One of the new programs that will comprise the winter/spring season ahead for PBS, is a 3-part, 3-hour American Experience film titled The Abolitionists. Scheduled to air starting tomorrow, Tuesday, January 8th, and Tuesdays thereafter (the 15th, and 22nd), from9pm-10pm, on each night, the film (which is a combo scripted/acted and documentary sequences) will bring to life the epic struggles of the men and women who fought to end slavery, intertwining the stories of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Brown. Fighting body and soul, they led the most important civil rights crusade in American history. What began as a pacifist movement became a fiery and furious struggle that forever changed the nation. Black and white, Northerners and Southerners, poor and wealthy, these passionate anti-slavery activists tore the nation apart in order to form a more perfect union. Something to watch now that Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln are behind us, for the most part. By the way, playing Frederick Douglass in the scripted scenes is Richard Brooks – a face I haven’t seen in a little while.

PBS has released chapter one of the series (the first 10 minutes), ahead of tomorrow night’s debut of the first hour in the series; it’s embedded below, so check it out. Underneath, you’ll find full descriptions of all 3 parts of the film series:

Check this video out – The Abolitionists, Chapter 1 http://video.pbs.org/video/2321796209