American Experience

American Experience

History Series / 14 Seasons

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Get KCTS 9 Passport to watch

Donate to watch

The Lie Detector

S35 E1 / 52m 35s / TV-14

Discover the story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern police work, seized headlines and was extolled as an infallible crime-fighting tool. A tale of good intentions, twisted morals and unintended consequences.

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space

S35 E2 / 1h 52m / TV-14

Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

Donate to watch

Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History

S35 E3 / 52m 17s

Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.

Donate to watch

The Movement and the "Madman"

S35 E4 / 1h 22m / TV-14

Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement. Told through firsthand accounts, the film reveals how movement leaders mobilized disparate groups to create two massive protests that changed history.

The Sun Queen

S35 E5 / 52m 22s / TV-PG

Scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun. Though undercut and thwarted by her male colleagues, she persevered to design the first successfully solar-heated house in 1948 and held more than 20 patents.

Donate to watch

Casa Susanna

S35 E6 / 1h 36m / TV-14

In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

Supported by