Movies: American history

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A Ken Burns-style documentary exploring the first 100 years of our National Christmas Tree. On Christmas Eve 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. We follow the tree throu...

Chronicles early history of the Jamestown Colony. Describes voyage and hardships of the first settlers from England and the trials of later arrivals....

75% of all enslaved Africans coming to America came in through Beaufort and the sea islands of South Carolina. This beautiful and picturesque tourist destination, by its unique history is the epicenter of the Gullah culture and the foundation of Afri...

The film "Lewis and Clark" chronicles the historic expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, beginning with their departure from St. Louis to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. The story details their journey up the Mississip...

Agent Yellow is a powerful indictment of the U.S. government’s systematic prejudice against Chinese-American scientists. The film focuses on the mistreatment of Chinese scientists who contributed significantly to American military research, specifica...

Uses the authentic words of Revolutionary War soldiers to recreate the ordeal of the harsh, crucial winter of 1778. Filmed in Valley Forge National Park....

A documentary covering the history of TWA, from its origins to its ultimate sale to American Airlines....

Charlotte Biltekoff is the author of “Eating Right in America” where she traces the food reform movements throughout American history. She questions socially accepted ideas about “good and bad eaters” and what those assumptions reveal about food, cul...

Using newly uncovered historical documents, this documentary short pieces together the most complete and accurate account of the life of Viro Small ever told. Nicknamed "Black Sam of Vermont" for his ties to the Green Mountain State, Small was a pro ...

From Race Track to Assembly Center documents life for San Francisco Bay Area residents of Japanese ancestry incarcerated at the Tanforan Race Track in San Mateo County after being evicted from their homes during World War II....

A documentary film about the internment of Japanese Americans at Heart Mountain, Wyoming during World War II. The program, hosted by Jan Yanehiro, proceeds in part as a series of interviews. It also includes archival film footage of Heart Mountain an...

For over 150 years, Fort Niagara protected the strategic point at the mouth of the Niagara River. Four nations struggled to conquer it, and thus control that critical water artery....

The San Francisco Foundation presents 2013 Community Leadership Awardee, Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC), with The San Francisco Foundation Award, made to an organization demonstrating exemplary commitment to improving human relations in the ...

Relates the history of the Louisiana Purchase to the westward expansion of the United States, describing events leading to the purchase of the territory and its exploration, settlement and importance....

Explains the ways the English culture influenced our own--Democratic thought, jurisprudence, civil liberties, language, literature, art and styles....

A look at the history of Blair County, Pennsylvania, celebrating centuries of stories, valor and courageous actions of the area’s peoples....

A documentary by author Steven Goldleaf. This 2003 extremely low-budget 32-minute documentary traces the geographic roots of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, setting straight Fitzgerald scholars’ mistaken assumptions (including some...