PBS Documentary Will Focus on Henry Ford

Henry Ford is Dearborn's most famous former resident—but a new documentary airing this week on PBS aims to dive deeper into the automotive innovator's life and emotions.

Henry Ford, part of the station's American Experience series, airs Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 9 p.m.

A promo for the special hints that it will dig into the emotions and conflicts of Ford's life—while still paying homage to his genius.

"Henry Ford changed all of 20th Century America," a voiceover says in the promo. "We’re living in Henry Ford’s world right now."

According to the Detroit Free Press, the film will focus on the dichotomy of Ford's life—bringing the future of travel to the world, but then spending much of his time focused on preserving the past through Greenfield Village.

"I came to believe he's a very American figure," the film's director, producer and writer Sarah Colt told the Free Press. "It's a very American way of revering the past but also being forward thinking. I think that's why people loved him in some ways. He tapped into both the anxiety about the 20th Century, but also the excitement of it."