Why learn about America in the 1960s?

The 1960s were a period of immense change. Citizens historically excluded from education, political participation, or economic prosperity successfully mounted grassroots movements to demand justice and equality. The U.S. government, under the presidential leadership of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, responded to these movements by passing laws and mobilizing resources to address issues of inequality and poverty.

The events of the 1960s had a profound impact on the people who lived through the decade. Many voted for the first time; others benefited from federal programs that provided healthcare, job training, and food security. Student movements reshaped campus policies, classrooms, and governance. The Black Power and Chicano movements provided a new sense of pride in racial identities and the women’s movements offered many women a new sense of independence.

The 1960s matter, in part, because of the incredible impact the events of the decade had on the people who lived through it. The decade matters for its impact on the present too. The civil rights, student, and women’s movements rewrote the playbook for protest. Their use of sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and the media to accomplish their goals are common strategies in the social justice movements of the 21st century. Likewise, the progressive programs of the Great Society are now key elements of domestic policy. Each year, thousands of Americans benefit from the services and support of Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, school lunch programs, community development initiatives, and job training organizations.

It’s easy to paint a triumphal picture of the decade, which was indeed characterized by progress toward greater inclusivity. Yet it was also a period of tension and often violence. Abroad, the Kennedy administration grappled with Cold War relations in Cuba and Vietnam. Johnson’s presidency included a still deeper and more controversial commitment to Vietnam as he mobilized U.S. troops in Southeast Asia.

At home, activists experienced resistance to their efforts. Most infamously, White citizens who opposed racial equality bombed buses and assaulted protesters, often aided by local police officers. Employers hired new workers to replace striking Mexican-American and Filipino workers while newspapers sensationalized women seeking equal pay and bodily autonomy as bra-burning radicals. Even within their own ranks, civil rights and other activists disagreed about how best to accomplish their goals. Was a non-violent, moderate path the surest way to equality? Or was a degree of violence and radicalism the better way to respond to long histories of discrimination in the United States?

The 1960s also matter because the decade prompts us to consider the complexity of any given time period. To tell the fullest, richest story of this period of U.S. history, we need to grapple with the coexistence of progress and opposition, peace and violence, triumph and failure.