High

Program 7: Civil Rights - Ralph Bunche wins the Nobel Peace Prize; Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first black recipient of the Pulitzer Prize; Brown v.

Covering the period from 1619 through 1739, this first volume spotlights the origins of slavery in America. Focusing on Dutch New Amesterdam (later New York City), this chapter illustrates how slavery in the early years was a loosely defined labor source similar to indentured servitude. Slaves had some limited rights.

Spanning from the 1740s through the 1830s, this second hour explores the continued expansion of slavery in the colonies, the evolution of a distinct African American culture and the roots of the emancipation movement. This volume reveals the many ways the enslaved resisted their oppression including their role on both sides of the Revolutionary War.

The third volume of the series looks at the period from 1800 through the start of the Civil War when slavery saw an enormous expansion and entered its final decades. As the nation expanded west, the question of slavery became an overriding political issue. These years saw an increasingly militant abolitionist movement and a widening rift between the North and South.

The final volume of the series takes viewers through the Civil War, the Reconstruction and beyond as it follows the life of Robert Smalls. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves under the control of the Confederate government. Once the South was defeated in 1865, the nation adopted the 13th Amendment, effectively ending slavery.

Students will explore how society uses the Earth's resources to meet our most basic needs for food, water and shelter, and how those same resources influence how and where we live. Through our use and misuse of technology, students will see how we impact the world around us and conversely, how the forces of the ever-changing Earth shape our lives as well.

Imagine that someone from another country has asked you to describe the United States in a single sentence -- not an easy task! However, dividing America into regions and comparing and contrasting them can help explain our nation's unique natural, physical and cultural features.

Why do people settle where they do? Why do populations move from one place to another? In Human Systems, students will appreciate the role that the physical characteristics of Earth have played in determining where and how people live, and explore the notion that where and how we live has a huge impact on our planet.

Earth is a vast, diverse and complicated place, but breaking it down into regions allows us to simplify the whole. In Places & Regions, students will understand the physical and human characteristics that combine to form the areas we create to interpret our planet's complexity.

In this program, students will learn about cartography and technologies such as GIS, GPS and databases that geographers use to help us see the regular and recurring patterns in Earth's physical and human systems. These tools not only help us see and understand the world's patterns, but also help to make our planet a more comprehensible and fascinating place.

Features the first four of ten documentaries on major events in American history and includes the Pequot War, Shay's Rebellion, the California gold rush, and the Battle of Antietam

Features three of ten documentaries on major events in American history and includes the Homestead Strike, the assassination of William McKinley and the Scopes trial

Features three of ten documentaries on major events in American history and includes Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt warning that Germany may develop an atomic bomb, Elvis Presley's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi

Jimmy Carter aspired to make government "competent and compassionate," responsive to the American people and their expectations. His achievements were notable, but in an era of rising energy costs, mounting inflation, and continuing tensions, it was impossible for his administration to meet these high expectations.

On November 22, 1963 - when he was hardly past his first 1,000 days in office - JFK was killed by an assassin as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. JFK was the youngest man elected to the presidency.