In Pursuit Screening

Film + conversation examining how Philadelphia’s past and present continue to shape the American story.

Episode 6 Overview: Wealth (1872-1917)

Episode 6 of In Pursuit: Philadelphia reinvents itself as the "Workshop of the World," becoming the nation's manufacturing colossus. The 1876 Centennial International Exposition celebrates 100 years of American progress with the world's largest building and the massive Corliss steam engine. On July 4, 1876, Susan B. Anthony storms the Independence Hall stage during centennial ceremonies, demanding women's rights to vote and work—only to be dismissed and arrested.

Matthias Baldwin's locomotive works epitomizes Philadelphia's industrial might, producing every part of a train in one massive complex. The Pennsylvania Railroad becomes America's largest corporation. Yet prosperity bypasses most workers. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones organizes textile workers, leading the "March of the Mill Children" to President Roosevelt's Long Island home, exposing child labor's brutality.

Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois arrives to study Philadelphia's…