The Century: America's Time

Reporter Peter Jennings hosts this important series that chronicles the events and experiences of America in the twentieth century, the century that Henry Luce dubbed

Episode 11, Unpinned

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November of 1963, America stood on the brink of domestic conflict and entrenched in the quagmire of the Vietnam War. The years 1963 through 1968 remain some of the most violent and destructive years of American history. This episode examines some of the major events of those turbulent years, including the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964, Freedom Summer, student protest and the Students for a Democratic Society, Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society, the counterculture, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the 1968 Democratic convention.

Unpinned fulfills the following National Standards for History for grades 5-12: Chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research capabilities, historical issues-analysis and decision-making for Era 7.

Discussion Questions

  1. Why did the New York Times call the 1964 World's Fair

  2. In 1964, three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were murdered. How did their murder help to mobilize the Civil Rights Movement?

  3. The era of student protest began at University of California, Berkeley. What prompted these student protests?

  4. How and why did the United States get involved in the Vietnam War?

  5. Why was the Vietnam War different than any other type of war previously fought by the United States?

  6. In the mid-1960s, the Civil Rights Movement began to splinter into separate factions. Why did the movement splinter?

  7. Compare the ideologies and techniques of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

  8. Analyze and discuss the music of the 1960s and its influence on the youth culture.

  9. How was the counterculture symbolic of the generational conflicts in America in the 1960s?

  10. The actions of the Women's Liberation Movement broke many of the gender boundaries and taboos of earlier eras. How did the Civil Rights Movement influence this movement?

  11. Discuss the role of television in the Vietnam War.

  12. Discuss the class antagonisms of the Vietnam War and the war protests.
Extended Activities

  1. Create a poster for the 1964 World's Fair.

  2. Create a timeline of the events of 1968.

  3. Moderate a class debate on the U.S. presence in Vietnam.
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