High

In this vivid look at the ancient civilization of the Maya people, students will explore some of their most important archaeological sites, from the sacred Maya city of Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula to the jungle temples and palaces of Tikal in Guatemala.

Program 1: Settling the New World and the Founding of the United States of America - Includes: 1619-1621 - Blacks Arrive in Jamestown; 1705- The Virginia General Assembly Passes the Slave Codes; 1762- Entrepreneur Samuel Frances Opens New York City's Frances Tavern; 1770 - Crispus Attacks the Black Patriots.

Program 3: The Fight For Freedom, includes: 1851 - Sojourner Truth Delivers "Ain't I a Woman?" Speech; 1854 - First Black university founded - Lincoln University; 1855 - Frederick Douglas publishes "My Bondage and My Freedom"; 1857 - Dred Scott decision helps trigger the Civil War; 1863 - Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation; 1863 - Black Regiment Storms Fort Wagner in the Civil War; 18

Program 5: The Foundation For Equality - includes: 1904- Scott Joplin and Ma Rainey initiate the merger of two cultures; 1909 - Matthew Henson Discovers the North Pole; 1909- W.E.B. DuBois founds the NAACP; 1924 - George Washington Carver - Renaissance Man; 1925 - Alain Locke leads Harlem Renaissance; 1926 - Satchel Paige stars in the National Negro Baseball League.

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.

Examines the creation of the court and follows it through the brink of the Civil War, paying particular attention to the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court - John Marshall - and to his successor, Roger Taney. Volume 1