American Experience Season 31 Episodes

Episode 1

The Circus: Part 1

Mon, Oct 8, 2018114 mins

This mini-series tells the story of one of the most popular and influential forms of entertainment in American history. Through the intertwined stories of several of the most innovative and influential impresarios of the late nineteenth century, this series reveals the circus was a uniquely American entertainment created by a rapidly expanding and industrializing nation; that it embraced and was made possible by Western imperialism; that its history was shaped by a tension between its unconventional entertainments and prevailing standards of respectability.

Episode 2

The Circus Part 2

Tue, Oct 9, 2018114 mins

Episode 3

The Eugenics Crusade

Tue, Oct 16, 2018115 mins

Tracing the movement to breed a "better" American race, which turned the science of heredity into an instrument of social control that led to forced sterilization campaigns.

Episode 4

The Swamp

Tue, Jan 15, 2019113 mins

The history of the Florida Everglades and the efforts to reclaim, control and preserve the vast area once viewed as a wasteland.

Episode 5

Sealab

Tue, Feb 12, 2019

The U.S. Navy's SEALAB, a pressurized underwater habitat complete with science labs and living quarters for divers, helps advance deep sea diving and rescue.

Episode 6

Chasing the Moon: A Place Beyond the Sky

Mon, Jul 8, 2019

Tracking the early years of the space race beginning in 1957 as the U.S. struggles to catch up with the Soviet Union.

Episode 7

Chasing the Moon: Earthrise

Tue, Jul 9, 2019

On 27 January 1967, the disastrous failure of Apollo 1 risked the cancellation of America's space program altogether. Within two years of the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to escape the Earth's gravity and orbit the moon.

Episode 8

Chasing the Moon: Magnificent Desolation

Wed, Jul 10, 2019

The years 1969-1970 take Americans to the moon and back; what happens to scientific and engineering programs after goals are achieved.

Episode 9

Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation

Tue, Aug 6, 2019

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the 1969 three-day music and art fair at a farm in New York that marked the end of one of the most turbulent decades in American History.