Voices of the civil rights movement

As we mark Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, Martha Teichner talks with some of those who were engaged from the very beginning of the civil rights movement: Arthenia Joyner, who was a Black high school student who took part in a sit-in at a Whites-only lunch counter in Tampa, Fla.; Jawana Jackson, who as a child participated with her mother in the Selma-to-Montgomery march in the wake of "Bloody Sunday"; and attorney Fred Gray, who won four civil rights cases before the Supreme Court by the age of 35.

• Jan 18
• 08:31

America at 250 – and a reckoning for President Trump

In this landmark year for American democracy, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, Washington Post columnist George F. Will, and Atlantic staff writer Vivian Salama talk about what the second year of Trump's presidency may mean for America's future.

• Jan 18

Kids share what makes America beautiful

As America celebrates 250 years this year, sixth graders at a Virginia middle school shared with CBS News what they believe makes the U.S. beautiful.

• Jan 15
• 04:27

The surprising history of the Monroe Doctrine

In 1823, President James Monroe called for European powers to stay out of the Americas – a stance that for generations led to U.S. military interventions across the Western Hemisphere, including President Trump's incursion into Venezuela.

• Jan 11

These United States: Raising the flag

For decades, John Monsky's passion has been collecting American flags – from those that accompanied soldiers during the Civil War and on the beaches of France on D-Day, to ones that landed on the Moon. He tells Mo Rocca that the flags in his collection have been both witnesses to and participants in history.

• Nov 9, 2025
• 05:16

Ken Burns on America's origin story: "The most important event since the birth of Christ"

The documentary filmmaker, long a chronicler of the American experience, talks about his latest film for PBS, "The American Revolution," and why the end of the Revolutionary War did not mean the end of our nation's revolution.

• Nov 2, 2025

Ken Burns on America's continuing revolution

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has long been a chronicler of the American experience. He talks with John Dickerson about his latest film for PBS, "The American Revolution"; the importance of studying history; and why the end of the Revolutionary War did not mean the end of our nation's revolution.

• Nov 2, 2025
• 07:42

These United States: The White House

Since our second president, John Adams, inhabited the White House, it has been burned by British troops, reconstructed, expanded, and gut-renovated. Mo Rocca looks at the history of a cherished American landmark, which this past week was partly demolished by the White House's current occupant, President Trump, who is building a huge, privately-funded ballroom.

• Oct 26, 2025
• 03:28

A history of America's Constitution

The checks-and-balances of our government have been increasingly tested in ways our founding fathers never anticipated, yet the Constitution remains, in the words of one expert, "absolutely eternal and timeless."

• Oct 20, 2025

Celebrating America's spirit of innovation

David Pogue looks at our nation's tradition of pioneering inventors, from Thomas Edison's R&D facility in Menlo Park, N.J., to today's entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to "Shark Tank."

• Oct 12, 2025

These United States: Bright ideas

David Pogue looks at the pioneering spirit of innovation that Thomas Edison fostered at his R&D facility in Menlo Park, N.J., where his team helped create the light bulb and the phonograph. He also talks with Google's Steven Johnson and the panel of "Shark Tank" about today's entrepreneurs and whether an inventor's ability to persevere after failure Is a uniquely American trait.

• Oct 12, 2025
• 07:14

Meet the Southwest Philly woman named 5,000th "Phambassador"

Philly is recruiting volunteers to help with visitors as the city prepares to celebrate America's 250th birthday. Meet the native who signed up.

• Oct 2, 2025

These United States: Brown v. Board of Education

In December 1953, Thurgood Marshall, an attorney who headed the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that racial segregation in America was an attempt to keep the formerly enslaved in "as near that stage as is possible." Bill Whitaker reports on how a long-standing legal doctrine was ended.

• Sep 21, 2025
• 02:53

These United States: A history of the Constitution

Over the past several decades, the checks-and-balances of our government have been increasingly tested in ways our founding fathers never anticipated. Tony Dokoupil talks with Jill Lepore, author of "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution," and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, about our nation's bedrock document, which Rosen calls "absolutely eternal and timeless."

• Sep 14, 2025
• 07:50

These United States: Golden Gate Bridge

Built during the Great Depression, California's Golden Gate Bridge is for the West Coast what the Statue of Liberty is for the East: A lofty symbol of freedom, possibility and hope, constructed by workers who toiled at terrifying heights. Lee Cowan reports.

• Sep 7, 2025
• 02:13

These United States: The rise of union power

In the 1930s, strikes by workers at the "Big 3" automakers led to recognition of the United Auto Workers union – and to a general strengthening of labor rights that reshaped America. Jane Pauley reports.

• Aug 31, 2025
• 02:38

These United States: America's first cash crop

Tobacco had been cultivated and smoked by Native Americans for centuries before Christopher Columbus introduced it to Europe. Jane Pauley reports on how growing tobacco became America's first cash crop – and ingrained in the nation's culture for generations.

• Aug 17, 2025
• 02:32

These United States: Woody Guthrie's music of America

Folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie crafted a song we all know, that is about all of us: "This Land Is Your Land." Correspondent Lee Cowan looks at the legacy of Guthrie's music, and his anthem about the promise of a land truly made for everyone.

• Aug 10, 2025
• 08:21

These United States: Coney Island

When the Switchback Railway debuted at New York's Coney Island in 1884, it signaled the arrival of the amusement park. Correspondent Tracy Smith looks at the origin and evolution of an American institution.

• Jul 27, 2025
• 02:14

These United States: Yellowstone National Park

Correspondent Conor Knighton reflects on the American treasure whose preservation as our first national park inspired similar conservation efforts around the globe.

• Jul 20, 2025
• 02:01

How Lady Liberty became a beacon for immigrants

The Statue of Liberty, France's gift to the United States, was originally viewed as a tribute to the end of slavery. But poet Emma Lazarus reimagined Lady Liberty as a "mother of exiles," welcoming immigrants to the shores of America. Correspondent Mo Rocca looks at how the opening of Ellis Island, the end of restrictive immigration quotas, and John F. Kennedy's evocation of the United States as "a nation of immigrants" transformed our country, in this entry in the "Sunday Morning" series "These United States."

• Jul 6, 2025
• 08:45

How the U.S. Army was born

On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to replace the part-time militias that were facing off against British forces with a full-time army. After 1,300 battles and skirmishes, the Army, led by Gen. George Washington, defeated the British Empire, winning our independence. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin looks at the creation of America's unified military, and visits a National Museum of the United States Army exhibit honoring the sacrifices of our nation's revolutionary heroes.

• Jun 15, 2025
• 08:23