A young engineer named Henry Ford devises the plan for a gas-powered car. McKinley is assassinated and his VP Theodore Roosevelt takes office and quickly passes a series of regulations increasing oversight of American business.

It began as a protest against the Conscription Act of 1863 – but quickly descended into the bloodiest race riot in US history. So why did New York’s White working class kill at least 120 people during the New York Draft Riots?

One of the most celebrated, beloved entertainers of the wartime era takes off from England in heavy fog, heading to France to entertain troops. His plane vanishes. Glenn Miller’s disappearance is perhaps the biggest mystery and cold case of World War II. This History Detectivesinvestigation contains a great deal of new information: Miller’s pilot was a rank novice who had never flown over the English Channel, never mind in appalling weather; documents...

What forces led the United States away from its agrarian roots, transforming it into a nation dependent on mechanized farming, heavy industry, and large corporations? This program helps identify answers as it examines the Industrial Revolution in the latter half of the 19th century. Viewers learn about the establishment of the transcontinental railroad and its role in industrial growth, including the rise of the steel industry led by Andrew Carnegie....

This film investigates the origins of our love-hate relationship with technology. Historian Simon Schaffer tells the stories behind some of the most extra-ordinary engineering wonders of the 19th century, including computers made from cogs and gears, giant replica dinosaurs, enormous telescopes, vast steam pumps and devices that herald the birth of cinema. Through stunning images of amazing machines, the documentary poses questions that still resonate...

The political and economic turmoil of Europe drove millions to leave their countries of origin and emigrate to the U.S. where a lady held a welcoming lamp "beside the Golden Door." This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings tells the dramatic story of the transformation of America into a truly multicultural nation, from the teeming ethnic neighborhoods of New York to the black migration to northern cities during the Great Depression. Also discussed...

A comprehensive documentary of the Ellis Island story in all its complexity. We take you behind the scenes into the memory-haunted ruins of unrestored Ellis Island. Our cameras trace the saga of Immigrants coming from the old world through what is now Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

In the 20th century, polio was one of the most dreaded childhood diseases, devastating its victims. Ingenuity, trial and error, even acts of scientific desperation would pave the way to one of the greatest breakthroughs in scientific history - a vaccine. Modern Marvels traces the technology that eradicated the health scourge of the century.

The Industrial Revolution in America began in the 1850s, creating a new middle class and all but eliminating house servants. This transformation was responsible for the invention of today's household wonders including the stove, microwave, sewing machine and refrigerator. Learn how and why these machines became indispensable to modern homes.

A little known story of the Indian Wars involves the role of the Buffalo Soldiers. This short film looks at conflicts between Apache tribes and the African-American Buffalo soldier regiments.