The study of the 1960s can provide lessons across the curriculum. Because there were so many different facets to the 1960s, you and your students can get a better feeling for the complexity and the diversity of the times by exploring all these activities.

• Give a speech. Students will learn about the 1960s leaders who were assassinated and prepare a speech from the perspective of one of these leaders coming back to life in the current era. They will read and discuss speeches that the 1960s leaders gave.
• Have students read excerpts from a letter from a Michigan nurse who served for two years in Vietnam caring for both American and Vietnamese soldiers. Then lead them in a discussion of what it must have been like to experience the war first-hand. Have students find people in their community who served in the Vietnam War and do oral history interviews. See Teachers' Stuff for the Great Depression for directions on conducting oral history interviews.
• Help students learn about historical events of the 1960s by teaching them new words and concepts while they do a 1960s Word Find. Tell them about the "hippies," "sit-ins," Rosa Parks, and more.
• In history or art or music class, students can create a record album cover for one musician or group of musicians from the 1960s while listening to and learning about a variety of music.
• In art class, learn about tie-dying. Popular in the 1960s, it was easy to do on a small budget. Tie-dye a shirt, handkerchief, scarf or pillowcase.

• During the 1960s and 1970s, many new laws were passed regarding civil rights, housing and the right to vote. Students can study Michigan's Fair Housing Act of 1968. While older students can read the whole law, younger students could look at just a small section of the law such as Chapter 2, Unfair Housing Practices.
• Travel with your students to other sites related to the 1960s on the World Wide Web. Discover other resources about the 1960s, the political unrest, the music, and changing times.

Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
Use and Reproduction Information [PDF]
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