Episode
American Experience: Stephen Foster
Overview
A profile of quintessentially American composer Stephen Foster features interviews with historian Fath Ruffins, biographer Ken Emerson, musicologists Josephine Wright and Dale Cockrell, and modern-day musicians influenced by Foster's work.
Details
- Series
- American Experience
- Season
- Season 13
- Episode
- Episode 12
- Air date
- 2001-04-23
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Stephen Foster is Episode 12 in Season 13 of American Experience. It aired on 2001-04-23. The runtime is 55 min.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 10: Scottsboro: An American Tragedy
Following the 17-year struggle to free nine blacks falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The struggle, which involved communist activists and laid the groundwork for the civil-rights movement, is chronicled involvingly in vintage stills and clips, comments by historians and readings by actors (including Stanley Tucci and Frances McDormand). "In the end, the state of Alabama bowed to reason," says narrator Andre Braugher, "and to exhaustion."
Episode 9: Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Part III
The third part recalls 1863, when opposition to the Civil War spread among Northerners: some see the high level of casualties as unacceptable, while others resent fighting to free black slaves. Abraham Lincoln, understandably, becomes anxious. Mary Todd Lincoln, meanwhile, copes by spending money compulsively, and falls into debt as a result. Conclusion. The final 16 months of the Civil War are charted, including the battle at Gettysburg and Abraham Lincoln's battlefield dedication and, just days after the South's surrender at Appomattox, his assassination. Included: Abraham's dedication to bringing the South into the Union; Mary's private wish for revenge.
Episode 8: Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Part II
When the Lincolns arrive in Washington, D.C., in 1861, the president-elect is deemed untested and is mistrusted; Mary, meanwhile, is suspected of being a Confederate sympathizer due to being the daughter of a Southern slave owner. As Abraham deals with the national tragedy of the Civil War, the couple also face a tragedy much closer to home: the 1862 death of their son Willie. The aftermath of son Willie's death finds Mary turning to spiritualists for comfort and, perhaps, slipping from sanity. President Lincoln, however, has another matter larger than his own grief that demands attention---the war. Included: the step he took that changed the nature of the conflict, the Emancipation Proclamation, which he issued on Jan. 1, 1863.
Episode 7: Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Part I
Part 1 and 2 of a six-part chronicle of the Abraham Lincoln-Mary Todd relationship begins with their childhoods and courtship. He, of course, was born into poverty; she, however, grew up in luxury, the daughter of a Kentucky banker and slave owner. (Several of her brothers would die fighting for the South in the Civil War.) While he was something of a rube when they met, she was the opposite, polished and refined. Yet they shared something in common: a love of politics.
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Episode 6: Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
Recalling racial-pride advocate Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), whose grand (some said grandiose) vision included an Africa run by Africans. Garvey's Harlem-based United Negro Improvement Association was more than just a civil-rights group -- it was a business and publishing empire. But it wasn't a well-run one, and his story doesn't have a happy ending (due, in part, to a young Justice Department lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover). Still, says narrator Carl Lumbly, Garvey "changed forever the way black Americans looked at themselves and the world.
Episode 5: Streamliners: America's Last Trains
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Episode 4: Return with Honor
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Episode 3: Secrets of a Master Builder
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Episode 2: The Rockefellers (2)
The conclusion of a profile of the Rockefellers explores how John D. Jr. accomplished "the seemingly impossible task of redeeming the family name," says narrator David Ogden Stiers. "Junior" (1874-1960) did that by giving away $500 million, much of it while his father (1839-1937) enjoyed a vigorous retirement. The show also charts the fortunes of the next generation of Rockefellers, chiefly second son Nelson, the long-time New York governor. Many of their children rebelled. "The real problem," says Steven Rockefeller, "is the integration of power and goodness."
Episode 1: The Rockefellers (1)
A dramatic two-part profile of the Rockefellers, a family whose name is synonymous with wealth, begins. Part 1 traces how John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) struck oil (figuratively) in the 1860s and parlayed it into a corporate behemoth that the Supreme Court had to break up in 1911. It also examines how he and his son John D. Jr. (1874-1960) lived with that money -- and the hatred it engendered. The family's strategy: philanthropy. David Ogden Stiers narrates.