American Experience presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation exploring how prevailing historical narratives are created, how they're passed down through schools, and whom they benefit. The discussion is inspired in part by the new film AMERICAN COUP: WILMINGTON 1898.

In this conversation, panelists will look closely at some of the historical misconceptions Americans have been taught, scrutinizing the origins of these revisions to our history. They will also examine the different interest groups that shape public knowledge of history, revealing the role that politics can play in shaping both the public school system and the educational process. Finally, the panel will question the extent to which the history we've been taught can be trusted as we look for ways to create richer understandings of the past that can better inform our present.

This event will be live streamed on our YouTube and Facebook pages.

"American Experience Presents" brings a fresh take on the iconic stories told on TV's most-watched history series. Launching with three powerful narratives: Joseph McCarthy, whose anti-communist crusade terrorized 1950s America; media titan William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper mogul whose empire shaped public opinion for decades; and Sgt. Isaac Woodard, the decorated World War II veteran whose brutal assault by police sparked a civil rights awakening. This new GBH podcast examines how these three transformative figures shaped pivotal moments in 20th century America, bringing their stories to life for a new generation of listeners.Learn more about American Experience Follow the show on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads-------------------------------------Credits:Lead Producer: Devin Maverick RobinsAssociate Producer: Meiqian HeScriptwriters: Galen Beebe and Andrew NewmanEditor: Devin Maverick RobinsEditorial Advisor: John BredarSound Designer: Jack PombriantNarrators: James Edwards and Cameo GeorgeExecutive Producer: Cameo George

American Experience presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation exploring how competing narratives from politicians and the press can shape the public's understanding of the politics and policy. This conversation will be inspired in part by THE MOVEMENT AND THE "MADMAN" and CITIZEN HEARST, both of which are now streaming on the PBS app.



In this conversation, panelists will examine how politicians and the press compete for public attention, exploring how the battle for hearts and minds shapes the image of politicians and the coverage they receive. Panelists will also ask how citizens in democratic societies are affected when they're bombarded with multiple narratives. Finally, our experts will take a closer look at how competing political and institutional media goals can block or reframe information that is shared with the public, ultimately seeking to understand who decides what the public knows and why.



Panelists:

Yu Ouyang is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University Northwest. His research focuses on the American presidency and how presidents leverage their institutional advantages and powers to impact public policies.



Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy.



The conversation will be moderated by Kelly McBride, Senior Vice President at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.



This event will be livestreamed on our Youtube and Facebook pages.

Composite art source images from the National Archives and Wikimedia Commons.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is pleased to present a film preview and discussion of our upcoming film,  The American Vice President. The event will feature an extended clip from the film and a panel discussion with filmmakers and participants.

Click this link to join:  https://wgbh.zoom.us/j/99844801974

Featured guests include:

Michelle Ferrari is the writer, producer, and director of The American Vice President. She has been creating innovative, critically-acclaimed documentaries for more than two decades. Her work has been seen on PBS, HBO, and at film festivals nationwide, and has garnered honors from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild of America, among many other organizations. A frequent contributor to American Experience, her numerous credits include Peabody Award -nominee The Vote, The Eugenics Crusade, Rachel Carson, and Seabiscuit.

James E. Hite is author of Second Best: The Rise of the American Vice Presidency.

The discussion will be moderated by Cameo George, executive producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. George is an Emmy Award-winning producer, writer and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in documentary, broadcast television and digital content production. George has produced, developed and commissioned innovative programming at CNN, NBC News and ABC News.

About the film: The American Vice President explores the little-known story of the second-highest office in the land, tracing its evolution from a constitutional afterthought to a position of political consequence. Focusing on the fraught period between 1963 and 1974, when a grief-stricken and then scandal-plagued America was forced to clarify the role of the vice president, the film examines the passage and first uses of the 25th Amendment and offers a fresh and surprising perspective on succession in the executive branch.

American Experience presents a virtual PAST FORWARD conversation exploring the harmful chemicals in the food, clothes, and other goods that Americans buy and use every day. This conversation is inspired in part by our new streaming film Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal.

Panelists will examine how American consumer culture acts in conjunction with corporate negligence and government laxity to expose the public to chemical hazards. They will also explore how wealth can determine one's level of exposure, and the government’s regulatory approach to consumer protection over time. They will look forward by asking what actions consumers can take to protect themselves.

Panelists:
Dr. Jennifer Thomson is an associate professor of history at Bucknell University. Her current book project examines the effect of the Environmental Protection Agency's sewer grant construction program on racial residential segregation. Her first book, The Wild and the Toxic: American Environmentalism and the Politics of Health, explored the various discourses of health that environmentalists deployed in the late twentieth century.

Dr. Bhavna Shamasunder is an associate professor and Chair of the Department of Urban & Environmental Policy at Occidental College. She teaches and conducts research at the intersection of environmental health & justice, with a focus on inequalities in chemical exposures faced by low-income communities and communities of color who live and work in urban and/or industrial environments.

This conversation will be moderated by Tim Bartley. Tim teaches in the Department of Sociology and the Earth Commons Institute at Georgetown University. His work focuses on sustainability standards, environmental justice movements, and the regulation of global industries. More broadly, he is interested in political, organizational, and economic processes that shape environments, workplaces, and the expression of rights around the world.

This event will be livestreamed on our YouTube and Facebook pages.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is pleased to present a film preview and discussion of our upcoming film,  The Cancer Detectives. The event will feature an extended clip from the film and a panel discussion with filmmakers and participants.

Click this link to join:  https://wgbh.zoom.us/j/99001979557

Featured guests include:

Gene Tempest is the writer and director of The Cancer Detectives. She is an award-winning filmmaker and historian whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe and The New York Times. From 2016-2017, she served as the first-ever Historian in Residence for American Experience, where she helped fund and develop new history programming for public television.

Deirdre Cooper Owens is an award-winning historian and popular public speaker. She is an associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut and the author of Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and The Origins of American Gynecology.

Rachel Gross is an award-winning science journalist and the author of Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Geographic, WIRED, New Scientist, Slate, Undark, and NPR, among others.

The discussion will be moderated by Cameo George, executive producer of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

About the film: The story of how the life-saving cervical cancer test became an ordinary part of women’s lives is as unusual and remarkable as the coalition of people who ultimately made it possible: a Greek immigrant, Dr. George Papanicolau; his intrepid wife, Mary; Japanese-born artist Hashime Murayama; Dr. Helen Dickens, an African American OBGYN in Philadelphia; and an entirely new class of female scientists known as cyto-screeners. But the test was just the beginning. Once the test proved effective, the campaign to make pap smears available to millions of women required nothing short of a total national mobilization. The Cancer Detectives tells the untold story of the first-ever war on cancer and the people who fought tirelessly to save women from what was once the number one cancer killer of women.

The Cancer Detectives premieres Tuesday, March 26th at 9/8c on PBS.



--

Major funding for American Experience provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance, Carlisle Companies and by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Funding for The Cancer Detectives provided by GBH Voices and Equity Fund and members of The Better Angels Society including The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund. Additional funding for American Experience provided by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, The American Experience Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers. American Experience is produced for PBS by GBH Boston.


Photo credit: GBH Creative