Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of america...

Seen in color for the first time.

[girls laughing]

America has always celebrated its small towns.

[horn honks]

Commentator: Here they go!

Narrator: They give birth to traditions...

Heroes...

Jimmy stewart: Well, hello.

Narrator: And presidents.

Main street is a symbol of the american ideal,

But reality doesn't always match the myth.

Isolation and intolerance

Can be the downside of small-town life.

In the first half of the 20th century,

Their share of the population will plummet.

War,

Depression,

And a changing culture

Will challenge the main street ideal.

This is small town america

As you've never seen it before.

♪

♪

John kennedy: I want us to recapture that...

♪

Narrator: Chandler, oklahoma.

In 1900, 60% of americans live in small towns like this one.

Chandler's 2,000 residents

Have an unusual thanksgiving tradition.

Members of the commercial club

Hurl live turkeys from the courthouse roof.

Catch one, and you get to keep it for dinner.

[turkey gobbling]

♪

Main street is chandler's social and commercial heart.

In 1915, the whole town crowds it

For the 19th anniversary of jacobs,

The local department store.

They're eager for a slice of the 627-pound birthday cake.

This rare footage is shot by former jeweler benny kent.

Born in England in 1866, he settled in chandler.

After losing his wife, he took up filmmaking.

In chandler, cotton is king.

It's the town's most important source of income.

The town is segregated,

Though almost everyone comes out to help...

Even the children.

[cheering]

Displays of civic pride

Are a popular subject for early movie cameras,

And every town has its parade.

In 1904,

Leominster, massachusetts, celebrates labor day.

It only became a federal holiday 10 years earlier,

But leominster's 12,000 residents

Have already embraced the tradition.

It's a chance to show off the town's horsepower--

Old-fashioned and new.

Both proudly roll down main street,

Alongside representatives of local businesses,

Like papermakers, bakers, and barbers.

They all benefit from the increased foot traffic.

Local traditions can be a source of both pride and profit.

♪

Out west, inspired by touring troupes,

Small town ranches put on their own wild west shows.

At the miller brothers 101 ranch,

Just outside new ponca, oklahoma,

Cowboys who learned to lasso on the range

Become showmen.

In 1905, the ranch stages the oklahoma gala day,

Featuring 200 performers.

It begins with a grand parade

And draws 65,000 locals, tourists, and journalists

From across the nation.

It's a huge success and becomes an annual event.

But it's not all about the cow-boys.

Lucille mulhall is one of the show's founding performers.

[horse neighs]

The riding and roping skills she learned on the family spread

Make her the first female rodeo rider

To come to national fame.

But another sooner state native with star-quality roping skills

Will spread small-town values around the world.

His name is will rogers.

Will's ability to jump through hoops

And tie knots with his lasso

Take him to new york,

Where he performs on the vaudeville stage.

But it's his folksy charm that really catches on,

In newspapers and on the radio.

He opens his act with a setup--

"all I know is what I read in the papers"--

And then riffs on the headlines.

Will rogers: And the thing about my jokes is

They don't hurt anybody.

You can take 'em or leave 'em. You know what I mean.

But with congress,

Every time they make a joke, it's a law.

And every time they make a law, it's a joke.

[applause]

Narrator: Audiences warm to his homespun humor,

And he becomes one of america's most loved personalities.

However, not all small towns

Share the same happy-go-lucky spirit.

In the south, segregation deprives black citizens

Of education and skills.

In 1881, black educator booker t. Washington

Seeks to change that.

He establishes the tuskegee institute

In alabama.

By 1906, the institute has nearly 1,600 students--

More than half the town's population.

It's one of the first black colleges

Formed to educate the descendants of slaves.

Here the students learn nursing,

Surveying,

And agriculture.

The college's mission is to give them the practical skills

To become self-reliant.

In time, tuskegee will evolve to embrace more radical concepts

And produce civil rights leaders like amelia robinson

And betty shabazz, wife of malcom x.

Many small towns depend on a single industry,

Leaving them vulnerable when disaster strikes.

In remote dawson, new mexico,

9,000 people rely almost entirely on the local coal mines

For income.

On October 22, 1913...

[explosion]

A blast rocks mine number 2.

The explosion traps 284 men,

Some of them more than 2,000 feet down.

