Explained

Ronald Reagan

Self (archive footage)

Richard Nixon

Self (archive footage)

Lyndon B. Johnson

Self (archive footage)

Maria Bello

Narrator (voice)

Jake Gyllenhaal

Narrator (voice)

Hilary Swank

Narrator (voice)

Ethan Hawke

Narrator (voice)

Héctor Elizondo

Narrator (voice)

Kim Cattrall

Narrator (voice)

Christian Slater

Narrator (voice)

Rosario Dawson

Narrator (voice)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Narrator (voice)

LeVar Burton

Narrator (voice)

Sophie Okonedo

Narrator (voice)

Jane Fonda

Self (archive footage)

J.K. Simmons

Narrator (voice)

Aasif Mandvi

Narrator (voice)

Adolf Hitler

Self (archive footage)

Jesse Owens

Self - Four-Time Olympic Gold Medalist (archive footage)

Bill Clinton

Self (archive footage)

John Waters

Narrator (voice)

Hattie McDaniel

Self - First Black Oscar Winner (archive footage)

Donald Trump

Self (archive footage)

George W. Bush

Self (archive footage)

Rainn Wilson

Narrator (voice)

Kyle MacLachlan

Narrator (voice)

Jerry Springer

Narrator (voice)

Fidel Castro

Self (archive footage)

Keri Russell

Narrator (voice)

Kevin Smith

Narrator (voice)

Natasha Lyonne

Narrator (voice)

Ruth Negga

Narrator (voice)

George H. W. Bush

Self (archive footage)

Colin Powell

Self - First Black Secretary of State (archive footage)

Sandra Day O'Connor

Self (archive footage)

Dan Rather

Self (archive footage)

Nelson Mandela

Self (archive footage)

Michael Jordan

Self (archive footage)

Hillary Clinton

Self

Maggie Siff

Narrator (voice)

Kelly Rowland

Narrator (voice)

Vincent Kartheiser

Narrator (voice)

Catherine Oxenberg

Self - Mother of NXIVM Cult Member

Rachel McAdams

Narrator (voice)

Muhammad Ali

Self (archive footage)

Kristen Bell

Narrator (voice)

Stephen Colbert

Self (archive footage)

Martin Luther King Jr.

Self (archive footage)

Noam Chomsky

Self (archive footage)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Self (archive footage)

Francis Collins

Self (archive footage)

Keke Palmer

Narrator (voice)

Aya Cash

Narrator (voice)

Doug E. Fresh

Self (archive footage)

Tom Brokaw

Self (archive footage)

Connie Britton

Narrator (voice)

Joe Biden

Self (archive footage)

Big Boi

Self (archive footage)

Jay-Z

Self (archive footage)

Warren Buffett

Self (archive footage)

Alan Greenspan

Self (archive footage)

Bill Gates

Self

Nick Kroll

Narrator (voice)

Mike Wallace

Self (archive footage)

Barack Obama

Self (archive footage)

Mark Cuban

Self

Ann Coulter

Self (archive footage)

Yara Shahidi

Narrator (voice)

Jesse Jackson

Self (archive footage)

Bernie Sanders

Self

Elizabeth Warren

Self (archive footage)

Michael Bloomberg

Self (archive footage)

Michelle Obama

Self - First Black First Lady (archive footage)

Malcolm X

Self (archive footage)

Boris Johnson

Self (archive footage)

Vladimir Putin

Self (archive footage)

George Stephanopoulos

Self (archive footage)

John D. Rockefeller

Self (archive footage)

Cory Booker

Self - U.S. Senator

Abigail Disney

Self

Adolf Eichmann

Self (archive footage)

Brian Williams

Self (archive footage)

Jackie Robinson

Self - First Black MLB Player (archive footage)

Jim Jones

Self (archive footage)

Leo J. Ryan

Self (archive footage)

Jackie Speier

Self

Peter Jennings

Self (archive footage)

Anderson Cooper

Self (archive footage)

Park Chung-hee

Self (archive footage)

James Baldwin

Self (archive footage)

Samira Wiley

Narrator (voice)

Keith Morrison

Self (archive footage)

Justin Trudeau

Self (archive footage)

Mark Zuckerberg

Self (archive footage)

LaKeith Stanfield

Narrator (voice)

Rachel Bloom

Narrator (voice)

Carly Rae Jepsen

Narrator (voice)

Jimin

Self (archive footage)

Suga

Self (archive footage)

V

Self (archive footage)

Jin

Self (archive footage)

RM

Self (archive footage)

Jung Kook

Self (archive footage)

j-hope

Self (archive footage)

PSY

Self (archive footage)

Gigi Hadid

Self (archive footage)

Don Lemon

Self (archive footage)

Karlie Kloss

Narrator (voice)

Shirley Chisholm

Self (archive footage)

Ted Cruz

Self (archive footage)

Doja Cat

Self (archive footage)

Andrew Carnegie

Self (archive footage)

Kirsten Gillibrand

Self (archive footage)

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Self (archive footage)

Xi Jinping

Self (archive footage)

Primary

Self

Tablo

Self

Seo Tai-ji

Self (archive footage)

Mithra Jin

Self

DJ Tukutz

Self

Lee Soo-man

Self (archive footage)

Kim Dae-jung

Self (archive footage)

John Franklin Stephens

Self (archive footage)

Yang Hyun-suk

Self (archive footage)

Moon Jae-in

Self (archive footage)

Ruth Simmons

Self - First Black Ivy League President (archive footage)

Dick Costolo

Self (archive footage)

Thurgood Marshall

Self - First Black Supreme Court Justice (archive footage)

Jennifer Doudna

Self - CRISPR Pioneer

Estelle Caswell

Narrator (voice)

Joss Fong

Narrator (voice)

Coleman Lowndes

Narrator (voice)

Valentine Rugwabiza

Self

Cleo Abram

Narrator (voice)

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Self (archive footage)

John Maynard Keynes

Self (archive footage)

Mehrsa Baradaran

Self - Author

Thomas Shapiro

Self - Sociologist

Beth Jacobson

Self - Foreclosure Specialist

Edward A. Bouchet

Self - First Black Ph.D Recipient (archive footage)

Bessie Coleman

Self - First Black Licensed Pilot (archive footage)

Robert L. Johnson

Self - First Black Billionaire (archive footage)

Dennis Kucinich

Self (archive footage)

Abraham Lincoln

Self (archive footage)

Alain Leroy Locke

Self - First Black Rhodes Scholar (archive footage)

Joseph Rainey

Self - First Black Congressperson (archive footage)

Hiram Revels

Self - First Black Senator (archive footage)

Rick Santelli

Self (archive footage)

William Tecumseh Sherman

Self (archive footage)

Edwin M. Stanton

Self (archive footage)

Neville Sanjana

Self - Biologist

John Evans

Self - Sociologist

Hank Greely

Self - Law Professor

Rebecca Cokley

Self - Disability Rights Activist

Emmanuelle Charpentier

Self (archive footage)

Reena Ninan

Self (archive footage)

Emily Kassie

Directing | Director

Claire Gordon

Production | Executive Producer

Cleo Abram

Production | Producer

Ezra Klein

Production | Executive Producer

Joe Posner

Production | Executive Producer