Dear Friends of American Experience,

America's history is complicated. It is inspiring. And it is rich. It contains a treasure trove of cautions, but also triumphs that remain the envy of the world.

For nearly 40 years, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has had the privilege of bringing you this history with more than 350 urgent, compelling, deeply-researched documentary films.

But on May 1st, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to cut off all federal funding of PBS and on June 3rd, the White House officially asked Congress to approve a rescission package that would claw back funding that was previously approved - a rare and extreme measure taken with the broader goal of eliminating public media entirely. So right now, the future of our award-winning series is in jeopardy.

Our goal has always been to educate, to entertain and to challenge the way we think about our shared American history. It has been — and will continue to be — our mission to bring fresh perspectives and fresh voices to this task to underscore our sincere belief that history belongs to all of us.

We've uncovered brave, ordinary citizens who marched for and won their freedoms like the women of The Vote, the students of Freedom Summer, or the disabled activists of Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act...

...and we've highlighted the imaginative minds of creatives like Walt Disney and L. Frank Baum, who dreamed up the world of Oz...

... or the titan of industry who revolutionized news and the women who transformed the friendly skies. 

We are committed to telling the stories of the people, the places and the events that make us think about who we are as Americans and how this great country came to be.

In addition to our extensive film library, we create educational materials developed exclusively for students, thought-provoking live in-person events and original digital content that all serve to provide you, our audience with ways of seeing American history that expand our collective understanding beyond what you may have learned in school years ago. 

We've done this work with talented filmmakers, researchers and historians and we've partnered with great institutions like the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the New York Public Library and universities across the country.

If you believe, as I do, that studying American history is a tool that can help us connect the dots and better understand today's complicated times, please join us in fighting for the future of PBS.

Sincerely,