In the aftermath of the Civil War and Emancipation, southern African Americans struggled to realize the promise of equality. Told by J. W. Toer and his company of traveling players who performed for audiences of recently freed slaves, this program chronicles the many ways African Americans sought freedom in the face of growing repression and violence. (Length: 30 minutes)

The harsh realities of slavery on a cotton plantation in the antebellum period are brought to life in this documentary, told from the point of view of an escaped slave. On the plantation, time and work are dictated by the master. Still, slaves strive to make life in the quarters independent of his control. The narrator escapes to the North, only to discover that her former master’s power extends even to New York City because of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. (Length: 30 minutes)

Private eye Clio Malarkey doesn’t like history much. But when a client hires him to investigate “how things got to be the way they are,” he discovers the importance of learning U.S. history as well as the hazards of interpreting it. In the guise of a film-noir detective story, The Big H questions some of the ways history is taught, revealing working people’s role in shaping the nation’s past. (Length: 26 minutes)

Travel back in time to the 1893 World’s Fair with its grandiose buildings and displays of “exotic” people from around the world. The fairs promoted America’s interest in overseas expansion and notions of Anglo-Saxon superiority. Savage Acts links the pageantry of fairs to the story of the Philippine War, America’s first attempt to claim an overseas colony and a turning point in U.S. foreign policy. Philippine diplomats and fighters as well as U.S. politicians and soldiers tell their experiences of the conflict and the opposition it sparked. (Length: 30 minutes)