American Experience

Official Tumblr for the country's longest running history series, PBS's American Experience. Visit the series website: pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/. Reblogs are not endorsements.

[americanexperiencepbs]

On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot in Los Angeles. Just two months earlier, he delivered the news of Dr. King's assassination to a crowd in Indianapolis. 

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I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air - I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my hand And lead me into his dark land And close my eyes and quench my breath ­ It may be I shall pass him still. I have a rendezvous with Death On some scarred slope of battered hill, When Spring comes round again this year And the first meadow-flowers appear. God knows ‘twere better to be deep Pillowed in silk and scented down, Where love throbs out in blissful sleep, Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath, Where hushed awakenings are dear … But I’ve a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Rendezvous, by Alan Seeger. KIA 1916. (via uss-edsall)

Seeger was killed in action on the Somme on July 4th, 1916, as a member of the French Foreign Legion.

(via at-the-sharp-end)

In honour of the hundredth anniversary of Seeger’s death, 240 years after the Declaration of Independence was issued. Happy Fourth of July!

(via at-the-sharp-end)

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Did you know, Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon have been ranked as the top two "green” U.S. presidents? 

Explore how they earned this distinction at pbs.org/presidents. 

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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: B.B. King's Funeral Procession | American Masters

See footage of King's funeral procession, from a Beale Street parade in Memphis, TN, to a public viewing and his final resting place in Indianola, MN.

Watch this exclusive footage from B.B. King’s funeral procession in this outtake from “B.B. King: The Life of Riley” airing this Friday at 9/8c on @pbstv.

[americanexperiencepbs]

Video: Walt Disney's America . Walt Disney . American Experience . WGBH | PBS

Media historian Susan Douglas explores how Walt Disney, through his television program and Disneyland, presented Americans with an idealized version of their country. "He's selling a version of America that's very flattering to the country," she says, "[But] it deludes you into thinking that there aren't problems that you have to confront."

Watch more original interviews at pbs.org/waltdisney. 

“Walt Disney” premieres September 14 & 15 at 9/8c on PBS American Experience! 

[americanexperiencepbs]

It's the emptiest and yet the fullest of all human messages: 'Good-bye.'

Kurt Vonnegut, American author

And so our intern Maria signs off. It’s been fun, Tumblr!

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A rare shot of Walt taking a break near Rocket to the Moon in Tomorrowland at Disneyland (x)

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Check out this video to learn more about the construction of Disneyland.

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Rolly Crump works on models for the never realised ‘Museum of the Weird’ section of the Haunted Mansion, 1960s.

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Read more about animator Rolly Crump here. Our Walt Disney documentary premieres on PBS on Sept 14 and 15.

[americanexperiencepbs]

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867 - 1959

A famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright would design over 500 buildings in his lifetime. He was a leader in the Prairie School movement of architecture, which advocated for the use of smooth, horizontal lines in structures. You can see this in action in his buildings Unity Temple and his home and studio, both located in Oak Park, IL.

(Photos: Library of Congress)

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[americanexperiencepbs]

Charlie Chaplin and Walt Disney 

Did you know? Charlie Chaplin was one of Walt Disney’s favorite actors. In his early years as an animator, he would often sneak in references to Chaplin’s movies in his 1930s animated shorts.

Our Walt Disney doc premieres in a little over a month. Are you as excited as we are? Check out our Walt Disney-themed website while you’re waiting for Sept 14 and 15!

[americanexperiencepbs]

Iconic First Ladies of the United States

1. As First Lady, Dolley Madison founded an orphanage for girls in Washington, D.C., and redecorated the White House to give it a more stately look. Check out our website on Mrs. Madison.

2. Eleanor Roosevelt was an early civil rights activist, insisting that New Deal benefits be extended to African Americans in an equal manner. Check out our website on Mrs. Roosevelt.

3. Jacqueline Kennedy renovated and refurbished the White House, while also extending support for the arts in America. Check out bios of Kennedy women here.

4. National beautification became Lady Bird Johnson’s cause of choice. She led efforts in improving physical conditions in Washington, D.C., in particular. Check out our website on Mrs. Johnson.

5. Rosalynn Carter sat in on Cabinet meetings (which was then unprecedented) and supported reform for mental health legislation and aiding senior citizens. Learn more about Mrs. Carter here.

6. Hillary Clinton headed the Task Force on National Health Care Reform and traveled to over 75 countries during her time as First Lady. Read our biography of Mrs. Clinton here.

(All photos via Library of Congress.)

[pbstv]

Do you have a #Disney playlist you occasionally listen (sing along) to? We do! 🎹🎼🎤 It was an honor to meet and see a performance from Richard Sherman yesterday at #TCA15. He and his late brother Robert Sherman are the men behind the #music in classics such as Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the #WaltDisney theme park song “It’s a Small World (After All)”. @americanexperiencepbs’ “Walt Disney” airs September 14 & 15 on #PBS. // 📷 @stephaniebergerphoto

[americanexperiencepbs]

Check out pbs.org/waltdisney to see more about our upcoming Walt Disney documentary featuring Richard Sherman!

[americanexperiencepbs]

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to Henry L. Pierce and others, April 6, 1859

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Geronimo, c. 1886. 

A prominent leader of the Bedonkohe Apache tribe, Geronimo led his tribe’s resistance against the white colonization of southwestern North American. He eventually surrendered after a year of fighting, in 1886. He spent the last 20 years of his life as a prisoner

Check out our short film clip on Geronimo here.

(Photo: Library of Congress)

[americanexperiencepbs]

The creator of the popular Peanuts comic strip Charles Schultz poses with a drawing of his well-known character Charlie Brown. 

After returning from the war in 1945, he began his career as a professional cartoonist with a weekly comic strip, Li’l Folks, in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. His first Peanuts strip appeared in newspapers nationwide on October 2, 1950. 

(Photo: Library of Congress)

[americanexperiencepbs]

The Coast Guard was created on August 4, 1790, making it 225 years old today.

Above: A recruiting poster from New Orleans, Louisiana, c. 1942. Below left: Poster soliciting enlistees for the Coast Guard, c. 1917. Below right: A Coast Guard recruiting station in Detroit, Michigan, c. 1942.

(Photos: Library of Congress)

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[americanexperiencepbs]

In the 1950s, American women discovered they could earn thousands -- even millions -- of dollars from bowls that burped. "Tupperware ladies" fanned out across the nation's living rooms, selling efficiency and convenience to their friends and neighbors through home parties, as seen above.

To learn more about the culture of Tupperware parties, click here.