While the American colonies challenge Britain for independence, American slavery is challenged from within as men and women fight to define what America will be. When the War of Independence is won, black people, both enslaved and free, seize on the language of freedom even while the new nation's Constitution codifies slavery and oppression as a national way of life. This episode explores the first 50 years of the new nation. In Philadelphia, freedmen and fugitive slaves push the country to live up to the promises made in its Constitution. But with the invention of the cotton gin, slavery expands into America's western frontier, and a revolution in Haiti inspires slave rebellions throughout the southern United States.
Abolitionists struggle to bring the institution down and the nation is tested as never before.
As tensions over slavery erupts into violence, Americans are forced to consider how long the country can continue as a democracy built on the profits of bondage. Out of the Past This video traces the struggle of gay men and lesbians in this country through the eyes of a teenage activist. The emergence of gay men and lesbians in America is a struggle marked by protests, societal backlash, legal battles and rights issues. In an interview and through conversations with parents and friends, Peterson describes her isolation, the decision to come out and her fight for equality. The film spans 300 years of American history, from the secret diary of a Puritan cleric in the 17th century to the pioneering activism of Barbara Gittings in the 1950s through 1970s.