To a New Generation of Americans
A Brief Introduction to a New Course, "What Happened In/To the Sixities"
The short answer to the question "Why take this course?" is "To get better at
reading and writing." A better answer might be "To help you see what reading
and writing really are."
Imagine someone who was white and who was living and growing up in America
before the Civil War, during the time when slavery was legal and was a
widespread practice. Looking back, we can see the horror of slavery and see
that it was a terribly important issue, but how did most people living at the
time see it? Most people accepted slavery. One of the reasons Huckleberry
Finn is a great novel is that it shows an ordinary person at the time
coming to terms with slavery and realizing what slavery means.
Even those living before the Civil War who didn't like slavery lived with it
as a normal part of their world. They might not have thought it was an 'issue'
much less one with the power to destroy their country. Even among those who
cared, many couldn't or wouldn't or, perhaps, felt they shouldn't do anything
about it.
You might say that most people at the time were drifting comfortably (they
thought) on the river of history, letting it carry them 'wherever' as it
approached the waterfall of war. There were people who realized something was
wrong and tried to understand what was happening. They observed the world,
thought about what they saw, put their thoughts and feelings in writing for
others to share. They read what others had written. Reading and writing are
means by which people can steer and propel themselves and events so that they
aren't just drifting down the river of history, of life.
In this course you will be learning how to steer and propel yourself so you
don't blindly drift. You will look closely at an interesting period of recent
history, the 1960's--the soul of which, by the way, the civil rights movement,
is directly related to slavery and the Civil War--and then at developments
since the 1960's, trying to see, understand, and explain the issues and forces
shaping events, shaping people's lives, and shaping the history we are
presently experiencing.
Every day in and out of class, you'll examine evidence of what's happened and
what's happening--news reports, novels, stories, songs, TV shows, movies,
essays, etc.--looking for clues that show the issues and forces at work in our
time and writing about what you find and what you think.
First Semester Topics
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"Normal"--prelude to change
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New Frontier--growth and progress
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Freedom--women's movement, civil rights movement, youth movement, peace
movement
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War--hot (VietNam) and cold (mutually assured destruction)
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What's New
Second Semester Topics
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1970's--Watergate, VietNam, Energy, Iran
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1980's--Ronald Reagan, Soviet collapse
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1990's--Desert Storm, Clinton
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The 21st Century--what next?
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