Help comes from as far away as wyoming, kansas,

And pittsburgh, pennsylvania.

Rescuers put on gas masks as they descend into the mine.

Even so, two of them die of suffocation

In a search that lasts four days.

23 miners survive, but 261 perish

In america's second worst mining disaster.

The disaster devastates the small town of dawson.

By 1950, declining demand sees the mines close for good,

And the town is finally abandoned.

Only the graves remain.

In the early part of the 20th century,

Small towns across the nation

Will experience losses of their own.

In April 1917,

President woodrow wilson declares war on germany.

Small towns bravely answer the call.

Back in chandler, oklahoma,

Local filmmaker benny kent documents major h.B. Gilstrap

Recruiting the young men of the town

Into the 142nd regiment.

Drafted soldiers pose for the camera,

Sharing a final moment with their loved ones.

Across the country, a generation of young men

Will leave their home towns for the first time

For the blood-soaked western front in europe.

Many will never return.

[explosion]

In 18 months,

More than 50,000 american soldiers are killed in action.

The small town of chandler loses seven of its own.

Those that survive the global war

Return to a country ready to focus on life at home.

In 1920, senator warren g. Harding

Becomes the republican presidential nominee.

Aware of the great sacrifice small-town families have made,

He focuses his message on them,

Calling for a return to normalcy and "america first."

He conducts his presidential campaign

From the front porch of his house

In small town marion, ohio.

Narrator: 600,000 people travel from across the nation

To hear harding speak from his front porch.

Many presidential candidates

Have made the most of their humble roots,

But harding really strikes a chord with the voters.

[applause]

On November 2, 1920, he wins by a landslide.

He beats democrat james cox by seven million votes--

A 26% margin.

It's a record that still stands to this day.

In the coming decade,

A huge road-building project

Connects small towns with the rest of the nation,

And they will have to adapt to a fast-changing world.

In the 1920s,

The logging town of aberdeen, washington,

Grows to almost 20,000 people.

The small town calls itself the lumber capital of the world,

And the industry shapes the town's culture.

Here, lumberjacks take each other on

In log rolling competitions.

They spin the logs over,

Attempting to throw their opponent off.

In a twist,

One man shows off his skills and fashion sense

By rolling in a dress.

♪

28 miles away, on October 7, 1930,

Cars line up in the tiny community of willapa

For the opening of the aberdeen-willapa highway.

Across america, a huge new road-building project

Is connecting small towns to each other

And the rest of the nation.

A local photographer

Documents the changing face of aberdeen and the vicinity.

His name is charles d. Anderson.

He's caught on film only once,

A fleeting shadow on the football field

Cranking his trusty movie camera.

Football is a relatively new sport,

But already it's a big part of the town's identity.

On thanksgiving 1927,

The aberdeen high bobcats host the grizzlies,

Long-time rivals from another logging town--

Hoquiam.

[whistle blows]

Their turkey day game dates back 21 years,

The oldest such annual rivalry in the state.

A competitive spirit has developed

Between the close neighbors,

And the football field has become the battleground

For their friendly rivalry.

Aberdeen wins 43 to 6

To take bragging rights for another year.

High school football binds small towns like these together,

But young people are increasingly being lured away

To the cities.

As they seek a future elsewhere,

They leave some small-town traditions under threat.

♪

The appalachian mountains

Are home to the descendants of scots-irish colonists.

Isolated small towns are spread throughout the range.

♪

For mountain folk,

The banjo and fiddle-led songs and dances

Are their storytelling, history, and entertainment

Rolled into one.

They have been passed down by word of mouth

For more than a century.

By the '20s, city styles are more popular,

And the radio is bringing new music to the mountains.

This old-time folk music is in danger of disappearing.

♪

Bascom lunsford: How 'bout the thumb string?

[plucking banjo]

Sounds pretty good.

♪

Narrator: Bascom lunsford from mars hill, north carolina,

Was born into appalachian folk music culture.

He's one of its most passionate supporters.

[singing]

Narrator: He makes it his mission

To preserve the songs and dances

So they will not die out with the older generation.

Lunsford: ♪ breaking up the ground ♪

♪ and I'm gonna pitch a camp ♪

♪ I'm getting something started in the doggett gap ♪

Narrator: In 1928, he brings small-town performers

To the rhododendron parade in the biggest town in the state...

