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American Experience

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Season 23 Episode 12: Freedom Riders
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Many of the Freedom Riders faced problems making connections between Nashville and Birmingham because Jimmy Hoffa sent word to teamster drivers not to allow them on Greyhound buses.
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Season 23 Episode 11: Soundtrack for a R...
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While most agree that the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" sprang from the labor movement, the lyrics and sentiments are thought to stem from earlier spiritual music sung in the Black church.
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Season 23 Episode 10: Stonewall Uprising
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Gay bars like the Stonewall Inn were run by mafia operatives who skirted laws and sold stolen liquor at hugely marked-up prices.
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Season 23 Episode 9: The Great Famine
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Many credit Herbert Hoover, head of the American Relief Administration after World War I, as a person who may have saved more lives than any one human in history.
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Season 23 Episode 8: Triangle Fire
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The decline in the popularity of women's shirt waists and the constant drops in prices caused the Triangle workers to be under never-ending productivity pressures.
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Season 23 Episode 7: The Greely Expedition
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Because of evidence of cannibalism, the scientific data brought back by the few survivors of the expedition was shunned. It would only be analyzed when contemporary climatologists sought historical documentation of climate changes in the Arctic.
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Season 23 Episode 6: The Panama Canal
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Both the French and the first American efforts were aimed at building a sea level canal, with no locks whatsoever. This plan was finally scrapped after years of wasted labor.
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Season 23 Episode 5: Dinosaur Wars
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O.C. Marsh's position at Yale College (now, Yale University) was entirely funded by his extremely wealthy uncle, George Peabody.
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Season 23 Episode 4: Robert E. Lee
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Though Lee's father ("Light Horse" Harry Lee) was a well-regarded Revolutionary War hero, he was suspect in money matters - even once passing a bad bank check to fellow Virginian George Washington.
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Season 23 Episode 3: God in America (Pa...
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Dwight Eisenhower was neither baptized nor a member of any church until after he was elected President of the United States.
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Season 23 Episode 2: God in America (Pa...
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Practically all American Protestants in the 19th century were convinced that they were living just before a final judgment - during the "end of days" told of in the New Testament Book of Revelations.
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Season 23 Episode 1: God in America (Pa...
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The evangelical Baptists typical of the American south today originally came from Pennsylvania. Their struggle for rights in Virginia became a cause backed by Thomas Jefferson.
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Season 22 Episode 8: Into the Deep: Ame...
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The demand for whale oil for lighting and lubrication (in the era before petroleum) caused the average whaling expedition to stretch from a day trip along a east coast shore to four year voyages into the farthest Pacific Ocean.
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Season 22 Episode 7: Roads to Memphis
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While fleeing the authorities, James Earl Ray was able to obtain a Canadian passport under the name "George Sneyd."
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Season 22 Episode 6: My Lai
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The Mai Lai incident sparked a national interest in military orders and duty to them. Twenty men were brought to trial for the massacre, only one junior officer served under house arrest despite being convicted of murder by a military investigation.
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Season 22 Episode 5: Earth Days
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Many attribute the serious environmental movement to Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring.
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Season 22 Episode 4: Dolley Madison
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Though sometimes flamboyant in dress and opinion, Dolley was a member of the Quakers for many years.
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Season 22 Episode 3: The Bombing of Ger...
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Though the Allies did kill a number of German civilians incidentally, the United States only deliberately bombed military and industrial targets in Germany until the very last months of the war.
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Season 22 Episode 2: Wyatt Earp
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After his young wife and unborn child died in 1870, Earp had a number of legal problems including horse theft and soliciting prostitutes.
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Season 22 Episode 1: The Civilian Conse...
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One of the major concerns about the Civilian Conservations Corps (and other "New Deal" projects) was that it shifted the focus away from existing businesses and created new endeavours that were only sustainable by taxpayer dollars.
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