The American Dream | American History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Duration: 5'16''

Synopsis

Lucy highlights the problems with post-war suburbs like Levittown which pedalled the American Dream but was racially prejudiced towards black families.

Further Information

More clips from American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

03: Supremacy | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

03: Supremacy | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 59'05''

Lucy Worsley reveals the myths and deceptions in the story of America following the United States' emergenc...

Eisenhower and bombs | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Eisenhower and bombs | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 6'57''

Lucy explains how the Soviet threat was talked up, resulting in the Titan 2 missile which could trav...

McCarthyism | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

McCarthyism | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 4'27''

Lucy details the affect of McCarthyism, where liberal-leaning people were singled out and tried as ''communis...

MLK and legacy | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

MLK and legacy | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 6'12''

Lucy explores Martin Luther King's gender politics and how he kept up with the ideal of the ''male politic...

The Cold War | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

The Cold War | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 6'44''

Lucy explains the post-war tensions between the US and Russia and the reasons why atomic bomb testing became...

The Cuban Missile Crisis | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

The Cuban Missile Crisis | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 5'58''

Lucy unpicks Kennedy's lauded efforts in the Cuban Missile Crisis and considers whether his brav...

Truman and Hiroshima | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Truman and Hiroshima | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 3'56''

Lucy tells the story of a unextraordinary President who made one of the most historic decisions in t...

More resources about Empire, Slavery and Race

01: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

01: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

BBC Two | 2020 | 58'04''

Samuel L Jackson and a team of journalists and divers explore 400 years of slavery. What happened to the 12 million ensl...

Black Peoples of the Americas: 01: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

Black Peoples of the Americas: 01: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'00''

The development of the triangular trade is described from its ancient origins, through the Europea...

Black Peoples of the Americas: 03: Resistance, Rebllion and Abolition | History File

Black Peoples of the Americas: 03: Resistance, Rebllion and Abolition | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'10''

An overview of the methods used by the abolitionists, such as the famous poster of the s...

01: Profit and Loss | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

01: Profit and Loss | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

BBC Two | 2015 | 59'21''

In 1834 Britain abolished slavery, a defining and celebrated moment in our national history. What has been largely for...

02: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

02: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

BBC Two | 2020 | 56'47''

Samuel L Jackson examines how, for over 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade became the greatest wealth-generating ...

Mahatma Gandhi | Icons

Mahatma Gandhi | Icons

BBC Two | 2019 | 13'36''

Mahatma Gandhi employed non violent tactics of passive resistance in the face of the largest empire the world had ever known, he not only helped to se...

03: Resistance | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

03: Resistance | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson

BBC Two | 2020 | 57'35''

Samuel L Jackson and the team travel through the US to tell the stories of those who resisted slavery, often making the dange...

Episode 1 | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

Episode 1 | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company

BBC Two | 2014 | 58'57''

Dan Snow travels through India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionised British lifestyles and laid the fo...

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'35''

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

Episode 1 | Slavery: Scotland's Hidden Shame

Episode 1 | Slavery: Scotland's Hidden Shame

BBC Two Scotland | 2018 | 58'55''

David Hayman presents the first of a two-part documentary exploring Scotland's role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Black Peoples of the Americas: 02: Everyday Life on a Plantation Island | History File

Black Peoples of the Americas: 02: Everyday Life on a Plantation Island | History File

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'08''

The schools history series reconstructs the day-to-day experience of slavery for Betty...

The Windrush Generation | Black and British: A Forgotten History

The Windrush Generation | Black and British: A Forgotten History

BBC Two | 2016 | 6'43''

David Olusoga discusses the Windrush Generation.

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 15'35''

David explains the horrendous treatment of the Aboriginal peoples of Tasmania by the British.

01: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

01: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'04''

David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian,...

04: Making a Fortune | Empire

04: Making a Fortune | Empire

BBC One | 2012 | 58'40''

Jeremy Paxman travels from Jamaica, where sugar made plantation owners rich on the backs of slaves, to Calcutta.