Asheville.

♪

There he stages the first-ever folk music festival.

By 1935,

10,000 people come to watch performances

Of square dancing and folk music led by callers.

[calling]

Lunsford has brought his beloved music

To the mainstream

And a bigger audience.

Songwriters like woody guthrie and bob dylan

Will update and spread this vein of americana across the world.

[horn honking]

By 1930,

56% of americans live in urban areas

Of more than 2,500 people.

For many city dwellers

There's a sense that they've left something behind.

In places like pinehurst, north carolina,

City vacationers can enjoy a taste

Of small-town perfection.

Golf is the main pastime,

But there are other more rustic pursuits.

Society ladies try out pig racing.

The challenge is to herd their pig

In the right direction.

Here the tourists can retreat from city life

In a picturesque village setting.

The reality of small-town life can be brutal.

All over the country, there are "sundown towns,"

Where white residents

Make it clear to black people

That they had better

Be gone by dark...

Or there will be violence.

By the 1930s, the great migration

Has carried a million and a half southern blacks

To northern cities.

[train whistle blows]

A growing black middle class

Also wants to escape from the city.

Segregation means they would be banned

From resorts like pinehurst.

But now they have somewhere new to go.

Developers establish the town of idlewild, michigan,

For african americans.

It has horseback riding...

Boating...

And hiking.

[applause]

The town holds its own beauty pageant.

♪

Maree weaver of ironton, ohio, wins miss idlewild 1927.

For a month or so in the summer,

Black city dwellers can enjoy the simple life.

Vacation towns offer an idealized version

Of small-town living.

The simplicity is charming for a couple of weeks,

But the long-term reality of many small towns

Is often one of deprivation.

Only 10% of rural towns have electricity.

Many still light with kerosene.

In 1917, as the country enters the first world war,

The federal government

Commissions a huge hydroelectric dam

To harness the tennessee river

And power newly created munitions factories.

18,000 workers answer the call.

♪

To house them, the government builds a town

In the farmland of muscle shoals.

They create a new school,

And a bustling neighborhood springs up.

But the war is over

Long before the dam is ready for operation in 1924.

While government and private utilities

Argue over who will control it,

The dam and its turbines sit idle.

Muscle shoals,

A town founded to house power plant workers,

Has neither power nor work.

Its population shrinks to 719 people.

[cheering]

In 1933,

President franklin roosevelt responds to their plight.

The whole town turns out to greet him.

Franklin roosevelt: I'm looking forward

With the greatest of pleasure to my day here,

And it is going to give me a great advantage

In putting muscle shoals back on the map.

[cheering]

Narrator: The president's new deal takes over the dam.

The tennessee valley authority

Brings electricity to muscle shoals

And other small towns across seven states.

In the 1930s,

Small-town culture and heroes like will rogers

Will capture the nation's attention.

May 20, 1929,

The busiest time of year for angels camp, california...

Also known as frogtown.

More than 60 years earlier, mark twain set his story

"the celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county" here.

So the townsfolk have decided to turn fiction into fact.

This is the second annual frog jumping jubilee.

Frog jockeys attempt to coax their frog

Into the longest leap.

In twain's story, the winner cheats,

But this competition is on the level.

The contest continues to this day.

[cheering]

Other small-town claims to fame are more widespread.

In 1934, soap box racing

Takes the borough of wilkinsburg, pennsylvania,

By storm.

Teenage boys race home-made wooden cars downhill.

Their engineless carts pick up speed

And hurtle toward the finish line.

Narrowly avoiding a crash, the red cart of brad west

Wins the race in under a minute.

Americans go wild for soap box racing,

And in 1936, akron, ohio, hosts 100,000 fans

For the finals of the national soap box derby.

A 1,175-foot-long track has been built,

Along with a grandstand and a press enclosure.

Top nbc announcers graham mcnamee and tom manning

Are there to broadcast the event.

Commentator: Here they go!

[cheering]

Look at those cars travel!

Narrator: An impromptu small-town event

That started with 19 boys

Has grown to host 115 racers from across the globe.

[cheering]

The country listens

As 14-year-old herbert muench from st. Louis

Beats harold hansen to win the title.

