Protest and Politics: 1968, Year of the Barricades Protest and Politics: 1968, Year of the Barricades

Protest and Politics: 1968, Year of the Barricades Protest and Politics: 1968, Year of the Barricades Standards National History Standards: World History Curriculum World History Era 9, Standard 2: The search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world Snapshot • Student protests and worker • Standard 2C strikes in France The student understands how liberal democracy, market economies, and human rights movements have reshaped political and social life. • The “Prague Spring,” the Soviet invasion of • Standard 2D Czechoslovakia, and anti- The student understands major sources of tension and conflict in the Soviet youth protest contemporary world and efforts that have been made to address them. • Student protest in Mexico • Standard 2F The student understands worldwide cultural trends of the second half of • Columbia University the 20th century. student protests World History Era 9, Standard 3: Major global trends since World War II • Standard 3A The student understands major global trends since World War II Grade Level Middle and High School Historical Thinking Standard 2: Historical Comprehension Classroom Historical Thinking Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation Connections World History, U.S. History, Social Studies, English Historical Thinking Standard 5: Historical Issues Language Arts Page 2 PROTEST AND POLITICS: 1968, YEAR OF THE BARRICADES CCSS for Middle School and High School (grades 6-8, 9-10, and 11-12) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.9 Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 and RH.9-10.2 and RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.5 Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources. PROTEST AND POLITICS: Page 3 1968, YEAR OF THE BARRICADES Prerequisite Knowledge This collection’s introduction and background sections help to establish the prerequisite knowledge and set the stage for an examination of protest movements of 1968. Before doing the activities, students should: Essential • Understand that after World War II, much of the world aligned into Questions two spheres of influence: one dominated by the Soviet Union and a • What role do young communist ideology, and one dominated by the United States and a people and ordinary democratic and capitalist ideology. citizens have in bringing about social, political, and • Understand that after the United States’ use of the atomic bomb in economic change? Japan during World War II, a nuclear arms race began, resulting in worldwide concern about a possible nuclear war. • How do protest movements use gestures, symbols, • Understand that the Vietnam War was one manifestation of the tension objects, and signage to between the communist and democratic/capitalist ideologies and the construct a visual statement so-called superpowers’ struggle for dominance. of dissent? • Understand reasons for the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, the • How does the media home-front strife caused by the war, and the opposition movement. shape events? • Have knowledge of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, • Are generational differences including understanding the tactics of the non-violent protest inevitable? movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and of the more militant Black Power movement. • Are historical outcomes inevitable? • Understand that printed daily newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, radio, and, increasingly, television, were pervasive and • Can major shifts in forms popular ways for people to learn about and see imagery and/or video of government occur depicting local and world events. without protest? • Why does protest bring Key Learning Targets violent response from local, Students will: state, or federal authorities? • Be able to use photographs as historical documents to understand • What lasting impact did historical events and social and cultural context. the protest movements of • Identify some of the circumstances that led student protestors to 1968 have? demand changes in education and government structures in 1968. • Examine photos for evidence of similarities and differences between protest movements and government response in different countries. • Be able to describe how both governments and protestors used media to influence public opinion. • Understand the role of the news media in disseminating information and shaping public perception of contemporary events. • Identify cause and effect relationships during the chronology of events of 1968. Page 4 PROTEST AND POLITICS: 1968, YEAR OF THE BARRICADES Introduction In 1968 an unprecedented number of youth-led popular uprisings swept the globe in places as disparate as Japan, the United States, Poland, Brazil, Italy, France, Northern Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Ecuador, Chile, Yugoslavia, and England. Protestors raged against governments from democratic to autocratic—and in each case, the state raged back. Stalwartly, en masse, students demanded change from institutions and leaders who, in return, Why 1968? fiercely fought to maintain the status quo. Why 1968? How could so many young people in so many societies be so angry—and so willing to dissent? How could so Demographic trends, such as a post–World War II population boom, had many young created an unusually large cohort of young people. They came of age in a time of unprecedented economic growth and rapid technological innovations. people in so International events, such as the Vietnam War, provided shared provocations for the protest movements of 1968. Another unifying factor was the example of African Americans’ struggle for civil rights in the United States, which many societies lent inspiration and tactics to protestors worldwide. Each movement also had its unique historic antecedents and national circumstances, however—and a be so angry—and particular government response with which to contend. The news media, through its increasing ability to swiftly and graphically cover 1968’s many incendiary so willing to happenings—including the protests—transcended the role of chronicler, becoming a force that was shaping history. dissent? Background Political Developments The tumult of 1968 exists on a longer continuum of history that included two world wars fought by major European powers, the United States, Japan, and other nations. Key political developments after the World War I included the Russian Revolution, which overthrew the Czar and instituted a communist state; the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into nations such as Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia; and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The major European powers remained heavily involved in imperial enterprises in colonial outposts, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the West Indies. The United States became a significant player on the world stage. The 1930s saw the Japanese invasion of China, the rise of fascism in Europe, and the Nazi invasion of multiple sovereign European states, leading to the most global war in history, World War II, which also saw the first use of nuclear bombs, by the United States. The Soviet Union, under Stalin, fought with the Allies against the fascist Axis powers, defeating the Germans and capturing Berlin. After the war, however, tensions mounted between communist and democratic nations, and much of the world aligned into separate spheres of influence of the two emerging “superpowers”: the United States and the Soviet Union. Other political developments included the formation of Israel and the PROTEST AND POLITICS: Page 5 1968, YEAR OF THE BARRICADES division of Berlin into four sectors: British, American, French, and Soviet. World War II helped bring the world out of the economic depression of the 1930s, but left much of the war-torn world facing the challenges of massive reconstruction and the reknitting of family life. The standoff between the two superpowers became known as the Cold War, though hostilities heated up into bloody and extended conflicts such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War. Colonialism sparked violent conflict as well, such as the Algerian War of Independence, fought between Algeria and France in the 1950s and ’60s. Mexico had gained its independence from Spain in 1821, but would continue to be beset by major conflicts, and, ultimately, entrenchment of single-party power. The 1910 revolution ousted the three-decades-long rule of dictator General Porfirio Díaz but the country soon fell into counterrevolution, with leaders divided against one another and many years of fighting.

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