Episodes

While the whole world sailed east on the path to find China, Columbus believed it could be reached in two weeks… by sailing west! Finally, after securing the support of Queen Isabella of Spain, Columbus set sail. After three weeks of sailing and no sight of land, his crew threatened mutiny. At the moment when all seemed lost and Columbus considered turning back, land was discovered. Columbus realized his dream and America was discovered.

William Bradford fled with the Pilgrims to the new world, where he discovered that the price for religious freedom was hunger, sickness and death. As a peacemaker, he befriended the Native Americans who taught the struggling Pilgrims how to survive. By the end of the first year, William Bradford became Governor of the new land. After their first critical harvest, he set aside time for the Pilgrims and their new Native American friends to feast together and express their thanks to God. Thus, William Bradford became the Father of Thanksgiving Day.

George Washington, “The father of America,” comes to life in this remarkable story about his extraordinary accomplishments as a military leader. Retrace Washington’s steps from “the shot heard ’round the world” at Lexington to the dark days of Valley Forge. Follow his contributions to the forming of a new nation and final peace in 1783. This inspiring tale shows Washington at his best—courageous, determined, humble, brave, and patriotic.

High into the stormy sky, a kite with iron points bobs in the wind. Suddenly, lightning cuts through the sky and a spark emits from the key attached to the kite string. As Ben Franklin watched the lightning in Philadelphia’s night sky, he came up with a brilliant discovery—one that would change the world forever. Now, through this remarkable story, you can join this remarkable scientist, inventor and statesman as he rewrites human history because of his experiments with electricity.

Over a century ago, only one man stood in the way of the disintegration of the United States of America—and he was a gangly, storytelling country lawyer from Illinois with no political experience at the national level. And yet by the sheer force of his will and his uncompromising stand on critical issues, Abraham Lincoln not only saved the nation but carved out an immortal place in world history. This fascinating story inspires viewers with the life of America’s most beloved president.

Never was genius more fun! Thomas Edison opens up the laboratory of America’s most celebrated inventor and invites you to explore its secrets. This fast-paced, bird’s eye view of Edison’s legendary career takes you to behind the scenes to reveal the daily discoveries with “the Wizard of Menlo Park.” Sprinkled with humor and packed with little-known details about the search for a working electric light bulb, this story will help you see for yourself why Edison quipped, “Genius is about one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

It was the height of the Crimean War, and English soldiers were wounded and dying by the hundreds. The shocking conditions of British field hospitals only worsened potential recovery. Into these rat and flea-infested facilities stepped a woman of uncompromising convictions, great patience and an iron will. When Florence Nightingale, “The Lady of the Lamp,” arrived on the scene, the science and practice of nursing soon changed all over the world, forever.

Except for the raw courage of Native American princess, Pocahontas, the English settlers at Jamestown in the early 17th century would have died from starvation and exposure. Her brave intervention saved the settlers’ lives and brought peace between two very different peoples. Recapture all the drama and suspense that filled the early days of America’s colonization. History comes alive as you meet an inquisitive girl who grows into a great ambassador for peace.

The time is 1860, and cholera is beginning to spread throughout France's chicken population. Louis Pasteur and his assistant, Emile Roux, collect samples and deduce that disease can be transmitted through air. They then draw blood from the chickens and see an unidentified germ in the specimens. While Pasteur and Roux work with the samples of blood, Pasteur has a debilitating stroke. From his bed, he expresses his determination to live, and continues to work with Roux by writing him notes. He tells Roux to inject the chickens with the contaminated blood. The chickens die. When Pasteur finally comes back to the laboratory, they discover the blood has altered from time. When they inject this blood into the chickens again, the cholera germs are killed.They have created a vaccination for the chickens. Meanwhile, sheep begin to die from anthrax. Even though other scientists mock Pasteur's findings, they agree to let him experiment on 25 sheep...

Journey to Palestine of the second century B.C., where Antiochus, a Syrian-Greek king, rules over the people of Israel, confronting them with a trying test of their faith. They must bow down and accept the Greek gods…or die! Some submit, but not the Maccabees, a small group true to the faith of their fathers. The spirit and determination of the Maccabees lives today in the celebration of Hanukkah, The Feast of Lights.

