alamo
  6. Tupperware!
  7. Emma Goldman
  8. Patriots Day
  9. Golden Gate Bridge
Season 17 · 13 episodes · Oct 4, 2004 – May 23, 2005
  1. RFK: The Garish Sun
  2. RFK: The Awful Grace of God
  3. The Fight
  4. Fidel Castro
  5. Building the Alaskan Highway
  6. Kinsey
  7. Mary Pickford
  8. The Great Transatlantic Cable
  9. The Massie Affair
  10. The Fall of Saigon
  11. Victory in the Pacific
  12. The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
  13. Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst
Season 18 · 13 episodes · Oct 17, 2005 – May 22, 2006
  1. Two Days in October
  2. Race to the Moon
  3. Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: Sin City
  4. Las Vegas: An Unconventional History: American Mecca
  5. John and Abigail Adams
  6. The Nuremberg Trials
  7. Jesse James
  8. Hijacked
  9. Eugene O'Neill
  10. The Boy in the Bubble
  11. The Alaska Pipeline
  12. Annie Oakley
  13. The Man Behind Hitler
Season 19 · 18 episodes · Oct 2, 2006 – May 14, 2007
  1. Eyes on the Prize: Awakenings
  2. Eyes on the Prize: Fighting Back
  3. Eyes on the Prize: Ain't Scared of Your Jails
  4. Eyes on the Prize: No Easy Walk
  5. Eyes on the Prize: Is This America?
  6. Eyes on the Prize: Bridge to Freedom
  7. Test Tube Babies
  8. The Great Fever
  9. The Gold Rush
  10. The Berlin Airlift
  11. The Living Weapon
  12. New Orleans
  13. Sister Aimee
  14. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
  15. Summer of Love
  16. The Mormons: History
  17. The Mormons: Church and State
  18. Alexander Hamilton
Season 20 · 18 episodes · Jan 14, 2008 – May 6, 2008
  1. Oswald's Ghost
  2. The Lobotomist
  3. Eyes on the Prize II: The Time Has Come
  4. Eyes on the Prize II: Two Societies
  5. Grand Central
  6. Eyes on the Prize II: Power!
  7. Eyes on the Prize II: The Promised Land
  8. Eyes on the Prize II: Ain't Gonna' Shuffle No More
  9. Eyes on the Prize II: A Nation of Law?
  10. Kit Carson
  11. Eyes on the Prize II: The Keys to the Kingdom
  12. Eyes on the Prize II: Back to the Movement
  13. Buffalo Bill
  14. Minik: The Lost Eskimo
  15. Walt Whitman
  16. Roberto Clemente
  17. George H.W. Bush: Echoes of the Wise Men
  18. George H.W. Bush: CAVU
Season 21 · 9 episodes · Jan 26, 2009 – May 11, 2009
  1. The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer
  2. The Polio Crusade
  3. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
  4. A Class Apart
  5. We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower
  6. We Shall Remain: Tecumseh's Vision
  7. We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears
  8. We Shall Remain: Geronimo
  9. We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee
Season 22 · 8 episodes · Nov 2, 2009 – May 10, 2010
  1. The Civilian Conservation Corps
  2. Wyatt Earp
  3. The Bombing of Germany
  4. Dolley Madison
  5. Earth Days
  6. My Lai
  7. Roads to Memphis
  8. Into the Deep: America, Whaling and the World
Season 23 · 15 episodes · Oct 11, 2010 – May 16, 2011
  1. God in America: A New Adam
  2. God in America: A New Eden
  3. God in America: A Nation Reborn
  4. God in America: A New Light
  5. God in America: Soul of a Nation
  6. God in America: Of God and Caesar
  7. Robert E. Lee
  8. Dinosaur Wars
  9. Panama Canal
  10. The Greely Expedition
  11. Triangle Fire
  12. The Great Famine
  13. Stonewall Uprising
  14. Soundtrack for a Revolution
  15. Freedom Riders
Season 24 · 8 episodes · Jan 10, 2012 – Sep 18, 2012
  1. Billy the Kid
  2. Custer's Last Stand
  3. Clinton: The Comeback Kid
  4. Clinton: The Survivor
  5. The Amish
  6. Grand Coulee Dam
  7. Jesse Owens
  8. Death and the Civil War
