Vietnam War Protestors Confront M.P.s with Flowers
Social Movements
A Vietnam-era photograph shows a standoff between antiwar protesters and military police. The demonstration, which took place on October 21, 1967, included a march to the Pentagon, where "Yippies" Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin led a mock "exorcism" of the building. As many as 100,000 people took part in the protest, which also involved several exchanges similar to the one depicted in the photograph.
Department of Defense
Department of Defense, "Photograph of a Female Demonstrator Offering a Flower to a Military Police Officer, 10/21/1967," 21 October 1967, from the National Archives, http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=594360
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1967
English
Photograph
Postwar America (1946-1975)
A Songwriter Recalls the Origins and Impact of an Antiwar Anthem
Social Movements
After serving in the Navy, Joe McDonald moved to Berkeley, California, as the anti-Vietnam War movement was beginning to pick up momentum. He recorded "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag" under the name "Country Joe and the Fish"; the song gradually became an anthem for the antiwar movement, particularly after McDonald performed it at the Woodstock festival in 1969.
Christian G. Appy, ed., <em>Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides</em>, (New York: Penguin Books, 2003) 195-199.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2003
Used by permission of Chris Appy. For on-line information about other Penguin Group (USA) books and authors, see the Internet website at: <a href="http://penguin.com/" target="_blank">http://www.penguin.com</a>.
837
English
Oral History
Postwar America (1946-1975)
A Student Organizer Recalls an Antiwar Protest
Social Movements
Todd Gitlin was a founding member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which by the late 1960s was the largest radical student organization in the country. Originally concerned with the problem of poverty and racism in the United States, SDS was one of the first student groups to take an anti-war stance. Here Gitlin recalls his impressions of an anti-Vietnam War protest held in Washington on April 17, 1965, the largest demonstration against the war to that point.
Christian G. Appy, ed., <em>Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides</em> (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 265-267.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2003
Used by permission of Chris Appy. For on-line information about other Penguin Group (USA) books and authors, see the Internet website: <a href="http://penguin.com/" target="_blank">http://www.penguin.com</a>.
English
Oral History
Postwar America (1946-1975)
"I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag"
Social Movements
In 1959, at the age of seventeen, Joe McDonald joined the Navy. After his discharge three years later, he enrolled in a Los Angeles college where he became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, McDonald moved to Berkeley, California just as protests against the Vietnam War were becoming more visible. He formed a band called Country Joe and the Fish which recorded the "Fixin-to-Die-Rag" in October. The song, while never a commercial success, became one of the most powerful anthems of the anti-war movement.
Joe McDonald
Joe McDonald, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag," sound recording and lyrics, <em>I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die</em> (Tradition Music, BMI, 1965).
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1965
Used by permission of Joe McDonald.
1013, 1438
English
Music/Song
Postwar America (1946-1975)
The FBI Sets Goals for COINTELPRO
Social Movements
Under Director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) was aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political groups within the United States. In the 1960's, COINTELPRO's targets frequently included civil rights activists, both those who espoused non-violence, like Martin Luther King, and those that Hoover referred to as "black nationalist hate groups," like the Black Panthers. This document outlines the program's goals in attempting to limit the effectiveness of such groups. In practice, the FBI used infiltration, legal harassment, disinformation and sometimes extra-legal intimidation and violence against King, the Panthers, and other black activist groups in its attempt to discredit and disrupt them.
J. Edgar Hoover
Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, Jenice L. View, eds., <em>Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching</em> (Teaching for Change & PRRAC, 2004).
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1968
English
Government Document
Postwar America (1946-1975)
John Kerry Testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Social Movements
On April 22, 1971, John Kerry, representing Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), testified before the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate. The following day, April 23, 1971, Kerry and hundreds of other VVAW veterans threw medals, ribbons, discharge papers, photographs, citations, canes and military clothing over a fence on the steps of the capitol building. Television cameras filmed the event, broadcasting dramatic images on the evening news on all the national networks.
John Kerry
"Legislative Proposals Relating to the War in Southeast Asia," <em>Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations</em>, United States Senate, Ninety-Second Congress, First Session (April-May 1971), (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1971).
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1971
English
Government Document
Postwar America (1946-1975)
Security Handbook for Freedom Summer Workers
Civil Rights and Citizenship
Social Movements
A copy of the Security Handbook given to participants in the "Freedom Summer" campaign in Mississippi in 1964 highlights the dangers that young civil rights workers were exposed to. Tragically, the precautions suggested by the handbook proved insufficient; three young volunteers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were abducted and killed by Klansmen within the first weeks of the campaign.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Security Handbook," <em>Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive</em>, University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archives, http://anna.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/crda/ellin/ellin048.html.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1964 (Circa)
Used by permission of The University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archives.
English
Government Document
Postwar America (1946-1975)
African-American Women Threaten a Bus Boycott in Montgomery
Civil Rights and Citizenship
Social Movements
This letter from the Women's Political Council to the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, threatens a bus boycott by the city's African Americans if demands for fair treatment are not met.
Jo Ann Robinson
Clayborne Carson, et al, eds., <em>The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader</em> (New York: Penguin Books, 1991), 44-45; also from <em>Historical Thinking Matters</em>, http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/inquiry.php?sourceID=19&page=inquiry&moduleID=5&tab=resources.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1954
1835, 1836
English
Diary/Letter
Postwar America (1946-1975)
<em>Harper's Weekly</em> Mocks the Theories of Henry George
Social Movements
In this political cartoon from <em>Harper's Weekly</em>, the theories of Henry George, the Workingman's Party candidate for Mayor of New York, are depicted as leading to mob violence and misrule. With a caption featuring a quote from George (taken out of context) that refers to the horrors of the French Revolution, the cartoonist suggests that the discrepancies between the "theory" and "practice" of reformers like George will likewise lead to violent excess on the part of the "undesirable elements" the poor and immigrant workers whose votes the George campaign sought.
Unknown
"Reform-By George," <em>Harper's Weekly</em>, 23 October 1886; from <em>HarpWeek</em>, Cartoon of the Day, http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=Octoberandamp;Date=23.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1886
English
Cartoon
Industrialization and Expansion (1877-1913)
"The Fight for Educational Reform": Chicano Youth Demand Change
Social Movements
In this chapter from <em>Chicano!: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement</em> F. Arturo Rosales explains the environment from which this Chicano youth movement developed and the tactics used by this student movement to bring about educational reform during the 1960s and early 1970s.
F. Arturo Rosales
F. Arturo Rosales, <em>Chicano: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement</em> (Arte Publico Press, 1997), 174-195
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1997
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English
Book
Postwar America (1946-1975)