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American Experience
The Boys of '36
Season 28
Episode 7
The story of nine working-class young men from the University of Washington who took the rowing world and America by storm when they captured gold at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Their unexpected victory, against not only the Ivy League teams of the East Coast but Adolf Hitler's elite German rowers, gave hope to a nation struggling to emerge from the depths of the Great Depression.
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1:47:20
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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52:22
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Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement.

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52:36
Discover the unexpected history behind Monopoly, America’s favorite board game.

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The influential author and anthropologist whose work reclaimed and honored Black life.

52:45
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1:52:24
The Iran hostage crisis through the stories of those whose ordeal riveted the world.

1:52:49
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard with Spanish subtitles.

1:52:23
How a horrific incident of racial violence became catalyst for the civil rights movement.