“The American Buffalo,” a new two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, will premiere at 7 pm, October 16 and 17, on Panhandle PBS. Following the documentary is the premiere of “Strong Spirit,” a two-part series from Panhandle PBS that coincides with “The American Buffalo,” and features bison and Native Americans in the Texas Panhandle.

“The American Buffalo,” tells the history of an improbable, shaggy beast that is at the center of many of the country’s most mythic and heartbreaking tales. The series, which was four years in the making, takes viewers on a journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent’s most iconic landscapes, tracing the national mammal’s evolution, its significance to the Great Plains, and, most importantly, its relationship to the Indigenous People of North America.

“It is a quintessentially American story,” Ken Burns said, “filled with unforgettable stories and people. But it is also a morality tale encompassing two historically significant lessons that resonate today: how humans can damage the natural world and also how we can work together to make choices to preserve the environment around us. The story of the American buffalo is also the story of Native nations who lived with and relied on the buffalo to survive, developing a sacred relationship that evolved over more than 10,000 years but which was almost completely severed in fewer than 100.”

The series was written by Dayton Duncan (“Country Music,” “The Dust Bowl,” “The National Parks,” “Lewis & Clark”) who is also the author of the companion book, “Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo,” to be published by Knopf timed to the broadcast. It was produced by Burns’s longtime colleague Julie Dunfey (“Country Music,” “The National Parks,” “The Dust Bowl,” “The Civil War,”) and Julianna Brannum (“Conscience Point,” “Native America,” “We Shall Remain: Wounded Knee,”), a member of the Quahada band of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, served as a consulting producer.

W. Richard West, Jr., a Cheyenne and founding director and director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, was the senior advisor. The film includes interviews with leading Native American scholars, land experts and Tribal Nation members.

Immediately following “The American Buffalo” is the premiere of “Strong Spirit,” a two-part series produced by Panhandle PBS that features bison and Native Americans in the Texas Panhandle. Episode One, which will premiere at 9 pm October 16, looks at the bison’s impact on the animals and plants that surround it. Viewers will also learn about the descendants of the buffalo that Charles and Mary Ann “Molly” Goodnight preserved that roam Caprock Canyon State Park today. Local Native Americans will share perspectives on connecting with their own history in Episode Two, which will air at 9 pm October 17. Plus, the episode will explore the way Native American and other cultures use stories to pass down knowledge and traditions. Full episodes and segments will be available on the station’s social media pages, the Panhandle PBS YouTube channel, and website, panhandlePBS.org/AmericanBuffalo.

Panhandle PBS is excited to co-host an in-person watch party for “The American Buffalo” at the historic Mulkey Theatre in Clarendon. This event is FREE and open to the public, and will take place at the same time the series is premiering on Panhandle PBS, October 16 and 17, from 7 – 9 pm. For more information, please contact the Mulkey Theatre at (806) 874-2421.

Support for “The American Buffalo” and related local content is provided by the Carol K. Engler Foundation, West Texas A&M University and the Jason Roselius Memorial Foundation. Corporate funding for “The American Buffalo” was provided by Bank of America. Major funding was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by The Better Angels Society and its following members: The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation; Diane and Hal Brierly; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; John and Leslie McQuown; and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tudor Jones. Funding was also provided by the Volgenau Foundation.