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The War Between the States rages. In 1863, the Confederate Army seems poised for victory. Following the bloody battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. Former slaves join the Union army in droves. With superior transportation (railroads), communication (telegraph lines), and battlefield technology, the Union prevails and America is on track to become a global superpower.

The drama of America's unstoppable growth continues with wagon trains and cattle barons headed westward, confronting Native American Indians as well as the interests of the Spanish and French. Resulting increases in Westward migration and the discovery of gold and other natural resources are covered in this program, along with the rise of the steamboat and a new era of commerce and industry.

Born the son of a white father he never knew and a slave mother, Frederick Douglass learned to read and write while growing up on a plantation in Maryland. After escaping slavery in 1838, he turned his unique talents as a writer and orator toward the fight for emancipation. Bio4Kids explores Douglass' many activities, including editing an abolitionist newspaper, recruiting Negro regiments during the war, or conferring with President Abraham Lincoln....

This program from the series Rockets! is the story of the Space Race. This episode focuses on the quest to build gigantic rockets that would power men to the moon. The Russian aerospace engineer Sergei Korolev took the early lead, building the first rockets that took satellites into space and men into orbit. President Kennedy found it unthinkable that America would fall behind and committed the nation to reaching the moon first.

James Meredith becomes the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi. This episode of Year by Year: 1962 also looks at John Glenn's orbiting of the earth.

1941 bought the bombing of Pearl Harbor and America's entrance into World War II. This episode of Year by Year also examines baseball during the war.

John Glenn's 1957 Project Bullet completes the first supersoic transcontinental flight from California to New York, breaking a speed record, as covered in this episode of Year by Year.