As the title suggests, the documentary Slavery and the Making of America focuses squarely on the "peculiar institution" of slavery in the American colonies and subsequent United States, showing how it was far from an incidental characteristic of a few behind-the-times states. Nor did plantation-style enslavement based on race spring up out of the blue; it developed from fairly innocuous roots to become a central element in the economy of the fledgling United States, where it would have a tremendous effect on the culture and society of the U.S.

It's certainly a fascinating topic, one that is handled adequately here but that doesn't live up to its promise the way it could have. Slavery and the Making of America is basically a middle-of-the-road documentary: it's competently done and offers a reasonably well-thought-out presentation of its subject, while never rising above the "satisfactory" level in the depth of its content or the extent of its insights.

The program, which benefits from a voiceover narration by Morgan Freeman, is made up of four 55-minute episodes. "The Downward Spiral" covers the period from 1619 to 1739, and discusses how a loose form of slavery, one in which slaves still had some rights and legal protections, evolved into the race-based complete slavery of later years. "Liberty in the Air" covers the 1740s through the 1830s, showing the role of black soldiers in the Revolutionary War and how the ideals of freedom of the new country were adopted by slaves in their quest for freedom. "Seeds of Destruction" traces the expansion of the institution of slavery and the corresponding abolitionist movement from the 1800s to the beginning of the Civil War. The last episode, "The Challenge of Freedom," looks at the aftermath of the Civil War and the rise of militant opposition to black equality.

Within each episode, we get a mix of interviews with historians, dramatic re-enactments of both daily life and specific people and events, and some use of maps and contemporary paintings to convey the ideas being presented. The actual material that's discussed is reasonably well-thought-out and informative; for instance, the first episode does a good job of drawing a distinction between early forms of indentured servitude and slavery and later forms of complete slavery.

However, the content-to-running-time ratio is a bit low, even though the series is only composed of four episodes. (The four-DVD packaging is more than a little misleading: the packaging makes it look like a far more substantial program than it really is.) The main weakness of Slavery and the Making of America is that this information is spread fairly thinly, with plenty of time devoted to lingering over re-enacted sections, or simply in taking quite a while to convey a fairly straightforward idea. This is a documentary that could have packed a lot more informative punch if it had either been condensed into about half the running time, or (preferably) been packed full of more information and a deeper analysis of the significance of the material in each episode.

All in all, Slavery and the Making of America is probably a good choice for viewers who aren't very familiar with the subject matter, especially younger viewers. While there's more emphasis on showing clips from re-enactments than I'd have wished for, at least these segments are reasonably well done and don't look cheesy at all. In general, it's a reasonably well done program, if not one that will bowl you over.

The DVD

Despite only containing four 55-minute episodes in total, Slavery and the Making of America is spread out over four discs, each packaged in its own keepcase, within a glossy paperboard slipcase.

Video

The image quality for Slavery and the Making of America is uneven, but the jury's still out on whether it's intentional or not. The re-enactment segments are all very soft, to the point of being noticeably fuzzy, while the interview segments are sharper and cleaner-looking. As a whole, though, the program looks acceptable, and the fact that it's presented in anamorphically enhanced widescreen (1.85:1) does sweeten things a bit.

Audio

The soundtrack for Slavery and the Making of America is straightforward, but it gets the job done: both Morgan Freeman's voiceover narration and the various interview subjects come across in a clear and clean manner. English subtitles are available.

Extras

The only special feature is the inclusion of unspecified documents in the form of DVD-ROM content on each disc.

Final thoughts

If you're interested in a reasonably well-documented overview of the development of slavery in the United States, especially if you're a lower-grade teacher looking for a program that can present the content in an interesting and watchable manner, Slavery and the Making of America is a good choice. If you're at all familiar with the subject to begin with, the rather diluted feel of the program will make it a bit tedious, but it's still watchable. Recommended, especially for younger viewers.