| American Experience | |
|---|---|
| Season 21 | |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Original release | January 26 (2009-01-26) – May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11) |
| Season chronology | |
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| List of episodes | |
Season twenty-one of the television program American Experience originally aired on the PBS network in the United States on January 26, 2009 and concluded on May 11, 2009. The season contained nine new episodes and began with the film The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
| No. overall | No.in season | Title | Directed by | Categories | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 248 | 1 | "The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer"[3] | David Grubin | Biographies, Technology, War | January 26, 2009 (2009-01-26) | |
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The film focuses on the 1954 security hearingofJ. Robert Oppenheimer, called a "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project. He was held before the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) for being a suspected Communist.[1][2]
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| 249 | 2 | "The Polio Crusade"[4] | Sarah Colt | Popular Culture, Technology | February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02) | |
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Examines the impact of the infectious disease polio and the campaign to conquer it beginning with the nonprofit organization March of Dimes in the 1930s and culminating in the creation of a vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk in the 1950s. The film is in part based on the book, Polio: An American Story, by David Oshinsky.
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| 250 | 3 | "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln"[5] | Barak Goodman | Presidents | February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09) | |
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The film chronicles the life of assassin John Wilkes Booth and his assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the third president to die while in office. Lincoln was shot once in the back of his head while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865.
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| 251 | 4 | "A Class Apart"[6] | Peter Miller & Carlos Sandoval | Civil Rights, Popular Culture | February 23, 2009 (2009-02-23) | |
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The film chronicles a small-town Texas murder and its development into a landmark civil rights case in which Mexican American lawyers take Hernandez v. Texas to the Supreme Court, challenging Jim Crow–style discrimination.
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| 252 | 5 | "We Shall Remain (Part 1)"[7] | Chris Eyre | Civil Rights, Native American History, Politics, The American West | April 13, 2009 (2009-04-13) | |
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| 253 | 6 | "We Shall Remain (Part 2)"[8] | Ric Burns & Chris Eyre | Civil Rights, Native American History, Politics, The American West | April 20, 2009 (2009-04-20) | |
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| 254 | 7 | "We Shall Remain (Part 3)"[9] | Chris Eyre | Civil Rights, Native American History, Politics, The American West | April 27, 2009 (2009-04-27) | |
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| 255 | 8 | "We Shall Remain (Part 4)"[10] | Sarah Colt & Dustinn Craig | Civil Rights, Native American History, Politics, The American West | May 4, 2009 (2009-05-04) | |
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| 256 | 9 | "We Shall Remain (Part 5)"[11] | Stanley Nelson | Civil Rights, Native American History, Politics, The American West | May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11) | |
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