The Media Library of Genesee Valley BOCES

Searches out the roots of the Puritans and the Pilgrims and paints an accurate picture of the historical events that brought these religious exiles to America. Photographed at the actual historic sites in Europe and at the Plimoth Plantation

Follows events and people of the 17th century: Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, and Jamestown. Explores how the Puritans, who had fled Europe to avoid religious perscecution, became the oppressors of those who refused to conform to their religious beliefs. Quakers and Jews were especially prone to be victims of this oppression

Viewers will learn about Roger Williams and the Puritans who settled Massachusetts Bay Colony. The program discusses Williams' critical views of his fellow Puritan leaders, his relationship with the Native Americans, his belief in religious freedom, his banishment from the Colony, and his settlement of Providence. Also discusses life in a Puritan household

Includes European settlers; European/Native American interaction and the Jamestown and Puritan settlements; life in a Puritan settlement; challenges that emerged in the early colonies; Quakers in Pennsylvania; the struggle for control in North America; and the French and Indian War

Provides background information on the characters, plot of the story, and the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Examines Puritan society, the role of women, and the message Hawthorne was trying to say. Scholars discuss the book's lasting legacy

Includes European settlers; European/Native American interaction and the Jamestown and Puritan settlements; life in a Puritan settlement; challenges that emerged in the early colonies; Quakers in Pennsylvania; the struggle for control in North America; and the French and Indian War

Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel "The Scarlet Letter" about an adulteress, Hester Prynne, and the scorn she receives from the people in her Puritan New England village