Commentator: Here's the finish!

What a race!

[cheering]

Narrator: Herbert wins a $2,000 college scholarship

And is crowned the all-american soap box derby champ.

Another slice of small-time small-town americana

Also goes national.

The appalachian music and square dancing

That bascom lunsford worked to revive

Is all the rage.

[calling]

In arthurdale, west virginia, first lady eleanor roosevelt

Do-si-does to the tune of harry rich and his family band.

♪

Singer: ♪ pick 'em up and lay them down... ♪

Narrator: In new york city,

The square dancing revival hits its peak

As 10,000 dancers descend on central park.

Caller: ♪ swing your corner lady ♪

Narrator: Legendary caller ed durlacher

Leads the dancers into the night.

♪ promenade your partner once around the town ♪

♪

Narrator: Small towns have hit the big time.

By the '30s, will rogers has become america's biggest star,

And his jokes have become catchphrases.

Narrator: Despite his fame,

Rogers maintains his folksy, everyman appeal.

In 1931,

Two years into the depression,

With its record unemployment, soup kitchens, and bread lines,

Rogers speaks his mind.

Rogers: The only problem that confronts this country today

Is that at least seven million people are out of work.

That's our only problem.

[applause]

Narrator: In 1932,

Franklin roosevelt, seeking the presidency,

Invites rogers to introduce him at a huge rally

At the hollywood bowl in los angeles.

Rogers: We must have

Some 80 or 90,000 people here tonight.

That's the most people that ever paid to see a politician.

[laughing and cheering]

Narrator: Rogers' endorsement

Helps fdr win over an electorate facing the hardest of times.

[applause]

But will rogers' time in the spotlight

Won't last much longer.

In August 1935,

He boards a plane built by his friend,

The pilot wiley post.

They're heading for alaska.

On August 15th,

15 miles southwest of point barrow,

The plane's engine fails.

Both men plummet to their deaths.

A nation mourns its beloved small-town hero.

In los angeles, 50,000 people pay their respects

In the biggest outpouring of national grief

Since the assassination of abraham lincoln.

♪

While a small-town hero did conquer the mainstream,

Other places remain on the fringes.

Roswell, new mexico, is a rodeo town

200 miles away from the nearest city.

By 1930, good land and the discovery of an aquifer

Have brought 11,000 people to live here.

Most are here for the ranching.

But one man, dr. Robert goddard, has come for the isolation.

His goal is to create self-propelled rockets.

The scientific community considers him a fantasist.

Newspapers dub him "the moon man."

In this secluded location,

Goddard can carry out his secret experiments

Away from the eyes of skeptics.

His wife esther records his work.

In 1939,

Goddard begins his final series of experiments in roswell.

He hopes to produce the first

Liquid-propelled high-altitude guided rockets.

He doesn't get the results he wants,

But the military are beginning to realize

That goddard's visionary theories could be valuable.

[explosion]

He will become known as the father of american rocketry.

In 1941, the navy hires him.

War is coming,

And a small-town hero will rally the troops.

America goes to war in late 1941.

Small-town heroes rally the nation...

None more effectively than jimmy stewart.

A hardware man's son,

Born in 1908 in indiana, pennsylvania,

Jimmy was set to take over the family business.

But college sends him in a different direction.

This rare footage shows him practicing the accordion

For a triangle club show at princeton university.

The acting bug bites.

Soon he makes it to hollywood,

Starring in features like "the philadelphia story,"

For which he earns a best acting oscar.

Typically humble, he keeps his speech short.

Stewart: It's a great thrill to me to receive this trophy

And especially to receive it from you, mr. Lunt.

Thank you very much.

Narrator: In 1940, as war looms,

Jimmy tries to enlist in the u.S. Army air corps.

He's rejected for being underweight.

Within months, he puts on nearly five pounds to scrape through.

He becomes the first hollywood star

To wear a uniform in world war ii,

And his service is no publicity stunt.

He wins the distinguished flying cross

For combat missions in France and germany

And reaches the rank of brigadier general,

The highest of any actor in military history.

The same down-to-earth qualities that made him a star

Make him the perfect face of the air force recruitment drive.

Stewart: Hello.

