Our Times: The Turbulent 1960s
Mario Savio and Free Speech Movement, Berkeley, 1964. Photo courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis.
1962
A group of retired schoolteachers establishes the Institute for Retired Professionals at the New School in New York City as the first peer-learning program for retirees.
1963
The structure of DNA is documented, which, by the end of the century, will lead to the Human Genome Project, bioengineering, and human stem cell research.
1964
The Civil Rights Act, barring discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin, is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a high point of his presidency.
1965
The 1965 Immigration Act opens the way for immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and non-Western European countries. Over time, this, along with the movements for civil, women's, and gay rights, leads to a curriculum shift toward multicultural perspectives, cultural studies, and gender studies.
Launch of Head Start to promote school readiness among preschool children from low-income families. By 2007, 24 million children will have gone through the program.
1968
Educational thinker Robert M. Hutchins, in The Learning Society, calls for lifelong learning beyond the confines of schooling.
"Blue eyes, brown eyes" classroom lesson: On the morning after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Iowa teacher Jane Elliott divides her all-white third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups, giving them a lesson in prejudice and discrimination.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, starring Fred Rogers, begins airing on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to PBS. The next year, Sesame Street launches, with an emphasis on helping children from low-income families prepare for school.
About the Authors
Mark Ciabattari is a novelist and cultural historian, and author of the forthcoming book Social History of the United States: The 1940s. Jane Ciabattari is a widely-published journalist and frequent contributor to NRTA Live & Learn.
This article originally appeared in NRTA Live & Learn, Summer 2007, as a 60th Anniversary Extra.
