American Experience

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.

Heidi, Evan and their son Huckle own Small Axe Farm, a one-acre off grid market farm in Vermont. Join us as we visit them to find out what modern off-grid living looks like.

Kyle and Cierra live in a one-bedroom cabin in the Minnesota woods. Join us as we visit them to find out what modern off-grid living looks like.

Zani, Yaseen and Khari live on a 25-acre homestead in the New Mexico desert. Join us as we visit them to find out what modern off-grid living looks like.

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.

In 1964, chemical engineer and inventor Mária Telkes spoke to an audience of other women in the sciences. She made a strong case for why they—and solar energy—were the future.

In 1948, the Nemethy family moved into a curious new solar powered house in Dover, Massachusetts. The Dover Sun House, as it came to be known, was designed by physicist Mária Telkes, and it was the first modern house to be heated by nothing but the sun. This short video details the Nemethy experience of living there while also explaining the thermal heating system used to heat the home.

Watch a preview of The Sun Queen.

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.

Watch a preview of The Movement and the "Madman"

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.

Monopoly might be America's favorite board game, but it has a surprising secret. The true inventor may be a woman you've never heard of: Lizzie Magie. In this episode of "What the History?!" we present the inside scoop of Monopoly's origins.

The creator. The challenger. The imposter. The monopolist. Meet the characters in "Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History."

Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History presents the fascinating true story behind America’s favorite game.

In 1936, the anthropologist and noted Harlem Renaissance figure Zora Neale Hurston traveled to Jamaica to learn the customs and traditions of its free Black population. Her experience there highlights one of the many ways she was ahead of her time.

Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain talks about Zora Neale Hurston and her interest in capturing the rural Black folk in her writings and ethnographic work. In multiple trips to the south, Hurston shot 16mm film of rural Black people, culture and customs amassing 85 minutes of footage that she shot and/or directed.

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

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

Some etymologists trace the phrase 'The Third Degree' back to Freemasonry, but by the early 20th century, the term had become firmly associated with something entirely different: harsh police interrogation, or more accurately, torture.

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.