The United States in the 1960s
Professor: Allan M. Winkler
Date: Fall 1992
Listing: History 180: Freshman Honors Seminar
Texts:
- Branch, PARTING THE WATERS
- Cleaver, SOUL ON ICE
- Didion, SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM
- Evans, PERSONAL POLITICS
- Friedan, THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE
- Gitling, THE SIXTIES
- Hayslip, WHEN HEAVEN & EARTH CHANGED PLACES
- Herring, AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR
- McLaurin, SEPARATE PAST
- Matusow, THE UNRAVELING OF AMERICA
- Moody, COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI
- O'Neill, COMING APART
- Shulman, MEMOIRS OF AN EX-PROM QUEEN
- Sitkoff, THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK EQUALITY
- Winkler, THE RECENT PAST
- Wolfe, THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST
Films:
The following films are course requirements:
September 2 -- JFK PRESS CONFERENCE NO. 1
September 9 -- EYES ON THE PRIZE #1
September 16 -- EYES ON THE PRIZE #3
September 30 -- EYES ON THE PRIZE #12
October 7 -- HEARTS AND MINDS
October 14 -- PLATOON
October 21 -- VIETNAM: THE WAR AT HOME
October 28 -- COMING HOME
November 4 -- PICKING UP THE PIECES
November 11 -- HAIR
November 18 -- WOODSTOCK
December 2 -- IN A DARK TIME
December 9 -- LEGACIES OF THE SIXTIES
Screening times to accommodate all your schedules will be announced in class.
Description:
This course examines political, social, and cultural changes to the United States in the turbulent decade of the 1960s. It will begin by describing the consensus that existed in the 1950s, and will then explore such topics as: the civil rights movement; the women's movement; the expansion of the welfare state; the war in Vietnam; and the growth of a counter-culture. The course presupposes no background and will provide whatever framework is necessary to deal with the major issues being considered. The class will follow a discussion format, and participation by all students is essential. Each session will focus on the assigned reading and/or film and on material--songs, slides, documents--presented in class.
This course seeks to encourage critical thinking about the sources we will examine. We will look at documents--both primary and secondary materials--and ask questions about their authenticity and their validity. We will examine the arguments of authors, and seek to understand the attitudes and values they express. At the same time, we will try to explore different ways of interpreting the past. We will juxtapose the arguments of policy makers, and historians sympathetic to their positions, with the writings of both radical and conservative critics and try to understand the nature of the emerging dialogue. Finally, the course seeks to develop an understanding of the discipline of history as a subjective exercise, in some ways an art form, in which the historian tries to piece together an impression of the past. You should finish the semester with the understanding that there is no such thing as an objective assessment that explains everything about the past, and the awareness that all we can try to do is approximate some sense of reality.
Assignments:
Participation in class discussions is a fundamental requirement. Students are expected to have completed the reading before each meeting, and to have seen the film assigned each week by Thursday's class. In addition, each student will make a short oral presentation in one class, 5-7 minutes long, framing the issues being considered that particular day. And each student will write 3 papers, the first 2 pages long, the second 3 pages long, the third 5 pages long. There will be no examinations in the course.
Grading:
Assignments will be weighted as follows:
Class discussion ---------- 50%
Oral presentation --------- 10%
2-page paper -------------- 5%
3-page paper -------------- 15%
5-page paper -------------- 20%
At the end of the term, credit will be given for improvement.
Class Discussion:
Class discussion is a crucial part of the course. Every class session revolves around discussion. It is important that your comments be directed to each other, and not to the instructor, in the interests of promoting real interaction and of keeping an animated conversation going. You should feel free to respond to one another without raising your hand. At the same time, every effort will be made to ensure that everyone participates each session.
Papers:
Writing is an equally important part of the course. Your papers should be written in clear, grammatical, and well-crafted prose. We will work carefully with your writing in class, in an effort to make it as precise and expressive as possible. The three assigned papers are meant to be critical assessments of selected reading assignments. The papers will be graded on the basis of style as well as substance.
The following papers are course requirements:
A 2-page paper, due in class Thursday, September 24, will be a critical analysis of either Anne Moody, COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI or Melton A McLaurin, SEPARATE PASTS.
A 3-page paper, due in class Thursday, October 29, will be a critical analysis of Betty Friedan, THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE.
