LibGuides: American History, Early American & Colonial: Media

Featured Streaming Media

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Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World (48:00) Christopher Columbus set out to find a new route to Asia, but instead became the first Spaniard to set foot in the New World. Evidence now proves that the Vikings reached North America long before him, yet even in his own time, other explorers usurped his glory. Period accounts, rare art and artifacts, and interviews with world-renowned historians are featured. A&E Television Networks.
The Explorers: Five Europeans Who Redrew the Map of the World (72:00) Using sophisticated animation and expertise from modern scholars and archivists, this program reconstructs European voyages of discovery that took place in the 15th through 18th centuries and profiles the visionaries who led them.
In Search of History: Salem Witch Trials (45:00) Drawing extensively on colonial-era documents and accounts as well as on the testimony of significant scholars, this program ventures back three centuries to separate facts from legends about the Salem witch trials. A&E Television Networks.
Nightmare in Jamestown (51:00) Bubonic plague, starvation, maybe even cannibalism—such were the miseries of life in England’s Jamestown settlement, circa 1609. Four centuries later, this program explores the colony’s story with the help of dramatic reenactments and information on recent historical discoveries. Sophisticated forensics and archaeological methods reveal the contents of Jamestown graves, producing shocking evidence of hunger and disease as well as political intrigue and espionage. A National Geographic Production.
Overview Of The Mayflower Compact, The First Government Framework Written In The New World (02:36) An introductory video on the Mayflower Compact.
The Seven Years War and the Great Awakening (10:11) In which John Green teaches you about the beginnings of the American Revolution in a video titled The Seven Years War. Confusing? Maybe. John argues that the Seven Years War, which is often called the French and Indian War in the US, laid a lot of the groundwork for the Revolution. More confusing? Why does this war have two names? Why were the French and Indians fighting each other? The Seven Years war was actually a global war that went on for nine years. I think I'm having trouble making this clear. Anyway, the part of this global war that happened in North America was the French and Indian War. The French and Indian tribes were the force opposing the British, so that's the name that stuck. Let's get away from this war, as it makes my head hurt. Other stuff was going on in the colonies in the 18th century that primed the people for revolution. One was the Great Awakening. Religious revival was sweeping the country, introducing new ideas about religion and how it should be practiced. At the same time thinkers like John Locke were rethinking the relationship between rulers and the ruled. So in this highly charged atmosphere, you can just imagine what would happen if the crown started trying to exert more control over the colonies. The colonists would probably just rise up, right? We'll see what happens next week.
A Son of Africa (29:04) The Interesting Narration of the Life of Olaudah Equiano created a sensation when it was published in 1789. Written by ex-slave Equiano, the autobiography vividly described the horrors of being kidnapped from Africa, the Middle Passage, and life in captivity, and fueled the growing abolitionist movement. This program employs dramatic reconstructions of this slave narrative, archival material, and interviews with scholars such as Stuart Hall and Ian Duffield to explain the social and economic context of the 18th-century slave trade.
Unearthing Secret America (60:00) This edition of PBS Scientific American Frontiers delves into the secrets of America’s past—as archeologists investigate three tremendous discoveries: unique finds that bring our history to life like never before. Unearthing Secret America shows how the Jamestown fort offers clues to the struggles of the colonists and how slave quarters at Monticello and Williamsburg expose a secret world for the first time: revealing economic shifts that altered the experience of enslaved and free people in ways we are just beginning to understand. A story told with rich detail, it is a fresh and up-close look at life in America from the colonial period up through the 19th century. PBS.
The United Colonies of America (02:05) Despite their many differences, the North American colonies eventually came together as one country – the United States of America. It’s that acceptance of other cultures, other ideas, other people, that makes us truly American.

More Media

In addition to streaming media, we have DVDs, images, audio and more media.

Desperate Crossing : The Untold Story of the Mayflower From their self-imposed exile in Holland to their perilous crossing of the Atlantic, to their first year in the new world, Desperate Crossing is the definitive story of how the Pilgrims came to live and prosper in an unfamiliar land.