Political Science

This documentary features the Civil Rights Movement in America.

Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this first episode of Ken Burns's The Civil War dramatically evokes the causes of the war, from the Cotton Kingdom of the South to the northern abolitionists who opposed it. Here are the burning questions of Union and States’ rights, John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Along the way the series’ major figures are introduced: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and a host of lesser-known but equally vivid characters. The episode comes to a climax with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, Virginia, where both sides now learn it is to be a very long war.

For 200 years, the United States Congress has been one of the country's most important and least understood institutions. In this elegant, thoughtful and often touching portrait, Ken Burns explores the history and promise of this unique American institution. Using historical photographs and newsreels, evocative live footage and interviews with David Broder, Alistair Cooke, Cokie Roberts, Charles McDowell and others, the award-winning film chronicles the personalities, events and issues that have animated the first 200 years of Congress and, in turn, our country.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were born into a world ruled entirely by men and for more than half a century led the fight to win the most basic civil rights for women.

Theodore Roosevelt: A Cowboy’s Ride to the White House is the exciting story of a physically challenged young man from Harvard who came to the western frontier in 1883. Theodore Roosevelt bought a ranch, learned how to ride, shoot, and hunt, and acquired the skills that would make him a war hero and American President. It was in the Badlands of Dakota where young Roosevelt became a cowboy and learned about democracy and the American West.

Returning from France, Jefferson strives to preserve the fragile new U.S. government and helps create the first political party, in bitter struggles with the Federalists. He becomes vice president in 1797, and the third U.S. president in 1801. His Louisiana Purchase doubles the nation's size, but he faces controversy and scandal, finally retiring to his beloved Monticello in 1809. His last years are spent founding the University of Virginia.