The film Clemente comes to HISTORY on Tuesday, Sept. 23—bringing the story of national hero Roberto Clemente back into the public consciousness. There’s no denying that Clemente was and still is an icon, as both an athlete and a human being. And through Clemente, HISTORY continues to add to its own story of uplifting diverse and often underappreciated narratives.

It was just three months ago that HISTORY premiered Jim Thorpe: Lit by Lightning, which opened up the story of fellow athlete Jim Thorpe to a brand new audience. Lit by Lightning not only retold Thorpe’s history, but made very clear why it’s still relevant today, over a half-century after his death. The same was true in 2024 with Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics, which recontextualized what Owens was able to do through a modern lens. When so many sports documentaries are often focused on purely someone’s athletic accomplishments—and those certainly are exciting—the projects that HISTORY has featured have been well-rounded pieces that look beyond the big moments.

The best example of this is the 2022 program After Jackie, which was specifically about the impact that Jackie Robinson had on Major League Baseball. As the title indicates, it followed the ripple effect that Robinson started to change “America’s pastime” and even further than that. After Jackie went past what audiences already knew and explained why Robinson will always be one of the most important people not just in American sports history, but in American history overall. What HISTORY has done is spotlight figures whose character and personal journeys made them timeless. And while sports stars are common subjects for documentaries, they’re not the only ones that the network has given a platform to.

In 2021, HISTORY aired Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre to revisit the horrific events that had occurred a century earlier. It’s also not unheard of for networks to do specials timed to historical anniversaries, but this was one of the most painful stories told in a respectful and not sensationalized manner. It would be too easy to just dwell on the death and tragedy for dramatic effect; the documentary is certainly not for the faint of heart. The filmmakers were able to balance that by illustrating what progress has been made after what happened on Black Wall Street, and presenting a complete picture of a community beyond those two days in time.

Earlier this year, the network presented a biography of Sitting Bull that honored the life of the Native American leader, produced by Stephen David (The Men Who Built America) and narrated by Yellowstone actor Mo Brings Plenty. The four-hour event likewise didn’t flinch when discussing the battle between the Native nations and American settlers, but it didn’t hyperfocus on the violence and pain, like so many other narratives both scripted and unscripted about this period. Audiences got to learn about the full life of Sitting Bull and see him as more than just a representative of that conflict.

African-American and Native American history is American history—as are the stories of every race, gender and socioeconomic group in the country. HISTORY has been exceptional in making sure that the voices of the less represented are not only accessible to a broad audience, but that the programs they air are quality docuseries that portray them authentically and add something to the conversation. Even audiences who know about Jackie Robinson, Sitting Bull or Roberto Clemente will learn something from what HISTORY has to offer.

Historical programming can be very difficult to get right. It is, after all, intrinsically a contradiction: a factual project that also has to be entertaining. Beyond that, so many of the stories have already been told, often more than once. HISTORY has quietly expanded its brand over the last several years to find the stories or parts of stories that viewers haven’t heard and explain why they need to hear them. Particularly with current events, that’s tremendously important. For every story widely known, there are probably a dozen that aren’t. And to understand history better in any form is not just to know facts, but to learn from it. One only needs to look at this season of The Mega-Brands That Built America to appreciate our current culture a lot better.

Clemente is bringing Roberto Clemente back to the forefront as Major League Baseball heads toward another exciting postseason. Yet that’s the perfect time to illustrate that baseball became so important in American culture because of people like Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and many others. It’s the people who made the game, and through the game, they changed society. HISTORY is giving them a different platform to reach audiences over again—bringing aspirational people right into our homes and at our fingertips on streaming services.

Edward R. Murrow said of television, “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends.” And the documentary programming on HISTORY is living up to his words.

Clemente premieres Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on HISTORY. The other programs listed are available to watch on HISTORY.com and the HISTORY app. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HISTORY.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.