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The Student Government Association at The University of Alabama has been a launching pad for many prominent Alabama politicians. But most owed their success to a secret coalition of All-White fraternities and sororities. It's official name is Theta Nu Epsilon whose Greek letters spell ONE, but it is commonly referred to simply as "The Machine." Progressive New Deal Sen. Lister Hill is thought to be "The Father of the Machine." Richard Shelby, Don Siegelman, George Wallace, and Bill Baxley all ran for SGA positions while at The University of Alabama. UA's first Black SGA president was one of the few ever to defeat the machine. Cleo Thomas, now a retired member of the university's board of trustees, is an Anniston attorney.

This award-winning film airs nationally on PBS. It documents the lives of a group of African-American women from Alabama's Black Belt region, who see their lives radically changed as their artwork is suddenly recognized and embraced by the elite American museum world.

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the United States gulf coast, which left southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in ruins and 80% of New Orleans underwater. With all the chaos that surrounded the relief efforts, one federal agency shined brighter than any other, the United States Coast Guard. With all the odds against them the Coast Guard was able to execute one of the largest search and rescue operations in history. Having lost vital communication and operational support systems to the storm, the Coast Guard was still able to immediately carry out their duties. Only a few short hours after the hurricane's initial landfall Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans and Aviation Training Center, Mobile began dispatching aircraft across the region and as the scope of the disaster became clear Coast Guard units from across the nation began sending aircrafts and crews for support. Over 5,600 Coast Guard personnel participated in the relief efforts, including reservists, auxiliary, and civilians. The United States Coast Guard performed one of the greatest search and rescue operations in history, saving the lives of over 33,500 people. These brave men and women redefined what it meant to be a hero, being the only ray of hope for thousands.

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was raised in the crucible of segregated Birmingham but he was forged by its attempt to kill him. When the KKK planted a bomb underneath his bed and he emerged unharmed, he was sure he was saved by God to lead a Movement. His work not only ended legal segregation but led directly to the Civil and Voting Rights Acts - and inspired freedom movements around the world.

An experimental community intended to address the ills of income disparity during the Gilded Age, Fairhope, Alabama was founded by mid-westerners in 1894 on the shores of Mobile Bay. It attracted artists, eccentrics, and reformers including Marietta Johnson, who along with Maria Montessori, was a pioneer of non-traditional education. The community's founding organization and the school are both still there. But as the town has evolved into a nationally known resort and retirement community, it has struggled to reconcile its present with its past.

Join Jermaine, Kammy and Marcia as they learn about the history and policies behind the United States' unique form of government with the help of Martha Roby, U.S. Representative from Alabama's second congressional district.

As the Editor of The Crimson-White, the student newspaper at the University of Alabama, GOULD BEECH was inspired by FDR and The New Deal. He was joined by his wife and colleague, MARY FOSTER, and together the Beeches joined in a lifelong battle against barriers of class and race that was always out of step with most of their fellow Alabamians. They published a folksy populist newspaper for farmers, managed Gov. Jim Folsom's first campaign, and exiled to Texas, worked for the election of African American Rep. Barbara Jordan.

The history of an Alabama fishing village and its perseverance through a century of adversity as seen through the stories of people of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

DIY Science Time investigates the world through experiments, demonstrations, and activities. Viewers are invited to join along with host Mister C and his science crew to complete fun DIY science experiments using household materials.

Luke, a high school student, has become interested in learning about the Holocaust after watching historical black and white footage. He partners with Alabama Public Television to film an interview with Max Steinmetz, a Holocaust survivor, with hopes of going beyond the history books. This three-part series includes Max's story about being a prisoner and a slave laborer, and finally being liberated.

