Episodes
Episode 1:
Freedom (Until 1700)
Lenape, the “Original People” living at liberty in the forests and inlets of the mid-Atlantic coast, have been decimated by European encroachment and disease for more than half a century. A new group of colonizers led by Quaker visionary William Penn comes in pursuit of freedom. They promise coexistence. But in a colony already embracing slavery, can these ideals hold?
Episode 2:
Land (1700 to 1763)
Religious freedom draws waves of immigrants to Philadelphia’s port, but they can’t be settled in Pennsylvania unless the Penn family can sell them land—territory that has not yet been acquired from Lenape sachems at treaty. As pressure mounts along the colony’s debt, will Penn’s sons betray his vision?
Episode 3:
Independence (1763-1790)
Armed frontiersmen land in Philadelphia with grievances for the government. Pacifist Quakers take up guns to defend their city. Artisans chafe against British taxes. Everyone comes to Philadelphia to have their voices heard. The largest, most diverse city in British North America, will Philadelphia become the seat of empire? Or a runway for revolution?
Episode 4:
Common Ground (1790-1838)
Disease epidemic sweeps through the U.S. capital and so do bitter accusations against the Black nurses and undertakers on the front lines. Richard Allen, born enslaved, rises to challenge racial injustice. Nicolas Biddle, a child prodigy, implements a plan for national economic growth. His friend, Roberts Vaux, pushes for public schooling for all children. But a multi-racial group of women organizing to end slavery invites a bitter backlash. Is there hope for common ground?
Episode 5:
America (1838-1871)
Irish Catholic immigrants escaping bitter poverty and subjugation jam into new neighborhoods on the city’s edge. Conflict emerges in a new, Philadelphia-led American institution created to save the republic: the public school. As churches burn, slavecatchers patrol Philadelphia’s streets, and capitalists pour everything into a maturing technology, the railroad. What version of America will emerge from civil war?
Episode 6:
Wealth (1871-1917)
The first American World’s Fair offers a chance for women to proclaim their rights even as it overwhelms with the technological innovation that drives Philadelphia’s economy. In the pursuit of wealth above all, manufacturing becomes the city’s pride, but also its torment, as children are forced into labor and racism leaves whole communities out.
Episode 7:
Renewal (1917-1962)
The industrial colossus turns American into an urban nation as its most industrial city finally faces up to the consequences with a plan to for renewal. An immigrant Jew soars to the heights of the roaring 20s and, losing nearly everything, tries to change the system he feels is holding the nation back. The Depression exposes Philadelphia’s corruption and invites yet another era of visionary reform as Edmund Bacon becomes the face of Urban Renewal.
Episode 8:
Revolution (1962-1968)
Two West Virginia transplants from the Great Migration attack the racial segregation and subjugation at the heart of American urban life. Rumors lead to an uprising of anger and violence in North Philadelphia, what will be called the first urban “riot” of the Civil Rights era. Students demand African history and the consequences of slavery get taught in their high schools and men and women stage the first protests for gay rights as a backlash builds against revolution.
Episode 9:
A Way Out (1968-1990)
One man rises as a political force in the face of rapid deindustrialization, rising crime, and heightened protest. Frank Rizzo, the police commissioner, speaks directly to the fears and beliefs of white working class citizens. But a radical group aims its message at the police, escalating tensions. Philadelphians vote to move on from an era of disunity and polarization, but can the good feelings hold?
Episode 10:
Happiness (1990-2025)
Philadelphia enters the 1990s near bankrupt, having lost half a million residents since 1950. Once the nation’s largest city, it’s now the fourth and then the fifth as many proclaim the death of the American city. But immigrants from every part of the globe begin to repopulate neighborhoods, keying an urban resurgence, and hard-won financial stability gives America’s birthplace something new: the will and capacity to pursue civic happiness.