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2017 | 59'11''

Lucy explores how British history is a concoction of fibs. She debunks the fibs that surround t...

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

BBC Two | 2025 | 59'27''

David Olusoga reveals how the loss of the American colonies led to the colonisation of Australia and how the Indian indenture system wa...

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

BBC Scotland | 2020 | 29'02''

Poet Jackie Kay tells the story of Arthur Roberts - one of thousands of black soldiers who fought in WWI. His diary provides a unique...

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

Channel 4 | 2003 | 48'27''

In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations w...

S03E05: The Independence of India | Days That Shook the World

S03E05: The Independence of India | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2005 | 29'59''

The story of the Independence of India.

More from Lucy Worsley

The American Revolution: 01: The Break-Up | Lucy Worsley Investigates

The American Revolution: 01: The Break-Up | Lucy Worsley Investigates

BBC Two | 2026 | 59'03''

Lucy Worsley investigates the turning points that led to America’s declaration of independence from Bri...

Episode 3 | Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club

Episode 3 | Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club

BBC Two | 2025 | 58'53''

The trail has gone cold, but could a new murder 12 years later provide fresh leads? Lucy Worsley’s hunt for a Victorian seri...

Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer

Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer

BBC Four | 2023 | 1'11'10''

Film following the life of an extraordinary woman, a trailblazer who revolutionised modern nursing and reformed healthcare at home and ...

Blitz | Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley

Blitz | Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley

BBC One | 2021 | 4'09''

Clip covers the phoney war, evacuation of children and finishes about the killing of pets.

S01E03: Queen Anne and the Union | Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

S01E03: Queen Anne and the Union | Royal History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Two | 2020 | 59'02''

Lucy Worsley explores how Queen Anne's legacy has been marred by historical fibs.

02: The American Civil War | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

02: The American Civil War | American History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2019 | 59'04''

Lucy Worsley shows how the history of the American Civil War has been retold over time, in mov...

Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey

Lucy Worsley's Christmas Carol Odyssey

BBC Four | 2019 | 58'58''

Lucy Worsley reveals the surprising stories behind our favourite Christmas carols. From pagan rituals to religious conflicts, French d...

A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley

A Merry Tudor Christmas with Lucy Worsley

BBC Two | 2019 | 58'59''

Recreating festivities from Henry VIII's era, Lucy Worsley dresses, eats, drinks, sings and parties like it is 500 years ago - disc...

Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley

Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley

BBC One | 2018 | 1'28'57''

Documentary, presented by Lucy Worsley, which uses dramatised testimony to tell the story of a group of working-class women conducting a dange...

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2017 | 59'11''

Lucy explores how British history is a concoction of fibs. She debunks the fibs that surround t...

03: The Road to Revolution | Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley

03: The Road to Revolution | Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley

BBC Four | 2016 | 58'49''

Lucy investigates how the Romanov family's grip on Russia unravelled in their final centur...

Episode 1 | Six Wives with Lucy Worsley

Episode 1 | Six Wives with Lucy Worsley

BBC One | 2016 | 57'37''

Documentary series featuring dramatic reconstruction in which Lucy Worsley delves into the personal lives of Henry VIII's wives, begi...

Dancing through the Blitz: Blackpool's Big Band Story

Dancing through the Blitz: Blackpool's Big Band Story

BBC Two | 2015 | 1'29'01''

Documentary film celebrating the big band sound and uncovering the social history behind the music that kept the nation...

Georgian Architecture | The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain

Georgian Architecture | The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain

BBC Four | 2014 | 3'51''

Lucy Worsley investigates Georgian neo-Palladian architecture.

00: Learning Zone | Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

00: Learning Zone | Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

BBC Two | 2013 | 29'11''

Lucy Worsley presents six films about the mental and physical health of our past monarchs, covering Henry ...

01: The Living Room | If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home

01: The Living Room | If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'01''

Lucy Worsley looks at the history of the living room from a medieval great hall, through a Georgian drawin...