Documentary overview

About Growing Up Poor In America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

The documentary, "Growing Up Poor in America", follows three children and their families in the battleground state of Ohio as the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies their struggle to stay afloat. In early 2020, it was estimated that almost 12 million children in America were living in poverty — a burden disproportionately borne by Black and Latino kids. Then came the coronavirus. Director Jezza Neumann, who made 2012's “Poor Kids,” once again delves into how poverty impacts children. As the pandemic continues, the presidential election approaches and America reckons with racism, FRONTLINE offers a powerful look at child poverty in the time of COVID-19 — told from the perspective of the children themselves. The film is supported by the WNET “Chasing the Dream” initiative. Love FRONTLINE? Find us on the PBS Video App where there are more than 300 Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the

Growing Up Poor In America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE is presented by FRONTLINE PBS | Official. Its listed runtime is 53 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.

As a society documentary, Growing Up Poor In America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE uses growing, america, frontline as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.

Viewing context

What to consider before watching

  1. What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain growing, america, frontline?
  2. Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in Growing Up Poor In America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE?
  3. How does FRONTLINE PBS | Official's framing affect the documentary's emphasis, and which perspectives may deserve further research?
Subjects

Topics covered in this documentary

Societygrowingamericafrontline
Film information

Documentary details and original source

Title
Growing Up Poor In America (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
Category
Society
Runtime
53 minutes
Language
English

Free Documentary Vault provides independent discovery, organization and editorial context. The film remains hosted by its original publisher, who controls availability and playback.

Continue exploring
COVID's Hidden Toll (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
COVID's Hidden Toll (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

How the COVID crisis has hit vulnerable immigrants and undocumented workers who have helped keep America fed during the pandemic. While millions of Americans have been sheltering in place, FRONTLINE has been investigating the hidden toll of the pandemic of those who cannot stay home: Agricultural workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, who have been deemed essential to the nation’s food supply. In "COVID’s Hidden Toll," numerous farmworkers speak out about their experiences of having to choose between their health and their jobs – and what they say is a lack of protection from their companies. With Latino people nationwide dying from the coronavirus at a disproportionate rate, the film examines outbreaks at several growers and meat packing plants over the past several months, and how new evidence indicates that agricultural workers have faced a heightened risk of contracting the coronavirus. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

COVID's Hidden Toll (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
Growing Up Trans (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN83 min
Growing Up Trans (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Inside the struggles and choices facing transgender kids and their families, in an era where they have more medical options than ever before. Just a generation ago, it was adults, not kids, who changed genders. But today, many children are transitioning, too — at younger and younger ages. Told from the perspective of parents, doctors and, most revealing of all, the kids themselves, FRONTLINE’s “Growing Up Trans” takes a look at how a new generation is navigating the changing and complicated world of gender and identity. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, The John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Growing Up Trans (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

83 minSociety
Separated: Children at the Border (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
Separated: Children at the Border (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE’s 2018 documentary tells the inside story of what happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the border under the "zero tolerance" policy. What’s happened to the more than 2,000 families who were separated after crossing the U.S. border unlawfully in 2018? And how did immigration policy in America reach this point? In this special FRONTLINE report, acclaimed producer Marcela Gaviria and correspondent Martin Smith examine immigration policy under both Trump and Obama, investigate the origins of “zero tolerance” — and reveal the journeys and voices of children who were separated from their parents. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Separated: Children at the Border (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
Whose Vote Counts (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
Whose Vote Counts (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

As America chooses its next president in the midst of a historic pandemic, FRONTLINE investigates whose vote counts — and whose might not. In this documentary with Columbia Journalism Investigations and USA Today, New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb reports on allegations of voter disenfranchisement, how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream, rhetoric and realities around mail-in ballots, and how the pandemic could impact turnout. With director June Cross, the Fred W. Friendly Professor of Media and Society at Columbia, and producer Thomas Jennings, Cobb scrutinizes one of the first elections held during the pandemic — Wisconsin’s April 2020 primary, which saw long lines, claims of disenfranchisement, an unprecedented number of absentee ballots and dueling legal battles between Republicans and Democrats. The film places the election within the context of America’s history around voting rights and suppression, and discovers lessons for the country as a whole as the November presidential contest approaches. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Whose Vote Counts (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

As new questions arise about Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jet, FRONTLINE and The New York Times update an award-winning investigation into the design, oversight and production of a plane that was involved in two crashes that killed 346 people. In October 2018, a Boeing 737 Max passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff off the coast of Indonesia. Five months later, following an eerily similar flight pattern, another 737 Max 8 went down in Ethiopia. Everyone on board the flights died. "Boeing's Fatal Flaw" tells the inside story of what led up to the crashes — revealing how intense market pressure and failed oversight contributed to tragic deaths and a catastrophic crisis for one of the world’s most iconic industrial names. This updated documentary also examines what’s happened since the original film first aired in 2021, including the January 2024 Alaska Airlines incident where a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max jet’s body midair, and how Boeing has responded. Explore additional reporting related to "Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" on our website: FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
America's Medical Supply Crisis (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
America's Medical Supply Crisis (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

When the coronavirus hit, why were countless Americans left unprotected amid a desperate shortage of PPE and other critical medical equipment? FRONTLINE, The Associated Press and the Global Reporting Centre investigate. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s COVID-positive diagnosis, and as cases spike in parts of the country, “America’s Medical Supply Crisis” examines why the United States was left vulnerable to key equipment shortages — and why problems persist, months into the coronavirus crisis. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

America's Medical Supply Crisis (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety