COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina ETV and Public Radio (SCETV), the College of Charleston, SC250 and SC250 Charleston will welcome celebrated, award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns to Charleston for an exclusive preview of the new series, The American Revolution, directed by Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. The May 14 event includes a screening of excerpts from the upcoming documentary airing on SCETV’s network and public television stations across the nation beginning Nov. 16. The screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by SCETV President and CEO Adrienne Fairwell with Burns, American historian Dr. Kathleen DuVal and Dr. Walter Edgar, noted South Carolina historian and host of Walter Edgar’s Journal for SC Public Radio.
Earlier on May 14, Burns will join event partner leadership for a press conference at 11 a.m. on the College of Charleston Cistern. Following the press conference, students from Westwood High School in Columbia and Jerry Zucker Middle School in Charleston will join Burns for a tour of Marion Square, providing a unique educational experience on the city’s role in the American Revolution. A massive structure once dominated the site of Marion Square between 1758 and 1784 forming one of the most impressive military posts of the American Revolution.
The special preview of The American Revolution begins at 7 p.m. at the College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre and will feature clips from the documentary about South Carolina’s pivotal yet often overlooked role in the war, setting the stage for an engaging conversation about the documentary’s impact
Ken Burns, widely recognized as one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of our time, has dedicated his career to chronicling the American experience through films such as The Civil War, Baseball and Jazz, as well as documentaries on national parks, the Roosevelts, Mark Twain and Jackie Robinson. Having produced films for PBS for over 25 years, he has earned numerous accolades, including Emmy and Peabody awards, with works like The Vietnam War and Country Music offering deep explorations of pivotal moments and cultural influences in American history.
Dr. Walter Edgar hosts two programs on SC Public Radio, Walter Edgar’s Journal and South Carolina from A to Z, and has had a distinguished career as a historian, author and professor at the University of South Carolina, where he served as director of the Institute for Southern Studies and held esteemed academic titles before retiring in 2012. He has written or edited numerous works on South Carolina history, including Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict that Turned the Tide of the American Revolution and South Carolina: A History.
Dr. Kathleen DuVal specializes in early North American and American Indian history at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is the author of Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution as well as The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent and has contributed to numerous scholarly journals and publications. She is featured in The American Revolution, for which she also served as an advisor.
In addition to the May 14 event, SCETV is partnering with SC250 on content to be released in 2026, recognizing the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. SC250’s mission is to commemorate and highlight South Carolina’s role in the war by educating, engaging and inspiring both residents and visitors. This content will spotlight untold stories of individuals whose experiences helped shape America’s future.
The American Revolution is a six-part, 12-hour documentary series that 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.
The much-anticipated series, which has been in production for eight years, was directed and produced by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt and written by long-time collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward. The filmmakers and PBS scheduled the broadcast for 2025, the 250th anniversary of the start of the war, which began in the spring of 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.
The American Revolution will premiere on Nov. 16 on ETV-HD and air for six consecutive nights through Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. Viewers outside South Carolina can check local listings for additional broadcast times. The full series will also be available for streaming on PBS.org and in the PBS App.
More information on the event can be found on the SCETV website.
South Carolina Celebrates America’s 250 Anniversary With Exclusive Preview of The American Revolution by Filmmaker Ken Burns
