John Brown's failed attempt to loot the armory at Harper's Ferry sparks the beginning of abolition.

America is at the brink of a Civil War as cotton spreads west and threatens to expand slavery into new territories.

Lincoln develops and enacts a permanent plan to abolish slavery, in this clip from Season 1, "Saving the Union."

Life aboard the ship was agonizing and dangerous; nearly 2 million enslaved Africans would perish on their journey across the Atlantic.