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Chapter 14: 1960-1968

5 Lessons

14 Activities

14 Essays

Overview

Chapter 14 of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, BRI’s U.S. History Curriculum Resource, invites students to explore how internal and external political and cultural tensions shaped the years 1960–1968.

It contains an Introductory Essay, 7 lessons including a Civil Rights DBQ, 12 essays, 13 primary sources, a point-counterpoint about The Great Society, and an Inquiry Organizer to guide students through the exploration of the material.

Explore our suggested sequence for Chapter 14.

Lessons

Civil Disobedience across Time

1 Activities90 Min

Use this lesson with the Freedom Riders Narrative; The March on Birmingham Narrative; the Black Power Narrative; the Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 1963 Primary Source; the Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream," August 28, 1963 Primary Source ;The Music of the Civil Rights Movement Lesson; and the Civil Rights DBQ Lesson to discuss the different aspects of the civil rights movement during the 1960s

The Music of the Civil Rights Movement

Use this lesson with the Freedom Riders Narrative; The March on Birmingham Narrative; the Black Power Narrative; the Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 1963 Primary Source; the Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream," August 28, 1963 Primary Source; the Civil Disobedience across Time Lesson; and the Civil Rights DBQ Lesson to discuss the different aspects of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.

Civil Rights DBQ

Use this lesson with the Freedom Riders Narrative; The March on Birmingham Narrative; the Black Power Narrative; the Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 1963 Primary Source; the Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream," August 28, 1963 Primary Source; the Civil Disobedience across Time Lesson; and The Music of the Civil Rights Movement Lesson to discuss the different aspects of the civil rights movement during the 1960s.

A Civil Rights Investigation: Mississippi Burning

Why did three civil rights workers disappear during the Freedom Summer of 1964? Engage students with primary source documents to investigate this question. This lesson was developed by and included with the permission the LBJ Presidential Library.

We Shall Overcome: The Fight for Voting Rights

In this lesson, developed by and included with the permission the LBJ Presidential Library, students will examine primary source documents associated with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Activities

Was the Great Society Successful?

Did the Great Society significantly alleviate poverty and social ills in the United States or did it have little impact beyond creating unsustainably expensive federal programs? Anthony D. Bartl and Gregory L. Schneider debate this question.

John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Students for a Democratic Society, “Port Huron Statement,” 1962

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Photograph of Betty Friedan.

Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” 1963

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” August 28, 1963

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 1964

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” April 12, 1964

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Commencement Address at the University of Michigan (“Great Society” Speech), May 22, 1964

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Lyndon B. Johnson, “Peace Without Conquest,” April 7, 1965

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

The Vietnam War Experience: An Interview with Veteran William Maxwell Barner III

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Image Analysis: March on the Pentagon, October 21, 1967

Use this primary source imagery to analyze major events in history.

Walter Cronkite Speaks Out against Vietnam, February 27, 1968

Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.

Essays

Chapter 14 Introductory Essay: 1960-1968

How did cultural tensions shape the 1960s?

John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration

Why is JFK's Inaugural Address so iconic?

Freedom Riders

How did the Freedom Riders fight to end segregation?

Rachel Carson and Silent Spring

Explores Rachel Carson's impact on environmentalism.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

How close was the U.S. to nuclear war in 1962?

The March on Birmingham

How did did the March on Birmingham impact the Civil Rights Movement?

Women walk down a city street and hold signs that say Women Demand Equality and GWU Women's Liberation.

Betty Friedan and the Women’s Movement

What did the feminist movement of the 1960s work for?

The Vietnam War: Ia Drang Valley

What lessons did the U.S. learn after the battle of Ia Drang?

Rows of National Guard soldiers stand in the street and face protesting civilians.

Students and the Anti-War Movement

Why were many students opposed to the Vietnam War?

Black Power

Explores the impact of the Black Power movement in the 1960s.

The Election of 1968

Who ran for president in the 1968 election?

Protests at the University of California, Berkeley

What sparked the Berkeley Free Speech Movement?

Free Speech and the Student Anti-War Movement

Explores the impact of students on the anti-war movement.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Not to Run in 1968

Why did LBJ decide not to run for president in 1968?

Educator Resources

Educator Resource

Chapter 14: 1960-1968 Inquiry Organizer

How did internal and external political and cultural tensions shape the years 1960–1968?

Educator Resource

Chapter 14 Answer Key

Answer Key for Chapter 14 of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness