Smithsonian Series Presents U.S. History in Color

This summer Smithsonian Channel is due to debut America in Color, a new series that will show iconic moments from 20th-century American history in color for the first time.

America in Color uses artistry and cutting-edge technology to transform black-and-white films and photographs from the 1920s to the 1960s. Footage will include illegal drinking in the 1920s, home movies of FDR during the Great Depression, scenes of the Pearl Harbor attack, Elvis Presley’s TV debut on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Nixon-Kennedy debate. The five-parter, narrated by Liev Schreiber, premieres on July 2 at 8 p.m.

America in Color is produced by Arrow Media and Smithsonian Networks. Nick Metcalfe serves as executive producer, Tom Brisley is creative director and Lucie Ridout is series producer. John Cavanagh, Charles Poe and David Royle are executive producers for Smithsonian Channel.

“History was not lived in black and white, it was lived in color,” said Royle, the executive VP of programming and production at Smithsonian Channel. “America in Color is a groundbreaking series that transforms a past that seemed gray and distant into a cinematic experience. We believe it is the most ambitious colorizing of factual images ever undertaken on American television, and it enables us to see America in a new light—through which iconic moments in 20th-century history become more compelling and tangible than ever.”