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The Best Episodes of American Experience Season 5

Every episode of American Experience Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Experience Season 5!

Binge this in 11h 55m•Peaking at 8.4/10

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    American Experience Season 5 Episode 9 - Knute Rockne and His Fighting Irish
    8.4/10(14 votes)

    S5:E9

    When he died in 1931 in a plane crash on his way to Hollywood to sign a film contract, the President called it a "national loss." The funeral was broadcast live on CBS Radio to Europe, South America and Asia. As Notre Dame's football coach, Knute Rockne galvanized attention to his "Fighting Irish" and was a pivotal figure in the sudden rise of sports to a position of enormous power in American life.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. American Experience Season 5 Episode 3 - The Donner Party
    8.2/10(526 votes)

    S5:E3

    Of all the 19th century pioneer stories, none exerts so powerful a hold on the American imagination as this, during the worst winter ever recorded in the High Sierras. In June, 1846, 87 men, women and children began their legendary 2,000 mile journey from Illinois to California. They packed huge wagons, took food, hired servants. When family leaders made the fateful decision to take an untried short cut to beat the coming winter, only half would come out alive.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. American Experience Season 5 Episode 1 - The Kennedys (1): The Father, 1900-61
    7.9/10(56 votes)

    S5:E1

    No family has had such a powerful hold on the American imagination. A saga of ambition, wealth, family loyalty and personal tragedy, the Kennedy story is unlike any other. From Joseph Kennedy's rise on Wall Street and frustrations in politics, through John Kennedy's march to the presidency -- orchestrated by his father - -to Edward Kennedy's withdrawal from the 1980 presidential race following the scandal of Chappaquidick, the family has left a legacy that continues to influence politics today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. American Experience Season 5 Episode 2 - The Kennedys (2): The Sons, 1961-80
    7.9/10(54 votes)

    S5:E2

    No family has had such a powerful hold on the American imagination. A saga of ambition, wealth, family loyalty and personal tragedy, the Kennedy story is unlike any other. From Joseph Kennedy's rise on Wall Street and frustrations in politics, through John Kennedy's march to the presidency -- orchestrated by his father - -to Edward Kennedy's withdrawal from the 1980 presidential race following the scandal of Chappaquidick, the family has left a legacy that continues to influence politics today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. American Experience Season 5 Episode 12 - Goin' Back to T-Town
    7.7/10(63 votes)

    S5:E12

    In Tulsa, the community of Greenwood was a place where blacks had some measure of financial, social and political independence. Burned to the ground in 1921 by angry whites, Greenwood was rebuilt and boasted the largest concentration of black businesses in the country. In a nostalgic celebration of old fashioned neighborhood life, the black residents of "T-Town" relive their community's remarkable rise and ultimate decline.

    Director:Sam Pollard
    Writer:Carmen Fields

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  6. American Experience Season 5 Episode 8 - Simple Justice
    7.6/10(123 votes)

    S5:E8

    Thirty years after the Supreme Court's "separate but equal" ruling, lawyer Charles Hamilton took over Howard University's rundown, segregated law school with the idea of training a cadre of elite African American lawyers to legally eradicate segregation, case by case, state by state. Their relentless and dangerous struggle would yield victory in the Supreme Court's landmark ruling, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. A dramatic presentation.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. American Experience Season 5 Episode 4 - Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
    7.5/10(12 votes)

    S5:E4

    An account of Black American soldiers in World War II who combated racism in the segregated military and on the home front. In April 1945, some Black American soldiers were among the first 'liberators' to enter Nazi death camps, encountering the survivors described by one GI as "walking skeletons."

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. American Experience Season 5 Episode 6 - Last Stand at Little Big Horn
    7.2/10(39 votes)

    S5:E6

    In 1876, when the U.S. Army planned its biggest Indian campaign yet against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, General George Custer led the chase. Custer and his 210 men were surprised and surrounded, the result of arrogance, bad planning and bad intelligence. The battle took "about as much time as it takes a hungry man to eat dinner," leaving no white survivors. One of the most frequently depicted and least understood moments in American history, the story is told from both sides.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. American Experience Season 5 Episode 11 - Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
    7.2/10(27 votes)

    S5:E11

    She had been a biologist for the federal government when she first took note of the effects of the unregulated use of pesticides and herbicides, especially DDT. Magazines refused to publish her articles because they were afraid of losing advertising. When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1963, she was viciously attacked, called "an ignorant and hysterical woman." But her warning sparked a revolution in environmental policy and created a new ecological consciousness.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. American Experience Season 5 Episode 5 - George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King
    6.6/10(58 votes)

    S5:E5

    He was bumbling, yet ambitious. He volunteered to serve his country, but insisted on being reimbursed for expenses. He was the most famous general of the Revolution but a dismal tactician on the battlefield. Greedy and selfish, service to the colonies would profoundly change him. The man who came to symbolize the American Revolution could also be incredibly brave, generous and an inspirational leader who scorned attempts to participate in any system but a democratic one.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. American Experience Season 5 Episode 7 - If You Knew Sousa
    6.5/10(16 votes)

    S5:E7

    John Phillip Sousa became America's favorite bandmaster, but band music wasn't Sousa's only passion. He was the first to bring the classics -- Verdi, Wagner, Puccini -- to a burgeoning American middle class. Wildly popular, his was the first large musical organization to go on tour and make music pay. He helped give birth to that great American institution, the small town marching band.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. American Experience Season 5 Episode 10 - Sit Down And Fight
    6.1/10(15 votes)

    S5:E10

    In 1936, Walter Reuther led one of the bitterest, bloodiest battles ever fought in the history of the American labor movement. By sitting down and stopping the machinery of factory production, auto workers forced the Big Three to recognize their union. GM tried turning off the heat and blocking food deliveries and Ford sent members of their private security force to beat up UAW officials, but workers stood their ground.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. American Experience Season 5 Episode 20 - Ishi: The Last Yahi Indian
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S5:E20

    When "Ishi," the last surviving member of a small Indian tribe, walked into the small California town of Oroville in 1911, he became a media curiosity and scientific "specimen." The San Francisco Museum built a Yahi house where audiences could watch Ishi make arrowheads and shoot bows. Ishi went to the theater and received invitations of marriage. But contact would bring him terrible physical and psychological consequences.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Knute Rockne and His Fighting Irish" is the best rated episode of "American Experience" season 5. It scored 8.4/10 based on 14 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/8/1993. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Donner Party".