The 60’s in a primary source
Growing up, students are taught about the general ideas and points made in history throughout the decades. In reality, what we’re being taught is based upon what the government wants us to know but in fact, these decades are full of so many interesting facts and moments in time that history books don’t tend to elaborate on. Growing up in the 60’s seemed like quite the time to be alive, whether good or bad there was always history being made. Ive never truly known much about this era in time until now. This video truly opened my eyes to a whole new view on this time in the United States.
One of my favorite topics on this video had to be about Muhammad Ali, a world famous boxer. Born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., He was responsible for being one of the greatest heavyweight boxers in history. Although he had his reign, he had quite a future ahead of him. No one knows him as just a world famous boxer but for the time he did as well. He started training as a young boy and at the age of 22 was titled the world heavyweight champion. He was later found guilty on draft evasion charges. It was quite interesting to learn about, He was stripped from his title but later his conviction was overturned.
The next subject that caught my interested was the story of the black panthers. It’s crazy to think about how people were so afraid of the government of the world, of each other that they felt they needed to create a defense for themselves. This really wasn’t a topic that i knew much about but it sure is a crazy one. They were fighting for revolutionary socialism.The black panthers were big believers and followers of Marxism. The panthers later gained somewhat of a worse title after their minister Huey Newton was arrested for murdering a state police officer. A large turn in the world of the panthers was when 17 year-old Bobby Hutton was shot dead. Robert Kennedy soon recognized the minorities issues and felt very sympathetic for them.
The biggest of all the different events that happened in the 60’s had to be the Vietnam war. The decision to continue to put our troops in a war skewered the minds of many citizens. It seemed that at the very beginning, when they first made the decision the majority of people were for it. As the years passed, many uprisings began like the Kent state shooting. There was a mass protest, peaceful protest but the police came in and opened fire leaving four people dead. The “civilians” of the country did not feel safe in their own homes, or even in their own communities. I reflect back on those letters that I read that were addressed to “bizz” Johnson. There were families writing him to let him know that even their own sons and daughters felt safer stationed out in Vietnam than they would in their own homes.
Overall I felt that the 60’s were quite a difficult time to live in. Although there were many good things about it like the music and entertainment, there were definitely bad moments in history far worse than anyone could truly comprehend. I think about what it wouldve felt like to live in a time like that. What it felt like to feel as if you couldnt peacefully express your opinions without being assaulted. The moment that as a country, whether they have military family members or not people worried for their troops. The moment that as a country you feel united. It may not have been one of the best moments in history but that time period proved so much to us and taught me even more.
