The Sixties - Overview
1. Poisoned Dreams 1960-1964 (The Century: America's Time). This is the full video (45 minutes)
2. Unpinned 1965 - 1970 (The Century: America's Time). (45 minutes, in 3 parts below)
A. Part I
B. Part II
C. Part III
3. The Sixties: Years that Changed America video (2 hours). A good overview. Bad music b/c they didn't get any permissions! Guide attached below (pdf).
4. Joyce Carol Oats: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been (1966)
5. The Fog of War (documentary on Robert McNamara) - video
6. Radiolab - "The Bad Show" - radio podcast about experiments
7. Tom Brokaw - "!968 in America" (video 90 minutes)
The New Left
1. The Cops and the Kids - The New Republic. By James Ridgeway August 28, 1968
The Civil Rights Movement - overview
Eyes on the Prize
1. Link to Eyes on the Prize on YouTube ... this is a playlist with 14 videos. The entire series is great. Of particular importance are the following:
A. #1 - "Awakenings" - the first half is an introduction and then the story of Emmett Till
B. #3 - "Ain't Scared of Your Jails" - pick up at 26 minutes into the video...about the Freedom Rides.
C. #3 - "Ain't Scared of Your Jails" - watch up to about the 20 minute mark ... this is about the Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
D. #4 - "No Easy Walk" - Birmingham, Children's March: fire hoses spraying protesters, police dogs, Civil Rights Act of 1964
E. #6 - "Bridge to Freedom, 1965" - about the voting rights movement in Alabama, Bloody Sunday, Jim Clark, Rev. C.T. Vivian
F. #9 - "Power" (pick up at 19:17) -Black Panthers, Black Power movement
Malcolm X - readings and videos
1. [needs updating] Attached below is a pdf overview reading (short) that explains about what the Nation of Islam is.
2. Watch this 5 min. biography of Malcolm X . . . short and sweet.
3. [needs updating] Malcolm X: Make It Plain - this is a pbs video biography of Malcolm X. Really long (2 hrs), but really good. If you get hooked on X it will really help you understand him.
4.
5. "House Negro vs. Field Negro" - an excerpt (24 min) of his famous "Message to the Grassroots" speech; listen to the crowd!! Lots of laughter!!
6. Malcolm Explains "X" - (10 min) on a Chicago news show, X tries to explain his last name to the white panelists - listen closely to everyone. Full (28 min) version.
7. 1965 Interview - on an NBC television show (8 min clip), Malcolm explains his split with the Nation of Islam, his views of Dr. King, and his ideology, religion and methods. This is important b/c it is after Malcolm split with the Nation of Islam.
Dr. King - Youtube Video Selections
1. MLK Interview on Television (12 min) - on the Merv Griffin show...ask your parents, they'll remember Merv. MLK explains very succinctly his opposition to the Vietnam War and answers an audience question about whether or not opposing the Vietnam War = treason. Very interesting. Do your best to ignore the advertisement text on screen.
2. A speech Dr, King gave in Frogmore, SC at an SCLC conference in May 1967...can't find the text of it. I'm putting this on here just to remind myself to keep looking.
3. Dr. King on the Vietnam War - in this audio (22 min.) King speaks about his opposition to the war . . . want all his reasons? Read/listen to this earlier speech (56 min).
4. The Last Speech - the evening before he was killed - King delivers a speech - here are the last 4 min of the speech.
5. Link to video of Dr. King's Birmingham Jail Letter - "Acted out" by students at U of Texas...cool!
6. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (pdf attached below). One of the most famous letters in U.S. history.
The Vietnam War
You guys don't have to do these...I gave you a different reading in class but I want to keep this on here for future use.
1. The Vietnam War - (Facts on File: Issues and Controversies in American History)
- read the "background" section
Q1: Terms: Viet Cong (VC), guerilla war, Ho Chi Minh Trail,
Q1: What was the French experience in Vietnam?
Q2: What were the "Geneva accords" and what was Diem's response to them?
Q3: What was Diem's rule like? Did we support him?
2. William Broyles, Jr: Why Men Love War
3. Two Days in October - on youtube (2022 link) and link to website or pdf of cast list and transcript.
4. Tim O'Brien - 2011 in Arlington, VA (youtube video)
5. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam video ... must see!
7. The Day the Sixties Dies - video on Kent State
8. The textual "truth" behind Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (2017) by John Young
Watergate
1. watch this documentary on YouTube:
A. a fantastic documentary is Dick Cavett’s Watergate … it is a look at the scandal from a pop culture perspective.
That is what makes it so interesting! Cavett was putting light on something that really wasn’t on t.v. very much.
A popular comedian and television star, Cavett hosted popular talk shows (all named after him) from the late Sixties
until the mid-1990’s! It is just under an hour.
-- if you feel you need more background, watch one of these --
B. The Final Report on YouTube (45 minutes) National Geographic documentary
C. Nixon in the Den on YouTube (45 minute documentary)
2. names and terms you should know for a basic understanding of Watergate:
John Mitchell, Howard Hunt, Alexander Butterfield, John Dean, Judge Serica, Wright Patman, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman,
John Erlichman, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Gerald Ford, Spiro Agnew, G. Gordon Liddy, James McCord,
Mark Felt, Archibald Cox, Leon Jawarski, Rose Mary Woods, Saturday Night Massacre, smoking gun tape,
United States v Nixon (1974), Committee to Re-Elect the President
3. Go Further - new documentary (orig. a podcast series, now a film series) Slow Burn
A. Slate.com Slow Burn Season 1 8 episodes … you could listen while you walk on the treadmill or in your
neighborhood … this is an amazing account of the scandal … we learned TONS listening to it … the host
interviewed a lot of people who usually don’t get mentioned and whose names we didn’t know AT ALL but who
were right there on the inside of what was happening … available on these podcast apps:
season one on Watergate is now a tv show on Epix network … i don’t have Epix so i have not seen the whole thing;
update: episodes 1&2 of the tv series are included with Amazon Prime Video … episide 1 is great!
B. the classic thing students are told to watch is the movie (based on a book) called All the President’s Men. This 1976
film looks at the scandal from the perspective of two Washington Post reporters who helped the public learn about
the cover-up: Bob Woodward and Carm Bernstein. It stars academy award winners Robert Redford and Dustin
Hoffman. It is not an action movie - although there is a lot of suspense about who in the government will talk and
who might be threatening those who talk to reporters. Much of the movie is quiet. But the film does such a great
job of getting the “feel” of things it is worth watching … especially with a person from an older generation.
Sixties Oral History Project
Here are the sites I recommend for you to read before planning your interview...there are lots of good suggestions here on how to conduct an effective interview. These are a couple years old, so please let me know if any of the links are not working and/or any other good oral history sites you find. Thanks
1. Top 10 Tips for Great Interview Stories By Kimberly Powell
http://genealogy.about.com/od/oral_history/tp/great_stories.htm
2. Oral History websites list - see what others have done to get a sense of the possibilities By Kimberly Powell
http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld969.html
3. Here is a general guide “Step-by-Step” that has lots of interesting tips in it. By Kimberly Powell
http://genealogy.about.com/od/oral_history/ss/oral_history_8.htm
4. Another “Step-by-Step” guide (Sections I and II might be the most relevant right now) By Judith Moyer
http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html
5. Good tips from University of California at Berkeley.