What would surprise America's founders

Filmmaker Ken Burns, who's helped viewers understand American history, shared what he thinks would surprise the nation's founders 250 years after the Declaration of Independence.

• 21H ago
• 01:46

How Washington's crossing of the Delaware presaged a changing world

On the evening of Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington surprised the King's forces by leading the Continental Army in a surprise crossing of a near-frozen Delaware River - a watershed military maneuver that dramatized a changing America, and a changing climate.

• Feb 15

Cuban refugees remember journey to U.S.

In the series "USA to Z," "CBS Mornings" spoke to Cuban refugees who came to the U.S. to escape Fidel Castro's regime for a chance at freedom. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Miami's Freedom Tower welcomed nearly half a million Cuban refugees. Cristian Benavides explores the tower's enduring legacy.

• Feb 12
• 03:41

Community preserves history and reclaims once segregated bowling alley

The owner of a bowling alley in a small South Carolina city refused to integrate in the 1960s. It spurred peaceful protests until tensions erupted into what's now known as the "Orangeburg Massacre."

• Feb 5

Road to equality in the U.S.

In the series "USA to Z," "CBS Mornings" co-host Nate Burleson looks at equality in America. A once segregated bowling alley in a small South Carolina city became the site of peaceful protests in the 1960s until tensions erupted into what's now known as the Orangeburg massacre. Today, the site is being reclaimed and redefined.

• Feb 5
• 05:48

A Smithsonian artifact representing America

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, in charge of millions of artifacts, was asked which museum object was his favorite representation of America. His answer? Joseph Trammell's Freedom Papers.

• Feb 1
• 01:36

How the gramophone changed music

While Thomas Edison's cylinders were the first to play recorded sound, they were impractical – leading Emile Berliner to come up with a better way to play music: The gramophone, invented in 1887, which played flat discs. Jane Pauley reports.

• Feb 1
• 02:52

Behind Americans' love for diners

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate 250 years, the "CBS Mornings" series "USA to Z" explores Americans' love for diners. The casual restaurant was invented back in the 1800s. Kelly O'Grady reports.

• Jan 29
• 04:26

How the Constitution inspires future leaders

The "CBS Mornings" series "USA to Z," which brings stories from across the U.S. to celebrate 250 years of America, is focusing on "C" for Constitution. While just over half of Americans say "U.S. democracy is performing poorly or very poorly," Jan Crawford went inside the National Archives - home of the Constitution - and a classroom to see how future generations embrace what it stands for.

• Jan 22
• 03:57

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

Does the American dream still exist?

This year, America celebrates its 250th birthday - but does the American dream still exist? While some told CBS News they believe they're currently living it, more Americans find it less achievable compared to decades ago, research finds. CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil reports.

• Jan 8
• 04:57

Suni Williams on the view of U.S. from orbit

Astronaut Suni Williams says when she looked at America while in orbit, she thought of the innovation behind the U.S. space program. She wonders "where we as a country will be" in the next 250 years. Contains video courtesy Sen.com

• Jan 4
• 01:46

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

Show More