American Masters

Marian Anderson, who was the first Black soloist at the Metropolitan Opera and gave an unforgettable concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of a concert hall, is the subject of a new American Masters profile. We spoke to the director.

A new documentary explores the Chicago blues legend's life as he refined his craft and influenced some of rock's most famous guitarists. "It is the American story," says the filmmaker. "Buddy worked his ass off and kept at it, despite never having massive success."

Esquire recently pointed out that, while Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and other streaming services have been making waves with documentaries over the past few years, PBS has been offering top-level documentaries for decades.

American Masters: Unladylike2020 encompasses a documentary and series of video profiles of 26 little-known women from the turn of the twentieth century who were pioneers in their fields and fought for civil rights.

PBS has announced a local livestreaming service in partnership with YouTube, as well as some exciting new shows coming in 2020, from WTTW's Prehistoric Road Trip to the five-part Asian Americans and a pair of new documentaries, about Rita Moreno and George W. Bush. 

Over the 102 years that the Pulitzer Prize has been awarded, four distinct Chicago newspapers have won, for a total of 47 Prizes. Explore the journalism winners, from someone who received a Prize posthumously to the only person to receive two Pulitzers at a Chicago paper.

Watch Sammy Davis, Jr. on the pioneering show "Our People," the first televised weekly forum for black issues, discuss the ongoing empowerment of African Americans in 1968. "Don't let 'em pigeonhole me, man, cuz I will not allow myself as a black individual to be pigeonholed," he says.

The essential play A Raisin in the Sun is based on its playwright Lorraine Hansberry's own experience as a child moving into an all-white Chicago neighborhood, a situation that produced a Supreme Court case. Revisit the story here.

Even though they're the ones who create what you see and love in Disney films, animators, designers, and art directors aren't household names. Discover the people responsible for Fantasia, Jafar, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and more, and learn about their adventurous lives.

The Chinese American artist Tyrus Wong, responsible for the artistic look of Bambi and subject of a new American Masters documentary, lived to be 106 years old. What famous artists born more than a century ago are still living – some even working – today?  

You might have Richard Linklater pegged as a philosophizing director fixated on subdued, musing moments, but he's made a wide range of films. From School of Rock to Fast Food Nation to Bernie to Boyhood, explore some of his films, including two upcoming ones.

American Masters Chef's Flight is over, but you can still stream the documentaries and catch up on our posts with recipes, interviews, features and more about these four icons of American cuisine.

"It was another world," Pépin says of the American culinary scene when he first arrived here in 1959. “The cook used to be at the bottom of the social scale. Now we are genius.” 

On Friday, May 26 at 10:00 pm, enjoy an American Masters film about Alice Waters, preceded by the premiere of Jacques Pépin: The Art of Craft at 9:00 pm. Try some of Waters's fresh, ingredient-focused recipes here.

In a 1978 interview with WTTW's John Callaway, Julia Child discusses food snobs, nutrition freaks, and children in the kitchen. "My point is to make cooking easy for people so that they can enjoy it and do it, rather than making it a kind of art for the 'we happy few,'" she says.