Due to the subject matters that this presentation covers, such as sex, drugs,

race relations, and other adult topics, viewer discretion is advised. Thank You

1968THE YEAR THAT ROCKED OUR WORLD

Presentation by: Nia Johnson

The First Week

January 1 :Day of peace Pope 12 hr. extension to Viet Cong announced ceasefire

France President gives New Years speech Fought Vietnam and Algeria after WWII France in Prosperity

America Civil Rights Riot protection

Vietnam US Presidential Election

Prague Spring- Summary

The Election of Alexander Dubček reformed the Communist

government to give more freedoms to the people

Added some democracy into the government

Reformed too fast, instead of gradually

Reforms didn’t go well with the Soviets sent troops to invade

Czechoslovakia Saw tit as a threat to communism

Dubček expelled as communist leader Most of reforms undid

Violent vs. Non Violent Protests/LBJ and Vietnam/Anti- War Protests/Eartha Kitt

Disagreement among civil rights leaders on demonstration methods Both sides agree that they need an event that attracts media

attention

MLK Star of the Show

Media coverage vital to Civil Rights Movement To get coverage, they needed to provide daily short term news

stories, sound bites Anything that was “exciting” was a candidate to get on TV Presence of cameras had a impact on civility in debates

Pres. Johnson gives State of the Union address Got more coverage than any State of the Union Address Announced the safe streets act Talked about Vietnam

Post Johnson SOU Speech Anti-War Movements MLK called for a march on Washington to protest Vietnam War Protest by 5000 women dressed in black protesting Vietnam War Broadway for Peace Wall Street went Anti-War At a dinner Robert Kennedy asked for a show of hands of people

who approved of the war and those who didn’t In spite of all of the rigamoro surrounding the SOU speech

Johnson was still front runner in the electoral polls Eartha Kitt dinner incident

Student Protests (Part 1)

College demonstrations influenced high school and junior high schools to protest

Columbia protests new gym that displaces poor blacks in Harlem anti- war movement- day long boycott of classes

University of Wisconsin- Madison protesters planted 400 white crosses on the lawn in front

administration building Howard University

500-1000 students took hold of administration building Protesting lack Black history courses

Hippies taken over NYC Grand Central Station militant anti- war demonstration

University of Rome 1st day 200 students were injured 2nd day faulty members were protesting police brutality Italian communists failed in calming students down

German student organization organized around protesting the Vietnam War

Spain demonstrating against a fascist regime Brazil armed violence failed to keep students in

place

Student Protests (Part 2) Japanese students were violently protesting the presence of

U.S. military in Japan blocked a US air carrier from docking a Japanese port Cronkite’s visit to Japan covering Eisenhower’s visit

UK Student Protests started out with protesting Vietnam then moved to local

issues attacked anyone that represented the UK government turned the water in the fountain in Trafalgar Square red

Violence took less effort than nonviolence few rebels embraced it

SNCC thrilled world with creative nonviolent ideas influenced students as far away as Poland to stage sit-ins ”We Shall Overcome”

Black freshman sit-in at Woolworth in Greensboro SDS

inspired by Greensboro sit-ins Tom Hayden, SDS leader, went on a trip to Berkley

Hayden went South to bring food to blacks displaced from their homes for registering to vote hardship and loneliness in the South inspired him to take SDS

large scale Freedom Rides

invention of SNCC rode busses around the South; whites sat in black sections

and vice versa used wrong bathroom provoked white racism all over the South White Southerners responded with violence

The Influence of Poetry

1968 was a time when poetry mattered NYC offered dial-a-poem -Government pilot program sent poets around the

country to public high schools Robert Lowell Allen Ginsberg Lei Roi Jones

Ezra Pound Even though he was an Anti-Semitic fascist, he was the key

to poetry of 1968

Influenced Dylan Thomas, Lawrence Feringhetti, Allen Ginsburg

Rod McKuen Other “poets” of the time

Bob Dylan The Doors

Eugene McCarthy- Candidate and poet Bobby Kennedy

Revolution!

Fidel Castro started out with non revolutionary image gained a lot of positive media in the U.S. The seducer

Cuba and Lei Roi Jones At first your average beat poet Latin American writers attacked him for lack of

political commitment Helped him apply revolution to the black community

Cuba and Ginsburg seduction less successful didn’t like the police persecution of homosexuals and

beats

Once people realized that it was a real revolution, opinions changed

Bay of Pigs Chinese Cultural Revolution

initiated by chairman Mao Zedong to force out elements that undermine the revolution

Chinese 1968 generation were defenders of Mao- “Red Guard”

In practice the revolution was brutal Chinese Revolution influencing Cuba

Che Guevara

Hippies and Youth Culture

Rock music closely connected to college campuses gave benefit concerts for political causes student represented a large share of record sales album cover were designed for doing drugs and

studying it when high

LSD made by accident in a Swiss lab acid rock

Free Love rock concerts were starts to sexual encounters ”Make Love Not War”

Columbia Protests Protesting the gym that displaced Harlem

residents Occupied a building Violent police attacks

The Freedom Can

Miss America Pagent -”ideal of American womanhood” -homogeneous pageant -no breaking news at these events -by the ‘60 it was viewed racist and

empty headed Feminist Protesters

only wanted to speak to female reporters

-throwing “beauty products” like girdles, hair curlers, into the trash can

-backlash -labeled as bra-burners- even though

there is no proof any bras were burned -protesting the degrading nature of

Miss America “The Feminine Mystique” Airline stewardesses Feminist movement rooted in the Civil

Rights Movement Women’s Fashion

The Influence of a Decade

This decade help give a voice to oppressed people

Fostered a rebellious, generation

Gave us rights that we take for granted today

The End