Robert E. Lee

FAIN: TR-50033-09

WGBH Educational Foundation (Boston, MA 02135-2016)
Mark Samels (Project Director: August 2008 to October 2017)

Production of a two-hour television program with accompanying website for the American Experience that examines the life of Robert E. Lee.

This is a request to the National Endowment for the Humanities for funds to support the production of Robert E. Lee, a two-hour special presentation of American Experience, for national broadcast on PBS. It examines the life and reputation of the Confederacy's pre-eminent general, whose military successes made him the scourge of the Union and the hero of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and who was elevated to almost godlike status by his admirers after his death. It examines a number of dimensions of an extraordinary life and an enigmatic personality, looking at Lee as a son; as a Virginian and a Southerner; as a Christian; as a soldier; as a symbol; and most fundamentally, as a man. Spanning the 19th century, from Lee's birth to his apotheosis, it tells the story of how Lee rose from a genteel background shadowed by paternal disgrace to become the unchallenged hero of the white Southern cause.

Associated Products

Robert E. Lee (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Robert E. Lee
Writer: Mark Zwonitzer
Producer: Mark Zwonitzer
Abstract: Nearly a century and a half after his death, Robert E. Lee, the leading Confederate general of the American Civil War, remains a source of fascination and, for some, veneration. This AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film examines the life and reputation of the general, whose military successes made him the scourge of the Union and the hero of the Confederacy, and who was elevated to almost god-like status by his admirers after his death.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lee/
Primary URL Description: Companion Website
Access Model: Open Access
Format: DVD
Format: Web

---