A 5-page paper, due in class Thursday, December 3, will deal with the Democratic convention of 1968, and will draw on newspapers and magazines of the period.
Late papers are not acceptable.
Weekly Schedule of Assignments
Week 1. Introduction and the Cold War Consensus
August 25: Background: The Post World War II Era
Reading: None
August 27: The Cold War Consensus
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Introduction, Sections 1 & 2
Week 2. The 1950s and the Kennedy Years
September 1: The 1950s
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Sections 4 & 5
September 3: The Kennedy Mystique
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 6, O'Neill, COMING APART, Ch. 2-3
FILM: JFK PRESS CONFERENCE NO. 1, 1/25/61
Week 3. The Great Society
September 8: No class September 10: LBJ and the Great Society
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 7, O'Neill, COMING APART, Ch. 4, Matusow, THE UNRAVELING OF AMERICA, Ch. 6-9
FILM: EYES ON THE PRIZE #1
Week 4. The Civil Rights Movement
September 15: An Overview
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 11
September 17: An Overview (ctd)
Reading: Sitkoff, THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK EQUALITY, entire
FILM: EYES ON THE PRIZE #3
Week 5: The Civil Rights Movement
September 22: Growing up Black
Reading: Anne Moody, COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI, entire
September 24: Growing Up White
Reading: McLaurin, SEPARATE PASTS, entire
FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS SEPTEMBER 24
Week 6. The Civil Rights Movement
September 29: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reading: Branch, PARTING THE WATERS, Ch. 10, 12, 19, 21-22
October 1: Black Radicalism
Reading: Cleaver, SOUL ON ICE, entire
FILM: EYES ON THE PRIZE #12
Week 7. The War in Vietnam
October 6: Background of the War
Reading: Herring, AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR, Ch. I-III
October 8: The Unfolding of the War
Reading: Herring, AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR, Ch. IV-VI, Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 8, Gelb article
FILM: HEARTS AND MINDS
Week 8. The War in Vietnam
October 13: The Soldiers' War
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 8, Kovic article
October 15: The Civilians' War
Reading: Hayslip, WHEN HEAVEN & EARTH CHANGED PLACES, entire
FILM: PLATOON
Week 9. The New Left
October 20: The Protest Movement
Reading: O'Neill, COMING APART, Ch. 9, Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 9, Hodgson & Hayden articles
October 22: Politics and Protest
Reading: Matusow, THE UNRAVELING OF AMERICA, Ch. 11, 13-14
FILM: THE WAR AT HOME
Week 10. The Women's Movement
October 27: An Introduction to the Movement
Reading: Winkler, THE RECENT PAST, Section 12
October 29: Birth of the Movement
Reading: Friedan, THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE, entire
FILM: COMING HOME
SECOND PAPER DUE IN CLASS OCTOBER 29
Week 11. The Women's Movement
November 3: Origins of the Movement
Reading: Evans, PERSONAL POLITICS, entire
November 5: Film in class: PICKING UP THE PIECES
Week 12: The Women's Movement
November 10: The Sexual Revolution
Reading: Xeroxed articles--to be distributed
November 12: A Fictional View
Reading: Shulman, MEMOIRS OF AN EX-PROM QUEEN, entire
FILM: HAIR
Week 13: The Counter-Culture
November 17: Cultural Change
Reading: O'Neill, COMING APART, Ch. 8
November 19: The Drug Scene
Reading: Wolfe, THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST, entire
FILM: WOODSTOCK
Week 14: The Counter-Culture
November 24: The Underside of the Counter-Culture
Reading: Didion, SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM
November 26: No class.
Week 15. Climax
December 1: 1968
Reading: O'Neill, COMING APART, Ch. 11
December 3: 1968
Reading: Newspapers & magazines from the period
FILM: IN A DARK TIME
FINAL PAPER DUE IN CLASS DECEMBER 3
Week 16. The 1960s in Perspective
December 8: An Overview of the 1960s
Reading: Gitlin, THE SIXTIES, entire
December 10: The Legacy
Reading: No reading (Discussion based on film)
FILM: Legacies of the Sixties
Send your Sixties-related course syllabus to us via email, or mail a disk to PO Box 13746, Tucson, AZ 85732-3746.
|
