For more than thirty years, and through his television program, Fred Rogers (1928-2003), host, producer, writer and pianist, accompanied by his puppets and his many friends, spoke directly to young children about some of life's most important issues.
A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
Raised in the small all-Black Florida town of Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston studied at Howard University before arriving in New York in 1925. She would soon become a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, best remembered for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. But even as she gained renown in the Harlem literary circles, Hurston was also discovering anthropology at Barnard College with the renowned Franz Boas. She would make several trips to the American South and the Caribbean, documenting the lives of rural Black people and collecting their stories. She studied her own people, an unusual practice at the time, and during her lifetime became known as the foremost authority on Black folklore.
First few weeks of Lincoln's presidency where crucial for the direction the country would take. He had to bridge the gap between the victorious North and the jaded South and William H. Seward, his Secretary of State, played a crucial role.
Taped for a two-part PBS Soundstage, Petty employs the Chicago locale as an entry into the blues and R&B that are at the foundation of rock & roll, and to a lesser extent, his music. Spread out over two DVDs, this results in a fascinating and exciting show, where the extensive covers are just as interesting as -- and arguably more interesting than -- the few hits he gets around to playing.
A portrait of the day-to-day operations of the National Gallery of London, that reveals the role of the employees and the experiences of the Gallery's visitors. The film portrays the role of the curators and conservators; the education, scientific, and conservation departments; and the audience of all kinds of people who come to experience it.
50 years after the legendary fest, Barak Goodman’s electric retelling of Woodstock, from the point of view of those who were on the ground, evokes the freedom, passion, community, and joy the three-day music festival created.
One of the world’s greatest ancient enigmas, the Nazca lines are a dense network of criss-crossing lines, geometric shapes, and animal figures etched across 200 square miles of Peruvian desert. Who created them and why? Ever since they were discovered in the 1920s, scholars and enthusiasts have raised countless theories about their purpose. Now, archaeologists have discovered hundreds of long-hidden lines and figures as well as evidence of ancient rituals, offering new clues to the origins and motivations behind the giant desert symbols.
Ric Burns unearths rarely seen footage and offers keen observations on the life and artistic influence of Andy Warhol. [Made for and aired on PBS's American Masters series.]
The film tells the true story of Kurt Gerron, a German-Jewish cabaret and film actor in the 1920s and 1930s who was sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp where he was commanded to write and direct a Nazi propaganda film.
A writer (made to resemble Russian playwright Anton Chekhov) narrates a collection of his stories, all of which are written in the style of Chekhov.
Over a thousand years ago, the sun-washed lands of Southern Spain were home to Muslims, Christians, and Jews living together and flourishing. Their culture and beliefs intertwined and the ...
In November 1898, self-described white supremacists used intimidation and violence to overthrow the biracial Wilmington government, killing dozens of Blacks and forcing other to leave town under threat of death. Dozens if not hundreds of Black Wilmington residents left town and never came back.
The 2016 Broadway Revival of William Finn's Tony-winning musical. It tells the story of Marvin, a Jewish family man who leaves his wife and son for a male lover during the height of the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City.
In the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, loves the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.
After getting her start in coffee shops Joni Mitchell went on to set a new standard, marrying music and lyrics with such songs as “Both Sides, Now.” While her early material is often categorized as “folk,” she became a household name with music that defies categorization.
In 1945, Allied troops invaded Germany and liberated Nazi death camps. They found unspeakable horrors which still haunt the world’s conscience. A film was made by British and American film crews who were with the troops liberating the camps. It was directed in part by Alfred Hitchcock and was broadcast for the first time in its entirety on PBS FRONTLINE in 1985.
Sesame Street celebrated its 10th anniversary in the spring of 1979 with a half-hour PBS special hosted by James Earl Jones titled A Walking Tour of Sesame Street. The special aired on individual PBS stations at various times between March and May 1979. (Muppet Wiki)
