A three-part series for public television tracing the challenge of creating and preserving democracy over the 250-year-old alliance between France and America.

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Episode One: En Route for Revolution

The Rediscovery of the Crucial Role of France in the American Revolution

The astonishing discovery of the hidden archive of General François-Jean de Chastellux sheds new light on the decisive role of the French Army in the outcome of the American Revolution. The philosopher/general was Lafayette’s uncle, George Washington’s trusted friend and advisor, and he led the reconnaissance to the decisive victory at Yorktown. Based on the ideals of the Enlightenment, the American and French Revolutions left crucial issues of equality and freedom unresolved. The ongoing quest for democracy begins here.

Episode Two: Under Seige

The American Ambassador in the Siege and Commune of Paris

Elihu Washburne witnessed and recorded democracy put to its ultimate test -civil war- in both America and France. As a confidant of Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant, he saw Americans slaughtering each other firsthand.

As ambassador to France, he was the only diplomat to remain in the city during the Siege and Commune of Paris, which saw thousands killed in the streets and the city burned. His vigilance saw the end of the Second Empire, the birth of the Third Republic, and the creation of the Statue of Liberty. Through his eyes we experience democracy’s fragility and resilience.

Episode Three: Democracy in Rhythm

How Jazz in Paris Realized the Promise of American Equality

Jazz is the perfect expression of democracy. Each voice must be heard, and each player must listen to the others so the music can swing.

A virtuosic military band of African-American soldiers was denied inclusion in the U.S. Army at the front in WWI. They went on to become the most highly decorated American regiment as they fought alongside the French and introduced jazz to France. France gave African Americans a home where they could live and create without the scourge of segregation, and they carried Paris out of its post-war gloom into the Jazz Age. It’s a story of liberté, égalité, et fraternité—personal, artistic, cultural, and national. As the eminent American jazz musician Wynton Marsalis says, “Jazz music is the perfect metaphor for democracy.”

Watch our Teaser Trailer

Our Team

Paul Glenshaw

Co-director, co-writer, co-producer. Paul is an artist, documentary filmmaker, history writer, and storyteller. His and Darroch’s documentary The Lafayette Escadrille, is available on the PBS Passport streaming platform. He hosts the popular Art+History online lecture series for the Smithsonian Associates. His articles have appeared in publications ranging from Racquet magazine to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare and Beyond blog. He is a frequent drawing instructor, history lecturer, and tour guide for the Smithsonian Associates and Smithsonian Journeys.

Darroch Greer

Darroch Greer is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over thirty years’ experience researching, writing and directing historical documentaries in the fields of American and European history, Native American and Western history, the American Revolution, Lincoln and the Civil War, American movies, and popular music for PBS, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery, VH1, History and others. Hewrote and co-directed The Millionaires’ Unit—The First U.S. Naval Aviators in WWI and co-wrote and co-directed The Lafayette Escadrille—The American Volunteers Who Flew for France in WWI. The films have played on PBS and won multiple awards. Darroch has worked as a content developer in the museum and theme park industries, including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. He’s written and designed media for museums and parks in New York City, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Korea, China, Jordan, Dubai, Chicago, and Florida involving history and immersive guest experiences.

Iris de Rode

A Dutch historian specialized in the French participation in the American Revolution, earned her doctorate from Université de Paris VIII in 2019 for her dissertation on François-Jean de Chastellux. Published by Éditions Honoré Champion, it received the prestigious Prix Guizot from the Académie Française. Currently, Iris is preparing a new English book, “En route to Victory,” slated for publication by the University of Virginia Press in 2025. Iris earned 20+ fellowships from renowned institutions like George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Today she is deeply involved in public history initiatives with organizations such as the National Park Service, the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, the French Embassy in Washington DC.

WNET Endorsement for Liberté

”Your series Liberté promises a much deeper dive into those origins [of the American Revolution and Republic], into the intellectual history that underpinned the Enlightenment in Europe and the Age of Revolutions, and some of the huge and fascinating personalities who bestrode the stage of that era. Likewise, the recent discovery of Washburne’s Civil War-era diary and the experiences of African American musicians in 20th century France give unique perspectives on the vicissitudes of democracy in both our countries. Your proposal indicates that you will again bring the smart, critical lens to the subject matter, with new discoveries, compelling narratives and characters, as you did in your earlier films The Millionaires’ Unit and The Lafayette Escadrille.“