"We Shall Overcome" - Hisatory of the 1965 Speech from the White House History site
This site offering a backstory to the speech is still available in February of 2026.
LBJ -March 15, 1965: Speech Before Congress on Voting Rights "We Shall Overcome" Speech
Jon Meacham asserts that this the greatest speech made by an American president which is saying a lot compared to the Gettysburg Address, and the Lincoln and FDR Inaugurals , or Reagan after the Challenger. What stand out about this one however, is how much it has vanished from public memory of the 1960s
Somehow you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child.
to deny a man his hopes because of his color or race, his religion or the place of his birth—is not only to do injustice, it is to deny America and to dishonor the dead who gave their lives for American freedom.
Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.
So I say to all of you here, and to all in the Nation tonight, that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past do so at the cost of denying you your future.
And I have not the slightest doubt that good men from everywhere in this country, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Golden Gate to the harbors along the Atlantic, will rally together now in this cause to vindicate the freedom of all Americans. For all of us owe this duty; and I believe that all of us will respond to it.
We do have a right to protest, and a right to march under conditions that do not infringe the constitutional rights of our neighbors. And I intend to protect all those rights as long as I am permitted to serve in this office.
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.
But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself.
"The Vietnam War: How Much Dissent?" - 1968 ABC Scope Program
Short video to convey the language and mood of anti-Vietnam movement. Jerry Rubin and George Wallace featured
Archibald Cox letter to students 1994
This should end every Watergate lesson
Women's Rights Movement - 1970 NBC News Report - Reel America Preview 2
Two minute video from April 1970 focusing on the Women's Rights movement in contraception and abortion which shows women at a congressional hearing. Audiences today might be surprised to see Senators smoking at a hearing concerning the health effects of contraception
Voices from Home
This reading teaches so much more than that tired old Gulf of Tonkin Resolution DBQ. Explorations of the lived experience of the past is history - what would students think about their parents if they had the chance to hear them when they were younger?
Kent State clip
2 minute clip that could have a place in a lesson
Dancing In The Street / Rock & Roll - complete series (1995) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Richard Nixon and his Secretary Rose Mary Woods in the White House on Vimeo
8 minutes of random video of Richard Nixon in the Oval with Secretary Rosemary Wood. Interesting look at the president in a way not often seen
1971 (2014) - Full Documentary - YouTube
Documentary detailing the 1971 burglary of an FBI office in Media PA and subsequent exposure of FBI's illegal infiltration of the anti-war movement. Perfect to put alongside a Pentagon Papers lesson to illustrate distrust of government in the 1970s
Full article: Monk on fire: The meditative mind of a burning monk
There is always more to history - always. While the famous image of the burning monk might appear in a teacher's Vietnam slidedeck, there is a neuroscientific perspective behind the act of self-immolation as well. This article explains that perspective
The Class That Went to War : American Broadcasting Company : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Chatham students in 1964 talk about Vietnam - a localized primary source
Truth Tobacco Industry Documents
Treasure trove of primary source documents related to smoking and the tobacco industry utterly unknown to the taught narrative canon of American history, but available to teachers nonetheless. Throw out that Jungle reading you've been using for years and give vaping students an experience in how the corporate sausage is really made
What’s Wrong with ‘Equal Rights’ for Women? – 1972 | Archives of Women's Political Communication
Teachers engaging students in women's history and the women's rights movement of the late 20th century need to include the rhetoric of those opposed to it. Phyllis Schlafly provides this material
Women’s lib is a total assault on the role of the American woman as wife and mother, and on the family as the basic unit of society. Women’s libbers are trying to make wives and mothers unhappy with their career, make them feel that they are “second-class citizens” and “abject slaves.” Women’s libbers are promoting free sex instead of the “slavery” of marriage. They are promoting Federal “day-care centers” for babies instead of homes. They are promoting abortions instead of families.
Vietnam-era Antiwar Protests - Mapping American Social Movements
The University of Washington maps and list 884 important protests involving tens of millions Americans. We have categorized the type of event and you can filter by reports of arrests, vandalism, and violence (including five fiery self-immolations)
The Report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest
Reading the introduction to this 400 page report might explain much about the 2020s when one considers that the opposing forces ripping college campus's apart in the late 1960s hold a majority of positions of power today
I'm Gay, movie " IN AND OUT" please respect your fellow man - YouTube
Just a few days before the presidential election in 1968, Richard Nixon called Lyndon Johnson regarding his denial of any efforts on his part or his team to convince South Vietnam to boycott the Paris Peace talks. It is treason for private citizens to contact the leaders of a foreign power. There is a great deal of evidence that the Nixon team did do this and LBJ knew it. This is an audio recording of the conversation supplemented by the transcript as part of the video
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Brutally Honest Vietnam Veterans Debate The War In 1968 - YouTube
Eight minutes of quick comments and opinions about Vietnam.
Woodstock: Three days of Peace, Music, and Toilets – Pieces of History
If your teaching attempts to reach out to all of the voices of the past, do you include those who did not wanted to be included in its record. Having a conversation about the people who cleaned the portable toilets at Woodstock might be an interesting place to start that conversation.
The Not-So-Great-Society | The Heritage Foundation
How many teachers would be willing to take a section of this material and include it in a Great Society DBQ?
The LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction
The book explores the broader diversity of the LGBTQ community, especially in terms of race and ethnicity, creating a collective portrait of the LGBTQ movement that reflects this diversity. The book is divided between a readable, detailed, concise historical chronology and individual biographies of key figures in the history of the LGBTQ movement.
How the Watergate crisis eroded public support for Richard Nixon | Pew Research Center
Helpful numbers to show how the hearings changed public opinion. What is interesting for people on 2020, is that none of these numbers break down responses for Democrats and Republicans - which is commonly done today
Yet, despite the increasingly negative views of Nixon at that time, most Americans continued to reject the notion that Nixon should leave office, according to Gallup. Just 26% thought he should be impeached and forced to resign, while 61% did not.
In September, a 58% majority said Nixon should be tried for possible criminal charges. And they took the view that he should not be let off the hook easily, if found guilty.
The paranoid style in American politics : and other essays : Hofstadter, Richard, 1916-1970 :
Acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs. Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence--and derail--the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza | The Sixth Floor MuseumThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza | The Sixth Floor Museum
Historic Stock Footage Archival and Vintage Video Clips and Photo Images from CriticalPast
This is a commercial site and the materials are watermarked. Still, as the "raw data" of still and video images it can provide insight into certain eras.
Vintage stock footage and millions of stock photo images comprising one of the world's largest royalty-free archival footage collections. All broadcast quality and available for immediate download in HD and SD formats, including professional screeners.
‘Hot Summer’; Race Riots in North - The New York Times
Detroit 1967: Photos From the 12th Street Riot
Photo essay with high quality .images from Life Magazine. These can be used as an introduction "Do Now" activity for students - what questions do they have looking at these images
The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago | KQED
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Official Video 2019) - YouTube
The music of the late 1960s set to the images of 2019
Kevin M. Kruse on Twitter: "I'd really rather stop talking about this, but the video at this link has nearly 10 million views now, so ... buckle up. https://t.co/SADJsUu45f" / Twitter
THis is a take-down thread of a Pragur U video focusing on the growth of the Republican party in the south