Module Identifier AS30120  
Module Title AMERICA IN THE SIXTIES  
Academic Year 2004/2005  
Co-ordinator Dr Helena Grice  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Mr Clive Meachen, Dr Luke A Thurston  
Pre-Requisite AS10120 , AS10220  
Co-Requisite AS30020 , AS30220  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   20 Hours 10 x 2 hr  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours  50%
Semester Assessment Essay: 1 x 2,500 word essay50%

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. articulate an informed understanding of the key events of this period and their influence on the contemporary USA;

2. write about the period and culture in a well-structured and well-argued way;

3. illustrate their knowledge and views using a variety of examples from the range of disciplines covered during the course;

4. demonstrate assured skill in critical analysis;

5. demonstrate developing skills in oral presentation.

Aims

This module aims:

1. To build upon the knowledge gained by students in Part I by familiarising Single Honours American Studies students with crucial events and important changes in American society and culture during the 1960s.

2. To offer students an interdisciplinary approach to American Studies. The perspectives of history, literature and politics are brought to bear on a series of common topics in a way that enhances understanding of the subject-matter, as well as demonstrating the conceptual benefits (and problems) of interdisciplinary study.

3. To supplement the existing range of courses in American Studies and thereby enhance students' overall understanding of American culture.

Brief description

This module focuses on black protest, the contra-culture and the youth revolt of the 1960s. However, it starts by examining the figure of John F Kennedy, whose presidency in some ways set the tone for the decade, but whose style of politics became a focus for many of the protest movements of the next few years.

Content

Seminar Content

1. Introduction and Overview

2. The 'New Frontier'

Readings: President Kennedy's Inaugural Address; Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath)

3. Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society'

Readings: Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath); Johnson, 'Great Society' speech and other documents

4. The New Left and Student Protest

Readings: Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath); Bloom and Breines, Takin' It to the Streets, ch.2

5. From 'Brown vs. Board of Education' to Selma: The Civil Rights Movement

Readings: Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath); Bloom and Breines, Takin? It to the Streets, ch.1; Martin Luther King, 'retter from Birmingham Jail? (photocopy); John F. Kennedy, 'rivil Rights Address? (photocopy)

6. From Civil Rights to Black Power

Readings: Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath); James Baldwin, Blues for Mister Charlie
Bloom and Breines, Takin' It to the Streets, pp. 135-76

7. Origins of Modern Feminism

Readings: Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Heath); Bloom and Brienes, Takin' It to the Streets, ch.8

8. The Counterculture I

Readings: Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo'r Nest; Bloom and Breines, Takin' It to the Streets, Ch. 5 (selections)
Album: Bob Dylan, Bringing it All Back Home

9. The Counterculture II

Reading: Bloom and Breines, Takin' It to the Streets, ch.9.
Viewing: Easy Rider (Dir. Denis Hopper, 1969)

10. The Anti-War Movement, Crises in the Left, and the Conservative Backlash

Reading: Bloom and Breines, Takin' It to the Streets, chs. 4, 6, 7 (selections)

Reading Lists

Books
** Should Be Purchased
Douglas Miller (1995) On Our Own: America in the Sixties Houghton Mifflin 0669247774
James Baldwin (1995) Blues for Mister Charlie Vintage Books 0679761780
Alexander Bloom and Winifred Breines, eds. (1996) Takin' It to the Streets: A Sixties Reader Oxford University Press (USA) 0195066243
Ken Kesey (2003) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Picador 0330235648
** Recommended Background
David Steigerwald (1995) The Sixties and the End of Modern America Palgrave Macmillan 0312090072

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6