Learn more about The American Revolution documentary & Ken Burns
Join us for a screening of The American Revolution alongside a conversation with filmmakers Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein and Harvard History faculty Vincent Brown, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Philip Deloria on March 25, 2026 from 11:30-1PM at Radcliffe Institute, Knafel Center. Moderated by Professor Bruce Mann, Harvard Law School.
Free and open to the public. To attend in person, each individual will need to register in advance.
Read about Ken Burns
Read about Sarah Botstein
Featuring Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein & Harvard History Faculty Members Vince Brown, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Philip Deloria
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war. It impacted millions – from Canada to the Caribbean and beyond. Few escaped its violence.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION examines how America’s founding turned the world upside-down.
Thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired centuries of democratic movements around the globe.
An expansive look at the virtues and contradictions of the war and the birth of the United States of America, the film follows dozens of figures from a wide variety of backgrounds. Through their individual stories, viewers experience the war through the memories of the men and women who experienced it: the rank-and-file Continental soldiers and American militiamen (some of them teenagers), Patriot political and military leaders, British Army officers, American Loyalists, Native soldiers and civilians, enslaved and free African Americans, German soldiers in the British service, French and Spanish allies, and various civilians living in North America, Loyalist as well as Patriot, including many made refugees by the war.
The Revolution began a movement for people around the world to imagine new and better futures for themselves, their nations, and for humanity. It declared American independence with promises that we continue to strive for. The American Revolution opened the door to advance civil liberties and human rights, and it asked questions that we are still trying to answer today.