In the 21st Century, the decade of the 1960s is more and more distant chronologically yet its influence on American society continues to be examined from every perspective. Historian Stanley I. Cutler has asked: "Was it a moment of idealism springing from the spontaneous enthusiasm and energy of people struggling to gain control of their lives? Or was it a veritable lark of self-indulgence by comfortable elites?"

We will seek to answer these questions and many more throughout the semester. We will examine the 1960s from various perspectives, and by the end of the semester, you should have a solid understanding of the major currents running through those years.

Major objectives of the course will be (1) to broaden student knowledge of the tumultuous decade; (2) to explore how the decade ultimately influenced the lives of individuals and the nation over the years; (3) to examine major events and trends in terms of their news and their history; and (4) to judge what the lasting legacy--if any--of the 1960s will be.

Required Textbooks

Chalmers, David. And the Crooked Places Made Straight. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2d edition,1996.

Charters, Ann, editor. The Portable Sixties Reader. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Farber, David, editor. The Sixties: From Memory to History. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994.

Kaiser, Charles. 1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation. New York: Grove Press, 1988.

Morrison, Joan, and Morrison, Robert K. From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Grading

Your semester grade will be determined by participation in classroom work and discussions and by your research and writing for your required papers.

Course Requirements

You will be required to attend class regularly, to participate in classroom discussions and Web forums, to write brief credit/no credit discussion papers, and to write four papers--three analytical papers of 5-6 pages each and a major research paper.

Discussion Papers: The assigned discussion papers will be 1-2 pages in length and are intended to stimulate your thinking about subjects to be discussed in class. The papers will be credit/no credit.

Paper No. 1: The first paper should be 5-6 pages. This paper will center around your examination of a specific year within the decade of the 1960s. Students will be asked to choose so that all years of the 1960s will be studied by some class members, and we will use your findings for class discussions. Look for circumstances that may have made your year different from others. See if you can determine how your year ultimately fits into the "flow" of the 1960s. Use magazines and newspapers to help with your assessment.

Paper No. 2: The second paper should be 5-6 pages. This paper will involve interviews with individuals who lived during the 1960s and have recollections of the times. You can talk to parents, grandparents, friends, faculty and staff members, or people in the community. Concern yourself with how people think the 1960s may have influenced their thinking and lives. What do they remember about the decade? Any special situations? Participants in peace protests? Service in Vietnam? Participants in other major events? Isolated from the tumult? Influence of television?

Paper No. 3: 5-6 pages. This paper should examine a major event in terms of news and its history. What did the news say at the time? How have historians revised the early interpretations of what was happening? Seek to understand the relationships between news and history.

Major Paper: 20 pages plus endnotes and bibliography. Your major paper should center on some aspect of the 1960s. Obviously, the subject possibilities are endless, but start early to think about your choice. The major papers should make use of major media resources from the 1960s--newspapers and magazines, advertisements, video clips, etc. In addition, you should find as many books as possible concerning your subject area. If you choose to do so, you can build on one of your shorter papers for your major paper.

 

Deadlines for Papers

Here are the deadlines for your required papers:

First 5-6 page paper: Classtime, Wednesday, Sept. 17
Second 5-6 page paper: Classtime, Wednesday, Oct. 15
Third 5-6 page paper: Classtime, Wednesday, Nov. 19
Major research paper: Thursday, Dec. 11 at 4 p.m. Final day of classes.