Season 25 · 8 episodes · Jan 8, 2013 – Nov 12, 2013
  1. The Abolitionists: From Courage to Freedom
  2. The Abolitionists: Before Brother Fought Brother
  3. The Abolitionists: A House Dividing
  4. Henry Ford
  5. Silicon Valley
  6. War of the Worlds
  7. JFK: Part 1
  8. JFK: Part 2
Season 26 · 7 episodes · Jan 7, 2014 – Nov 18, 2014
  1. The Poisoner's Handbook
  2. 1964
  3. The Amish: Shunned
  4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  5. The Rise and Fall of Penn Station
  6. Freedom Summer
  7. Cold War Roadshow
Season 27 · 11 episodes · Jan 6, 2015 – Nov 24, 2015
  1. Ripley: Believe It or Not
  2. Klansville, USA
  3. Edison
  4. The Big Burn
  5. The Forgotten Plague
  6. Last Days in Vietnam
  7. Blackout
  8. Walt Disney: Part 1
  9. Walt Disney: Part 2
  10. American Comandante
  11. The Pilgrims
Season 28 · 8 episodes · Jan 19, 2016 – Nov 1, 2016
  1. Bonnie & Clyde
  2. The Mine Wars
  3. Murder of a President
  4. The Perfect Crime
  5. Space Men
  6. The Boys of '36
  7. Tesla
  8. The Battle of Chosin
Season 29 · 8 episodes · Jan 10, 2017 – Apr 12, 2017
  1. Command and Control
  2. Rachel Carson
  3. The Race Underground
  4. Oklahoma City
  5. Ruby Ridge
  6. The Great War: Part 1
  7. The Great War: Part 2
  8. The Great War: Part 3
Season 30 · 8 episodes · Jan 9, 2018 – Oct 16, 2018
  1. Into the Amazon
  2. The Secret of Tuxedo Park
  3. The Gilded Age
  4. The Bombing of Wall Street
  5. The Chinese Exclusion Act
  6. The Circus: Part 1
  7. The Circus: Part 2
  8. The Eugenics Crusade: What's Wrong with Perfect?
Season 31 · 6 episodes · Jan 15, 2019 – Aug 6, 2019
  1. The Swamp
  2. Sealab
  3. Chasing the Moon: A Place Beyond the Sky
  4. Chasing the Moon: Earthrise
  5. Chasing the Moon: Magnificent Desolation
  6. Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation
Season 32 · 9 episodes · Sep 10, 2019 – Jul 7, 2020
  1. The Feud
  2. McCarthy
  3. The Poison Squad
  4. The Man Who Tried to Feed the World
  5. George W. Bush: Part 1
  6. George W. Bush: Part 2
  7. Mr. Tornado
  8. The Vote: Part 1
  9. The Vote: Part 2
Season 33 · 5 episodes · Jan 11, 2021 – May 17, 2021
  1. The Codebreaker
  2. Voice of Freedom
  3. The Blinding of Isaac Woodard
  4. American Oz
  5. Billy Graham
Season 34 · 7 episodes · Sep 13, 2021 – May 24, 2022
  1. Sandra Day O'Connor: The First
  2. Citizen Hearst: Part 1
  3. Citizen Hearst: Part 2
  4. Riveted: The History of Jeans
  5. The American Diplomat
  6. Flood in the Desert
  7. Plague at the Golden Gate
Season 35 · 11 episodes · Nov 14, 2022 – Oct 30, 2023
  1. Taken Hostage: The Making of an American Enemy, Part 1
  2. Taken Hostage: The Making of an American Enemy, Part 2
  3. The Lie Detector
  4. Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space
  5. Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
  6. The Movement and the "Madman"
  7. The Sun Queen
  8. Casa Susanna
  9. The Busing Battleground
  10. The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
  11. The War on Disco
Season 36 · 7 episodes · Jan 23, 2024 – Nov 12, 2024
  1. Nazi Town, USA
  2. Fly With Me
  3. The Cancer Detectives
  4. Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal
  5. The Riot Report
  6. The American Vice President
  7. American Coup: Wilmington 1898
Season 37 · 8 episodes · Feb 25, 2025 – Jan 6, 2026
  1. Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP
  2. Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act
  3. Mr. Polaroid
  4. Clearing the Air: The War on Smog
  5. Hard Hat Riot
  6. Kissinger: Part One – The Necessity of Power
  7. Kissinger: Part Two – The Opportunist
  8. Bombshell

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