Source: Narrated by Zach Lamb
[MUSIC PLAYING] Like the roaring '20s, the 1960s is a decade that fascinates Americans. As Jade's reaction to an old photograph of his parents shows, many people's understandings of the 1960s are awash in stereotypes, such as long hair, LSD, and hippies. Meanwhile, as Jane and Hugh's stories show, the 1960s marked a decade of profound activism on many fronts, including civil rights, free speech, and the anti-war movement. This was a time of great social and cultural upheaval and change.
The Vietnam War and civil rights were central issues. The African-American civil rights movement continued into the 1960s with the lunch counter sit-ins. And many college students from the Baby Boom generation were also restless and joined organizations and movements affiliated with the New Left, like the Students for a Democratic Society. The anti-war movement had emerged to protest the growing US involvement in Vietnam.
Throughout American society, individuals were more willing to challenge authority. And by the late 1960s, the civil rights movement entered a more militant phase. And other identity politics-based social movements advocated for immediate changes in American society.
The Kennedy and Johnson administrations marked a high point for American liberalism. Johnson's administration surpassed the reforms of the Progressive Era and the New Deal in many ways. In 1964, following the assassination of John F Kennedy, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, a federal law that bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. One year later, following the Civil rights march in Selma, Alabama, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits governments from enacting laws that discriminate against voters on the basis of race. Both laws marked a significant triumph of the civil rights movement and indicated the federal government's growing role in promoting equality.
Yet, by the time of the Democratic National Convention and the other tumultuous events of 1968, American society seemed to be unraveling. The anti-war movement remained active. A number of social groups, women, Latinos, American Indians, the LGBTQ community, and African-Americans, mobilized to press the government to guarantee their rights. Meanwhile, other Americans, including members of Richard Nixon's silent majority, scoffed at protesters' demands and believed the government should play less of a role in individual's lives. It was elements of traditionalism and conservatism that helped Richard Nixon win the White House in 1968.
You're very familiar with historical lenses at this point. And using them, you've learned how the United States has been divided along lines of race, class, and gender for much of its history. With this in mind, what makes the turbulent 1960s unique? Despite the optimism that opened the decade, why did such divisions only widen by the end of the decade? What legacies of these divisions do you see today?
These are difficult questions. But historians don't ask easy questions. Only by asking these questions and engaging with them through multiple lenses and perspectives can we arrive at a more complete picture of the 1960s and possibly heal the divisions within American society.
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