Journey to Palestine of the second century B.C., where Antiochus, a Syrian-Greek king, rules over the people of Israel, confronting them with a trying test of their faith. They must bow down and accept the Greek gods…or die! Some submit, but not the Maccabees, a small group true to the faith of their fathers. The spirit and determination of the Maccabees lives today in the celebration of Hanukkah, The Feast of Lights.

To this day Harriet Tubman is still remembered as “The Moses of her people” for good reason. From 1849 to 1860, in 17 dangerous missions to the Confederate South, she helped more than 300 slaves escape to freedom in the North. Harriet’s selflessness and disregard for personal safety, along with her deep faith in God, enabled her to help family members and many others to escape the chains of slavery. She continues to inspire countless Americans more than a century after her death.

If people were meant to fly, they’d be given wings. That’s what the world told the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright—but they refused to believe it. This is the thrilling story of two American bicycle repairmen that ignored all those who said it couldn’t be done and risked everything, including their very lives, to become the first to manage powered flight. Return to the days of the Wright Brothers and see how their perseverance changed our world.

A childhood fever leaves the very bright Helen Keller deaf and blind, cutting her off from human communication. This turns her into an angry, untamed child who often explodes into fits of savage fury. It falls on the spirited shoulders of 21-year-old Anne Sullivan to break into Helen’s dark and silent world and end her awful isolation. This dramatic and deeply moving story captures all the humor, pain and ultimate triumph of Anne’s quest to help Helen overcome incredible obstacles and find her freedom.

Only rarely do genius and humility live side-by-side in the same person. Yet who could dispute that Leonardo da Vinci— master painter, celebrated artist, and brilliant inventor, centuries ahead of his time-could lay claim to both titles? This intriguing story not only introduces the towering figure of Leonardo but also paints a moving portrait of a humble man whose deep concern for others won him a lasting place in the hearts of his fifteenth century countrymen.

The year is 1429. France clings desperately to independence as English invaders advance into French territory. Just as the city of Orleans seems certain to fall, a 16-year-old maiden from Lorraine rises out of nowhere and through sheer, bold faith rallies her countrymen to a surprising victory. Yet the celebration is short-lived; through treachery the English kidnap the girl, brand her a witch, and burn her at the stake. And so is born the astonishing, but true tale of Joan of Arc.

Marco Polo intrigued audiences with his tales of magnificent palaces filled with precious stones, rivers filled with gold and “men with tails” who threw nuts as big as a man’s head. He described things that no one had ever witnessed and no one believed him. They were certain he had never visited these wondrous places. Yet he had. This story captures the greatest highlights of Marco’s astonishing adventures to India, China and many other exotic lands.

Today, every child learns that the earth revolves around the sun. Yet in sixteenth century Europe, that belief was considered absolutely false! Galileo was the extraordinary astronomer and inventor who discovered the truth, at the risk of his reputation and freedom. He refused to support an incorrect view of the universe, and spent the last eight years of his life under house arrest. Learn of Galileo’s courage and genius in this revealing story of how his integrity led to a whole new universe of discovery and knowledge.

At an early age, Madame Curie was taught the importance of education. As an adult she became an amazing heroine of science. Her devotion to her work, despite poverty and sickness, gave the world the theory of radioactivity, the discovery of plutonium, and the isolation of radium. Marie was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes, she chose not to profit from her research on radium so that the findings could be used for cancer research.

Even as a young boy, Beethoven marched to the beat of a different drummer. Trained in the traditional music methods by his father, Beethoven was an accomplished pianist by the age of 12. But he yearned to try new sounds and persevered until audiences heard his music. By his early twenties, this persistent young man performed for Joseph Haydn, who compared him to the great Mozart. Sadly, Beethoven began to lose his hearing, but he threw himself even more deeply into his music, composing "Fur Elise," "Sonata Pathetique" and the dramatic "Fifth Symphony" years later, audience members heard what he could not and leapt to their feet in ecstatic appreciation for such passionate music. His creativity gave the world then, as it does today, music that stirs the soul. The video begins in 1827 with 30,000 people paying tribute to the great Beethoven in Vienna, Austria. Then the video switches to his life as a child...