Gee, it looks like I'm back in the movies again, doesn't it?

Well, as a matter of fact, I'd like to do some talking.

Don't go away until I get this thing off.

Narrator: Like will rogers before him,

His "aw, shucks" amiability comes across well.

Stewart: Young men of america, your future's in the sky.

Your wings are waiting.

Narrator: He gets credit for inspiring 150,000 new recruits.

But the u.S. Military's segregation policy

Marginalizes black men.

Many in the air force feel that only white recruits

Are able to perform responsible roles.

That doesn't stop the students of tuskegee university, alabama.

They transform their campus into a pilot training facility.

Here they learn the theories of aviation and navigation

And practice in an early flight simulator.

Black students grab the opportunity with both hands,

Intent on protecting their country

And overcoming prejudice.

926 pilots graduate,

And the tuskegee airmen

Become the u.S. Military's first african-american aviators.

Unlike many black servicemen,

They get to engage in combat.

In early 1944,

The 332nd fighter group is sent to Italy.

They take part in savage dogfights,

Facing up to 300 german fighters.

Protecting 179 bombing missions,

The red tails lose only 27 bombers to enemy fire,

Half as many as the average squadron,

Thanks to brave pilots like captain elwood driver.

Elwood driver: Yesterday I fulfilled

One of my ambitions as a combat pilot.

I got one airplane.

As they came over and completed the dive-bomb run,

I saw three pass underneath my wing.

The fourth one was the unfortunate one.

♪

Narrator: The success

Of the tuskegee airmen's small-town training corps

Paves the way for military desegregation.

Peace comes in 1945,

But the fear of new threats

Looms large in the american consciousness.

In 1947, the small town of roswell

Becomes the center of fevered paranoia.

That July, people report seeing a flying saucer

Crash in the desert nearby.

Hysteria is spreading across the country,

And americans report hundreds of ufo sightings.

Three years later, in 1950,

In louisville, kentucky,

A tv cameraman films what appears to be a ufo.

Trying to calm the public,

The director of air force intelligence,

General john samford,

Makes a statement from the pentagon.

John samford: We can say that the recent sightings

Are in no way connected

With any secret development

By any department of the united states.

Narrator: The denial only adds fuel to the fire,

And many suspect a military cover-up.

They're right.

In 1994,

An internal investigation reveals the roswell sighting

Was the result of project mogul.

The top-secret project used high-altitude balloons

To monitor soviet atomic bomb tests.

When one crashed in 1947,

The military covered it up

To hide the true purpose of the balloons.

But the conspiracy refuses to die,

And over time, this small town in new mexico

Becomes the ufo capital of the world.

It won't be the only small town

To find a new future in postwar america

And put itself on the world map.

By the 1950s, nearly two-thirds of americans live in cities.

Many are nostalgic

For the small towns they've left behind.

♪

The educational film "our community"

Portrays millwood, connecticut, as a picture-perfect town.

Announcer: This is the story of one day in millwood,

Just any day.

The story begins at daybreak.

All is quiet in the anderson home,

Everybody is asleep.

Narrator: The film is distributed in schools

By encyclopedia britannica

To encourage students to appreciate the contribution

Of the members of their local community.

The folk of millwood perform the neighborly roles

Of milkman, baker, and postman...

Working in harmony to create a wholesome town.

Schoolchildren are encouraged

To aspire to the example set by the town of millwood.

In 1951,

The epitome of the small-town hero

Making it big in the city

Is mickey mantle...

An oklahoma kid whose skills with the bat

Transform his dreams into reality.

[bat cracks, crowd cheers]

His raw talent

Propels him from the obscurity of commerce, oklahoma,

To new york city,

Where he replaces star yankee outfielder joe dimaggio.

Dropped into the major league circus,

His simple plain-speaking ways make him a cult hero.

Mickey mantle: I'm sure not going to be disappointed.

If I end up the season with about 55 home runs,

I'd be very happy.

Narrator: He ends up winning seven world series

And is selected to play in 16 all-star games.

[cheering]

Far away from the glitz and glamour

Of major league baseball,

Many small towns, like hayters gap, virginia,

Are suffering.

In 1965, some families here struggle to survive

On less than $100 a month.

The coal mines and family farms that the town was built on

Are outdated and no longer profitable.

