Video Details

American Experience

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As television's longest-running, most-watched history series, American Experience brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that helped form this nation.

Episodes:

• The Riot Report

  When Black neighborhoods in scores of American cities erupted in violence during the summer of 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders - informally known as the Kerner Commission - to answer three questions: What happened? Why did it happen? And what could be done to prevent it from happening again? The commission's final report, issued in March of 1968, would offer a shockingly unvarnished assessment of American race relations - a verdict so politically explosive that Johnson refused to acknowledge it publicly or even thank the commissioners for their service. Featuring interviews with commission staffers and the last surviving commission member, Senator Fred Harris, The Riot Report explores a pivotal moment in our nation's history and the fraught social dynamics that simultaneously spurred the commission's investigation and doomed its findings to political oblivion.

  Next Airing:	Tue, May 21st, 2024 at 8:00 PM on KUED-HD
  Length:	01:56:46
  Usage rights:	5/21/2024 to 5/20/2027

• Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal

  Revisit the story of the 1970s Love Canal disaster, one of the most notorious environmental and public health disasters in US history. The battle for justice, led mostly by women, created the basis for the landmark federal Superfund program.

  Length:	01:56:46
  Usage rights:	4/22/2024 to 4/21/2027

• The Cancer Detectives

  In the 1950's, survival rates from cancer of any kind were low. Damaging surgery and unsophisticated radiotherapy were the main treatments, assuming the disease was detected in time for anything to be done. Cervical cancer was often asymptomatic until it was well advanced, and by that time, it was often a death sentence. This dramatic story of the fight against cervical cancer revolves around three main characters: Dr. Papanicolaou, a Greek immigrant whose single-minded pursuit of the development of a diagnostic test saved hundreds of thousands of women; Hashime Murayama, the exquisitely talented artist who became National Geographic's first inhouse illustrator, but because of his Japanese heritage, was fired, interned in a WWII camp, then released to work on the project; and Helen Dickens, a groundbreaking Black female surgeon, who overcame deep distrust between the Black community and medical professionals to save the lives of thousands of women. The work of these three true life savers slashed death rates of this previously unfightable cancer by more than 60 percent.

  Length:	00:56:46
  Usage rights:	3/26/2024 to 3/25/2027

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