Module HIST21S1: A Change is Gonna Come: The US in the 1960s

Department: History

HIST21S1: A Change is Gonna Come: The US in the 1960s

Prerequisites

• • A pass mark in at least ONE level 1 module in History

Corequisites

• • None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• • None

Aims

• To introduce students to an understanding of modern US political history and to examine the far-reaching impact of a range of activist movements.
• To engage students with the complexities of social movements in the 1960s and their lasting legacy in U.S. politics, music, fashion, and protest.
• To introduce students to political history methodologies and to examine the intersections between grassroots and high-politics.
• To explore the reactions on the left and right to the mass protest movements of the 1960s

Content

• This course explores one of the most transformative decades in U.S. politics, when a wave of social justice movements emerged to challenge the prevailing "consensus liberalism." The course will examine different grassroots movements that sought to redefine and revolutionize American society in the pursuit of justice, freedom, and equality. Through an analysis of key figures, goals, and achievements, students will assess how different movements—from civil rights and Black Power to second-wave feminism, the New Left, and the antiwar protests—confronted established political frameworks societal assumptions. Course topics include: the rise and decline of consensus liberalism, John F. Kennedy's New Frontier, Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, the civil rights movement, Black Power, student activism and the New Left, the counterculture, the Red Power movement, the campaign for LGBTQ+ rights, and right wing responses to these shifts in the 1960s. The course covers topics that both precede and follow the 1960s in order to examine the concept of the ‘long nineteen sixties’ and gain an understanding of the development of activist movements. This course encourages students to critically examine the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and social justice in the 1960s, and to understand how these movements intersected, influenced one another, and shaped the political landscape of the United States.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding of different activist movements and how they related to one another.
• Critical engagement with methodological and historiographical debates on political history.
• Critical use of primary sources in order to examine activists’ aims, ideology, and approach.
• Examine debates over race, gender and sexuality during the 1960s

• Students will develop their skills to evaluate both archival and oral historical sources.
• Students will develop their skills to evaluate and analyse historiographical debates.

• The ability to employ sophisticated reading skills to gather, sift, process, synthesise and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources (print, digital, material, aural, visual, audio-visual etc.)
• The ability to communicate ideas and information orally and in writing, devise and sustain coherent and cogent arguments
• The ability to write and think under pressure, manage time and work to deadlines
• The ability to make effective use of information and communications technology

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods:
• Lectures to set the foundations for further study and to provide the basis for the acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Lectures provide a broad framework which defines individual module content, introducing students to themes, debates and interpretations. In this environment, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in listening, selective note-taking and reflection;
• Seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Assessment:
• Examinations test students' ability to work under pressure, to prepare for examinations and direct their own programme of revision and learning, and develop key time management skills. The examination gives students the opportunity to develop relevant life skills such as the ability to produce coherent, reasoned and supported arguments under pressure. Students will be examined on subject specific knowledge;
• Summative coursework will test students ability to communicate ideas in writing, present clear and cogent arguments succinctly and show appropriate critical skills as relevant to the particular module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative work done in preparation for and during seminars, including oral and written work as appropriate to the module. The summative coursework will have a formative element by allowing students to develop ideas and arguments for the examination and to practice writing to similar word limits.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University