"The Sixties." The name brings up all sorts of images: Sex, drugs, and rock `n' roll, civil rights, Vietnam, student protest, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Betty Friedan, Tom Hayden, Chicago, Norman Mailer, Hippies, Yippies, street theater, Allen Ginsberg, the Free Speech Movement, Freedom Rides, the New Frontier, the Great Society, Janis Joplin, the Beatles, the Doors, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, the Stones, Peter, Paul and Mary . . . The list could go on indefinitely. What does it all mean? In this course we shall begin to explore the diverse experiences of Americans in this turbulent decade--a decade that has shaped the remainder of the twentieth century, much as did the sixties of the nineteenth century. There was a civil war in the 1960s, albeit of a different sort than THE Civil War of the 1860s. The nation came apart during the 1960s to a greater degree than at any time since the Civil War a century earlier. Some of the questions were the same, involving the unfinished business of the nineteenth century conflict: full participation by black people in American society. Other fault lines along which the nation split in the 1960s were new. Dominating the experience of the decade was the coming of age of a generation born after World War II. This "Baby Boom" generation was of unprecedented size, and much of it had grown up in unprecedented material prosperity coupled with rigid conformity imposed because of the fear of communism in the 1950s. Taught that everything Americans had ever done was right, many of these young people reacted strongly to the rediscovery of racial injustice and poverty, and to a war of questionable motivation, goals, and tactics. For the first time since the War of 1812 (forgetting, as almost everyone did, the Filipino Insurrection), Americans confronted a war that they could not win, at least within acceptable bounds of military conduct. The decade also coincided with long-term social and economic changes that helped to bring about the re-birth of feminism.

A decade that began with idealistic self-sacrifice, community orientation, and a commitment to nonviolence seemingly ended with cynical self-indulgence, extreme individualism, and violence. What happened? The course will focus on the question of whether there were, in fact, two sixties: one concentrated in the early part of the decade and centering on civil rights and political and economic justice; the other rising in prominence as the decade proceeded and essentially cultural, emphasizing complete individual freedom.

There will be two tests during the semester, in addition to a final exam. Students will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: an extensive journal (3 grades, 100 points each), two tests (100 points each), participation in class discussion (two grades of 100 points each) and the final exam (100 points).

Journals

The journal is central to the course. It will have a two-way relationship with the discussions, both preparing students for class discussions and providing a vehicle for further reactions to points that have been discussed in class.

In their journals students are asked to interact with the readings, films, and classes. You should ask questions about what you read, see, and hear, and ponder (in writing) possible answers. Journal entries should demonstrate both that you have read the assignment (or seen the film or kept up with what was being discussed in class) and that you are thinking about what you read, see, and hear.

A journal is a diary of your thought processes. After a session of reading, after a class discussion, or after a film or music listening session, you should sit down and simply start writing about your most dominant or curious impressions, just as in a diary you might review or comment upon the day's events. By its nature, a journal may ramble, because you may have no idea what you are going to say when you begin writing. The act of getting words and ideas on the page will help you discover what your most important concerns are in the course.

Although the instructor will, in fact, be grading your journals, what you write is primarily for your own use, both during the course and in the future. You will want to keep your journals from this course, since they will constitute a record of your thoughts during what we hope will be an interesting period of your lives. You need not worry about shifting topics, contradicting yourself, losing sense or being unconvincing. Correctness of language and problems of spelling should not even cross your mind (unless, of course, you want them to be a concern). Just put down your first reactions and explore them until you have worked them out fully.

The journal will work for you only if you make it a habit. If you wait for the spirit to move you before you pull out the journal, many of you will not use it very much. The best way to establish real discipline is quite simply to set aside 15 minutes or so after each reading session, class, and film. You may not always get done in that time, but at least you will know that it is a part of your routine.

Doing your journal in the proper spirit will make you a better reader, viewer, listener, and thinker; it will also prepare you to participate more fully in class discussion and enable you to raise issues that really concern you.

* Obtain a notebook that you use only as a journal for this course. This should be separate from the place where you take notes in class.

* Date each entry and keep up with the assignments right from the start.

* Begin your journal immediately, with entries on this week's readings, films, and discussions.

* Journals should contain at least one entry for each of the reading assignments (several on each novel) and one for each film. Refer to a substantial number of specific points, using quotations where helpful; question these points and comment on them.

In addition to comments on the readings and films, journals should also contain comments on some points that come up in class discussions. Journals will be collected for comments and grading at unannounced times during the semester.

Since your journal is to be used, among other purposes, to help stimulate class discussion, students are required to bring their journals with them to each class. In order to ensure that they are being kept up to date, the days on which they will be collected for review by the instructor will NOT be announced in advance.

Discussions

Attendance at all class meetings is expected. It is also expected that reading assignments will be completed before the class meeting for which they are assigned. A diversity of viewpoints is welcomed in class discussions. Students should bring up in class any questions they have from the readings. Absences in excess of THREE will adversely affect a student's grade. Absences in excess of SIX may result in failure of the course.

Alexander Bloom & Wini Breines, eds., TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS: A SIXTIES READER, Second Edition.

Todd Gitlin, THE SIXTIES: YEARS OF HOPE, DAYS OF RAGE.

Anne Moody, COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI.

Joseph Heller, CATCH-22.

Tim O'Brien, THE THINGS THEY CARRIED.

Joan Didion, SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM.

Norman Mailer, THE ARMIES OF THE NIGHT.

Other readings will be distributed in class.

Ten feature films and four documentaries will constitute an integral part of this course. The films will be shown on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in SH 221. In most cases, the films will also be available on videocassette at the reserve desk in the Millsaps Library. Students who cannot attend a showing on a particular Wednesday evening are required to view the video on their own before that time. But please attend the group showing whenever possible. There were no VCRs or DVD players in the sixties, and film-viewing was a group experience. It should be for us, too. Films will be discussed in the class immediately following the Wednesday showing.