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American Experience
Season 16
Episode 7

Emma Goldman

April 12, 2004

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American Experience - S16 - E7

Recalling Emma Goldman (1869-1940), the fiery and formidable radical whose life, says narrator Blair Brown, was "dedicated to free speech, free thought and free love." This profile is sympathetic to Goldman, but she doesn't get a free ride. Indeed, historian Kevin Baker calls her anarchism "jaw-droppingly naive," and no one challenges that. No one denies her passion, either. Says playwright Tony Kushner, "She lived a life on fire."

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American Experience: Season 16 - 9 Episode s

16x1 - New York (8): The Center of the World
September 8, 2003
Filmmaker Ric Burns adds a poignant postscript to his series "New York: A Documentary Film" with this chronicle of the World Trade Center's rise and fall. Burns recounts Sept. 11 wrenchingly, but he devotes more than half the film to the Center's rise. This isn't a pretty story: It's one of economic, political, architectural and engineering labyrinths. The result was a critical and commercial flop, though historian Kenneth Jackson says: "It's more important to history now that it's gone."
16x2 - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (1): Revolution
January 12, 2004
"Reconstruction: The Second Civil War," a two-part report, follows political leaders and ordinary Americans alike as it chronicles one of the most contentious periods in American history. "An old social order had been destroyed," says Columbia University historian Eric Foner. "Everything was up for grabs." Part 1 begins with the end of the war, as President Johnson, no friend of the freed slaves, squares off against Republicans in Congress. In 1868 they pass the 14th Amendment, which is "the origin of the concept of civil rights," Foner notes. Johnson vetoed it and, says narrator Dion Graham, "the lines were drawn."
16x3 - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (2): Retreat
January 13, 2004
"Reconstruction" concludes by following whites and blacks in Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana between 1867 and 1877. It begins with the granting of widespread voting rights for blacks in the South, and with whites "preparing for the worst," says narrator Dion Graham. It wouldn't end that way for South Carolina rice planter Frances Butler, who was not at all pleased to "negotiate" with her family's former slaves. Their leader: Tunis Campbell, who would soon be elected to the state Senate. In Georgia, too, blacks were elected to the legislature. And in Louisiana, Vermonter Marshall Twitchell began amassing both cotton lands and political power. Local whites, who resented Twitchell deeply, called him a "carpetbagger."
16x4 - Citizen King
January 19, 2004
"Citizen King," a reverential chronicle of the final five years of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, employs eyewitnesses to the history King made to recall it. Among them: Coretta Scott King, former representative William Gray, author David Halberstam, civil-rights veterans Joseph Lowery, Roger Wilkins and Taylor Branch, long-time political figure Andrew Young, former senator Harris Wofford, former attorney general Ramsey Clark and theologian James Cone.
16x5 - Remember the Alamo
February 2, 2004
"Remember the Alamo" recalls the contributions of Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) to the struggle for Texan independence. It profiles Tejano leader Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871), an ally of Stephen F. Austin in the effort to build up the Texas economy by luring American settlers (cotton planters particularly) in the 1820s. Navarro was also a spearhead of the revolt against Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in 1836.
16x6 - Tupperware!
February 9, 2004
"Modern dishes for modern living" (and they "burped," no less), sold by women at "home parties." This slice of 1950s Americana is recalled in "Tupperware!" "The era and the product were made for each other," says one of the Tupperware "ladies" who are interviewed throughout the hour. Husbands are interviewed too because Tupperware was oftentimes a family affair, with the men working behind the scenes. The man in charge: Earl Tupper, who invented the sealable plastic containers. But a woman, Brownie Wise, developed Tupperware's phenomenally successful marketing plan. What gives "Tupperware!" its bite is the fact that Tupper and Wise didn't get along.
16x7 - Emma Goldman
April 12, 2004
Recalling Emma Goldman (1869-1940), the fiery and formidable radical whose life, says narrator Blair Brown, was "dedicated to free speech, free thought and free love." This profile is sympathetic to Goldman, but she doesn't get a free ride. Indeed, historian Kevin Baker calls her anarchism "jaw-droppingly naive," and no one challenges that. No one denies her passion, either. Says playwright Tony Kushner, "She lived a life on fire."
16x8 - Patriots Day
April 19, 2004
"Patriots Day" follows Revolutionary War re-enactors as they prepare to re-fire those shots heard 'round the world on April 19, 1775, in Lexington and Concord. Filmmaker Marian Marzynski's style is low key and at times whimsical (real redcoats didn't use cell phones), but the "living historians" are serious. Says one: "It is important to understand the passion of what took place here."
16x9 - Golden Gate Bridge
May 3, 2004
Recalling the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, a "graceful leap over an unprecedented space," as narrator David Ogden Stiers calls it. The Golden Gate presented its engineers with a "magnificent" challenge of wind, fog and colliding currents, and they succeeded so magnificently that historian Kevin Starr, the State Librarian of California, likens it to "Hamlet" or a Beethoven symphony. This hour blends technology and poetry smoothly, as does the bridge. It is, sums up Starr, "a fusion of perfections."

American Experience: All seasons

S0: Specials
1 Episode
S1: Season 1
16 Episode s
S2: Season 2
16 Episode s
S3: Season 3
13 Episode s
S4: Season 4
13 Episode s
S5: Season 5
13 Episode s
S6: Season 6
8 Episode s
S7: Season 7
13 Episode s
S8: Season 8
9 Episode s
S9: Season 9
22 Episode s
S10: Season 10
9 Episode s
S11: Season 11
10 Episode s
S12: Season 12
15 Episode s
S13: Season 13
15 Episode s
S14: Season 14
14 Episode s
S15: Season 15
13 Episode s
S16: Season 16
9 Episode s
S17: Season 17
11 Episode s
S18: Season 18
13 Episode s
S19: Season 19
15 Episode s
S20: Season 20
14 Episode s
S21: Season 21
9 Episode s
S22: Season 22
8 Episode s
S23: Season 23
12 Episode s
S24: Season 24
8 Episode s
S25: Season 25
8 Episode s
S26: Season 26
7 Episode s
S27: Season 27
11 Episode s
S28: Season 28
8 Episode s
S29: Season 29
8 Episode s
S30: Season 30
9 Episode s
S31: Season 31
7 Episode s
S32: Season 32
8 Episode s
S33: Season 33
8 Episode s
S34: Season 34
6 Episode s
S35: Season 35
9 Episode s
S36: Season 36
7 Episode s
S37: Season 37
2 Episode s

16x1 - New York (8): The Center of the World

16x2 - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (1): Revolution

16x3 - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War (2): Retreat

16x4 - Citizen King

16x5 - Remember the Alamo

16x6 - Tupperware!

16x7 - Emma Goldman

16x8 - Patriots Day

16x9 - Golden Gate Bridge

S0: Specials

S1: Season 1

S2: Season 2

S3: Season 3

S4: Season 4

S5: Season 5

S6: Season 6

S7: Season 7

S8: Season 8

S9: Season 9

S10: Season 10

S11: Season 11

S12: Season 12

S13: Season 13

S14: Season 14

S15: Season 15

S16: Season 16

S17: Season 17

S18: Season 18

S19: Season 19

S20: Season 20

S21: Season 21

S22: Season 22

S23: Season 23

S24: Season 24

S25: Season 25

S26: Season 26

S27: Season 27

S28: Season 28

S29: Season 29

S30: Season 30

S31: Season 31

S32: Season 32

S33: Season 33

S34: Season 34

S35: Season 35

S36: Season 36

S37: Season 37