Three young kids venture outside their 2-D animated world to learn about early Alabama history for their upcoming school report. Aided by their hyper-intelligent robotic friend Roto and a magical portal, they visit some of Alabama's historic sites to learn about Native American societies, early settlers, and the beginning of Alabama's statehood. With the help of local archaeologists and historians they just might make it back home in time to get to school and turn in their report. Archaeology Adventures will focus on Alabama pre-history and history through the lens of archaeology. Students will observe archaeologists on excavations, interview historians and visit historic sites-such as the Moundville, Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson, Old Mobile and Old Cahawba archaeological sites-as they learn about Native American societies, early settlers, and early Alabama statehood.

From Toyko to Tuscaloosa. A Japanese CFO moves his family of four to Alabama when JVC opens a new plant there. The film follows the Itabachi family to work, school, and social events to see how the family copes, how the two cultures adjust to one another, and what they find in common.

"The Forgotten Creeks" recalls the history of Alabama's Creek Indians from Spanish contact in the 1500s to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to the Poarch Creek Band's modern-day success story.

JUANA HERNANDEZ earned a college scholarship five years after coming to the U.S. from Mexico speaking no English. WALTER VENTURA escaped war in El Salvadore. Now he's a popular Collinsville High football star and the leading tackler in Dekalb County. MARINA PADILLA's fiance, a Salvadoran army captain was assassinated two weeks before their wedding. She has built a new life here and owns her own travel agency. A Mexican army veteran, SALOMON MORALES could not support his family in Mexico and came to the U.S. for a better life. The small Alabama crossroads village of Collinsville adjusts to the rapid Hispanic immigration that has brought both stress and economic revitalization. Immigrants tell their own stories - the opportunities, the challenges and the friendships they've formed with longtime residents.

They talk about mutual support, self determination and the satisfaction of a good smack well-delivered. Roller Derby has been reborn as a women's amateur sport in 200 cities. The participants are well educated middle class professionals for whom the activity is an outlet for physical expression and a source of refuge and community. And so it is for this Birmingham team known as The Tragic City Rollers.

It's a David and Goliath story. In a bigger-is-better era of school consolidation, one tiny department at The University of Alabama, The Program for Rural Service and Research, champions the educational and social benefits of small public schools. "These are good schools. They are good environments that promote academic achievement and personal well-being and community responsibility," says Robin Lambert the Program Coordinator. "We need places like these small rural schools. You can see the caring of the principal and the caring of the teachers and how it applies to kids who don't have a lot of chance, and you take that school away from them and they have virtually none, " adds Jack Shelton, the Director of the Center. Their experience and research bolstered by wide ranging studies from highly credible sources suggests that these benefits apply to many of the problems associated with modern education on the national level.

Auburn University historian DR.WAYNE FLYNT is also an ordained minister. He draws from both those roles in his quest to take on a third, particularly daunting one in Alabama. The role of prophet in his own land.

FBI: Inside the Crime Lab will offer middle school children a behind-the-scenes look at the greatest crime laboratory in the world-the FBI's Crime Laboratory. The webcast will explore the methods used by professionals at the lab to solve crimes. It will also explore the academic preparation and work experience in STEM that led these professionals to FBI careers, with the intent of encouraging students to focus on STEM in their studies and to seek out STEM careers.

TIME magazine called it "one of the best newspapers in America." It has served as a kind of farm team for rising young journalists who go on to the big leagues at major U.S. dailies. The Anniston Star and the Ayers family, its owners, have deep roots in this Alabama city founded by northern industrialists after the Civil War. The colorful current publisher, Brandt Ayers has spent his career as a voice for what is often called "The New South."

A lifetime of effort promoting economic power and self-sufficiency for low-income southerners was a calling for EARNEST JOHNSON. Enraged by the economic exploitation of blacks in 1950's Alabama, he applied Civil Rights Movement experience to the development of small independent credit unions. He continues his fight in an era when subprime and often predatory finance has become a mainstream industry.

The the intertwining stories of businessman, sportsman and philanthropist John B. Lagarde and the Anniston Museum of Natural History to which he contributed so much.