The States — Season 1, Episode 6: Florida, Indiana, Washington, Utah, Rhode Island

Episode synopsis

Hurricanes, lightning and alligator-filled swamps made Florida an unwelcome candidate for statehood, yet it continues to draw more and more people annually. In 1900, Indianapolis, not Detroit, was the center of the auto industry, and endurance tests there resulted in the establishment of the Indy 500 in 1911. On May 18, 1980, America's most economically destructive volcanic erupts at Mt. St. Helens and rocks Washington State. Escaping religious persecution, Brigham Young leads twelve thousand Mormons on an exodus into the Utah desert in search of paradise. Roger Williams fled Massachusetts in the 16th century and founded a colony of religious tolerance in Rhode Island.

About The States

The States is a 2007 American documentary television series about the history of each state in the United States of America, narrated by Edward Herrmann. The show documents each of the 50 states in the union. The show begins with an introduction to the five states to be documented within the episode. Each state's segment begins with the narrator giving a clue as to what that state might be, and then revealing the answer. There is then a billboard that pops up showing the state nickname, motto, population, population ranking within the union, date the state entered the union, and state flag. During interviews with historians or notable people from a state, the state's quarter is shown. Since the series was produced in 2007, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii are shown with their flags. Those quarters were released in 2008 The show then highlights the history of the state itself, including notable events that have happened there, and highlights other noteworthy things in that state. In 2010 a sister presentation and then series, How the States Got Their Shapes was aired.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1California, North Carolina, Kansas, New Hampshire, West Virginia
• E2Texas, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Iowa, Delaware
• E3New York, Louisiana, Oregon, New Mexico, Vermont
• E4New Jersey, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Alaska
• E5Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Hawaii, South Carolina, Montana
• E7Illinois, Connecticut, Nevada, Mississippi, Wyoming
• E8Virginia, Ohio, Idaho, Alabama, North Dakota
• E9Michigan, Tennessee, Maine, Missouri, South Dakota
• E10Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Maryland/DC