American Experience - Season 8

Episodes

Murder of the Century

The nation is fascinated by the high-profile murder of a famous architect, apparently because of jealousy over a popular female stage performer.

Okt. 16, 1995

Season 8Episode 260 min

Edison's Miracle of Light

Inventor Thomas A. Edison experiments with electricity, long-burning filaments, and glass bulbs to give America an alternative to gas lights.

Okt. 23, 1995

Season 8Episode 360 min

Chicago 1968

While America was reeling from the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and public outcry against the Vietnam War, the Democrats held their convention in Chicago. Yippie and anti-war protesters were determined to be heard; Mayor Daley was just as determined to stop them. A clash of political visions would be fought in the back rooms, on the convention floor and in the streets of Chicago.

Nov. 13, 1995

Season 8Episode 460 min

The Orphan Trains

The story of orphaned inner-city children shipped to rural locations and new lives as part of a social engineering experiment.

Nov. 27, 1995

Season 8Episode 560 min

Freedom on My Mind

In the summer of 1964, two groups converged in Mississippi: one mostly young, white and well educated from out of state; the other, African Americans who lived in the most violently segregated state. Recruits in a nonviolent army, together they fought the white political establishment to register black voters, create schools and bring national attention to the struggle. It was a summer of rage, pain and enormous danger.

Jan. 15, 1996

Season 8Episode 660 min

Daley: The Last Boss

Biography of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, considered one of the last major heads of big city "machine" politics in the United States.

Jan. 22, 1996

Season 8Episode 760 min

The Battle Over Citizen Kane

Orson Welles' movie stirs the ire of publisher William Randolph Hearst, the man who the film was patterned after.

Jan. 29, 1996

Season 8Episode 860 min

The Wright Stuff

The story of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the earliest days of aviation.

Feb. 12, 1996

Season 8Episode 960 min

Spy in the Sky

The Cold War forces the United States to build very high altitude U2 planes to record photographs of opposing nations.

Feb. 26, 1996

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GenreComedy, Music