Lack of resources and expertise

Means the town cannot adapt to the changing demands

Of the modern manufacturing and service industries.

The people are left stranded, without opportunity.

Man: I just do labor work

And got no education.

Just labor work's all I have to hunt for.

Narrator: Across the country,

One-third of all rural families, 16 million people,

Are trapped in poverty.

When lyndon johnson comes to power in 1964,

He responds to the crisis

In his first state of the union address.

Lyndon johnson: And this administration today

Here and now

Declares unconditional war on poverty in america.

Narrator: One billion dollars of federal funds

Is committed to new training programs.

Local community representatives

Are appointed to reach out to america's underprivileged,

Encouraging them to learn how to read, write,

And develop modern technical skills.

8 billion dollars is provided to improve housing for the poor.

President johnson's mission is to stamp out poverty.

He urges congress to "pursue it wherever it exists,

In city slums and small towns."

The president also pledges his support for civil rights.

In March 1965, the students from tuskegee join the movement.

They demonstrate for voting rights

In montgomery, alabama.

Police confront protestors and try to move them on.

Practicing non-violent non-cooperation,

They drop to the floor.

Officers drag them away.

Demonstrations continue for 19 days.

Ten months later,

An attack on tuskegee student sammy younge, jr.,

A former u.S. Naval serviceman,

Brings the demand for black rights into sharp focus.

On January 3, 1966, at a standard oil gas station,

He objects when he believes an attendant

Sends him to a "colored only" bathroom.

After a confrontation,

The attendant shoots him dead in this alleyway.

[gunshot]

Sammy younge, jr.

Is the first black college student

To be killed for his actions in the civil rights movement.

The next day, shown here in never-before-seen footage,

2,000 students March outside the gas station in tuskegee

To protest his murder.

11 months later, an all-white jury

Finds the killer, marvin segrest, not guilty.

Younge's death empowers black political participation

In tuskegee and beyond.

By 1970, the majority of

Local government office holders

In black alabama counties

Are african american.

A decade of the civil rights movement

Has ended segregation

And changed the mindset of the black population forever.

♪

In the small town of muscle shoals,

Racial integration is bringing great reward.

♪

30 years after roosevelt brought the town electricity,

It has grown to a population of nearly 7,000 people.

♪

Here in 1962,

Music producer rick hall opens fame studios.

♪

He forms a house band

In which black and white musicians play together

To back visiting artists.

♪

Rick hall: I think, let's do it the other way and try it.

Man: One, two... One, two, three, four.

♪

Hall: We feel the people here love each other.

Willie hightower: ♪ if I could be you ♪

♪ and you could be me ♪

♪ for just one hour ♪

♪ oh, yeah ♪

Narrator: In 1970,

Willie hightower records the racial tolerance anthem

"walk a mile in my shoes" here.

Hightower: ♪ oh, yeah ♪

Narrator: The simple life and small-town charm

Of the studio's muscle shoals home

Persuades songwriters like sonny limbo

To turn their back on the big city.

Sonny limbo: I just like it here much better.

The attitude of the people in new york city,

Particularly in the music business,

It's a little too fast for me.

Well, it's a dog-eat-dog world up there.

Narrator: The fame name

Draws artists like aretha franklin,

Wilson pickett and duane allman,

And otis redding.

Hightower: ♪ oh, yeah ♪

♪ if I could see you in my eye ♪

♪ instead of your ego ♪

♪ oh, yeah ♪

Narrator: The house band, with rick hall at the helm,

Craft the famously deep, soulful, swampy

Muscle shoals sound

And produce 75 gold and platinum hits.

Hightower: ♪ walk a mile in my shoes ♪

♪

Narrator: Muscle shoals' small-town enterprise

Becomes an international success.

Hightower: ♪ before you abuse ♪

♪ criticize and accuse ♪

♪ just walk a mile in my shoes ♪

♪

Narrator: At the turn of the 20th century,

Two-thirds of americans lived in small towns.

By the 1960s, only one-third remains.

In post-industrial america,

Small towns have faced many challenges.

Some have survived.

Some have been left behind.

But the wholesome ideal of small-town life,

Where a friend is only a short stroll away,

Continues to burn brightly in the minds of americans.