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The 1960s: Understanding the Decade that Shaped your Parents, your Professors, and your Political Leaders

The 1960s are remembered as a tumultuous decade, in which basic assumptions, relationships, and values were challenged. That decade profoundly shaped the ways in which Americans in the late 20th and early 21st centuries understand issues ranging from war and political leadership to gender relations and racial divisions. The goal of this course is to allow students to examine the political, cultural, and social issues of the 1960s, with a particular focus on the ways in which college age youth—those actually in college and those in other walks of life—encountered them. Students will use primary sources to explore the ways in which their counterparts of 40 years ago experienced campus life and pop culture, responded to issues ranging from the Vietnam War to the sexual revolution, and became engaged in campus life and national politics. We will also examine both the historical and popular memory of the decade, and discuss the ways in which it is represented.

Course taught by

Ellen Eisenberg