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American Experience
Genetic Screening: Controlling Heredity
With every new advance in prenatal genetic screening, the ability to prevent suffering has also sparked difficult questions about what should count as “a disease” versus “a difference,” and whether we’re in danger of wiping out certain segments of the population. These fears arise, in part, because just 100 years ago, that’s exactly what a powerful movement—the eugenics movement—tried to do.
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1:51:27
The little-known story of the deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’etat in Wilmington, NC.
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52:36
A look at the US vice presidency, from constitutional afterthought to position of political import.
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1:53:04
When US inner cities erupted in violence in 1967, LBJ created a commission to investigate.
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The story of housewives who led a grassroots movement to galvanize the Superfund Bill.
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The untold story of the people who fought tirelessly to save women from cervical cancer.
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1:52:39
The lively but neglected history of the women who changed the world while flying it.
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52:32
The story of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi group active across the US in the 1930s.
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51:27
Explore the culture war that erupted over the spectacular rise of disco music.
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The story of a Mississippi town’s effort to integrate its public schools in 1970.
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Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
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Casa Susanna was a refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s-60s.
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52:22
Unsung scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun.