Up Next
Back to Show
Watch Preview
American Experience
The Polio Crusade
Season 21
Episode 2
In the summer of 1950 Wytheville, VA realized the nation's worst medical fears. An outbreak of Infantile Paralysis, commonly known as Polio, swept through a small town of 5,500 in which 40 percent of residents had not yet reached their eighteenth birthday. Highly contagious, just in time for summer vacation, the devastating neurodegenerative disease had chosen its next target.
Support Provided By
1:52:39
The lively but neglected history of the women who changed the world while flying it.
52:51
The story of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi group active across the US in the 1930s.
Unlock with PBS Passport
51:46
Explore the culture war that erupted over the spectacular rise of disco music.
1:47:20
The story of a Mississippi town’s effort to integrate its public schools in 1970.
1:52:38
Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
1:36:51
Casa Susanna was a refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s-60s.
52:22
Unsung scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:22:39
Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement.
Unlock with PBS Passport
52:36
Discover the unexpected history behind Monopoly, America’s favorite board game.
1:52:24
The influential author and anthropologist whose work reclaimed and honored Black life.
52:45
The story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern justice.
1:52:49
The Blinding of Isaac Woodard with Spanish subtitles.