• Common
  • Rosario Dawson
  • America Ferrera
  • Zach Galifianakis
  • Norman Lear
  • Amy Poehler
  • Peter Sarsgaard
  • Jesse Williams

Released in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, AMERICA DIVIDED is an EPIX Original docu-series, executive produced by Norman Lear, Shonda Rhimes and Common, features narratives around inequality in education, housing, healthcare, labor, criminal justice and the political system — all woven into an eight-story, five-part series. The show follows high-profile correspondents as they explore aspects of inequality related to their own biographies. Correspondents include: Common, Rosario Dawson, America Ferrera, Zach Galifianakis, Norman Lear, Amy Poehler, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jesse Williams.  Now Streaming on EPIX.com. 

Created by Solly Granatstein, Lucian Read and Richard Rowley.

The Stories that Unite Us

A House Divided

Inequality in Housing in New York City

Legendary TV producer Norman Lear, an original member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame, reports on the housing crisis in New York — from people who have no homes to luxury apartments purposely kept vacant.

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The Class Divide

Inequality in Education in Florida

“Grey’s Anatomy” star and former teacher Jesse Williams goes back to the classroom and becomes immersed in the battle to fix inequality in education.

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The Epidemic

Addiction and Deindustrialization in Ohio

Actor and activist Peter Sarsgaard explores the addiction crisis ravaging a heartland beset by unemployment and the shuttering of America’s factories.

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Democracy for Sale

Money in Politics and Voting Rights in North Carolina

Actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis investigates the political landscape in his home state of North Carolina and considers how it’s emblematic of the country’s deepening political divide during the 2016 campaign.

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The System

Policing and Mass Incarceration in Chicago

Oscar®-winning hip-hop artist Common returns to his hometown of Chicago — ground zero for disparities in the criminal justice system.

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Out of Reach

Undocumented Immigrants in Texas

Emmy®– and Golden Globe®-winning actress America Ferrera travels to Texas where migrants who entered the country illegally are the focus of hostility and where even US-born children are denied basic rights.

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Something in the Water

The Flint Water Crisis

Actress Rosario Dawson explores the causes and legacy of the Flint, Michigan, water crisis.

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Home Economics

Domestic Workers in California

Golden Globe® and Peabody Award-winning director and actress Amy Poehler investigates the complex challenges faced by domestic workers who maintain an intimate relationship with the families that employ them, while also fighting for better conditions.

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This is our America. And it isn’t what we promised.

– Norman Lear

Americans need to reexamine the true objectives of our public school system. We know that the moment we put handcuffs on a child in school, we double their chances of dropping out, yet this happens every day, with great and measurable bias. If we send American children to school to be inspired, then this constant presence of armed state agents enforcing the criminal code in classrooms, marks a clear and willful failure that has to be remedied.

– Jesse Williams

The house and the 2.5 kids and stability isn't out there, and I see this generation really paying the price. They are the ones dying of heroin overdoses.

– Peter Sarsgaard

People are fighting these same fights all across the country. North Carolina is the place I care about but, really, we all live in our own North Carolina.

– Zach Galifianakis

The criminal justice system is failing the people of South and West Chicago.

– Common

It only would take a small amount of imagination for any of us to put ourselves in these people’s shoes and understand that they’re humans just like us.

– America Ferrera

I'm in shock at how democracy was completely thrown out the window.

– Rosario Dawson

Everybody says, ‘I want people to be paid equally, this is America, and everyone should be given an opportunity.’ So why can't we make it so that the woman working and the woman that she hires can both have a living wage?

– Amy Poehler