Inheritance

Inheritance dramatized events from American history. A joint effort of NBC and the American Legion, the show premiered in 1954 at the height of the "Second Red Scare" and ran for 57 episodes. Like other similar shows of the period, such as American Trail and American Adventure, it has strong overtones of American exceptionalism--some might even say jingoism--which manifests itself most especially in the epilogue, in which a guest would close the show with a short patriotic message.

The show's portrayal of historical events is reasonably accurate, though, as is not unusual, some of the darker aspects of the American story, such as chattel slavery, are glossed over. Note, too, that not all the portrayals are historical. "The Man without a Country," for example, is based on a short story, and the story of Hugh Glass, told in the episode "Mountain Men," is of questionable provenance.

For more information, see The Digital Deli Too.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.