The 1960s was a turbulent decade in America. And 1968, 50 years ago might have been most iconic — and chaotic.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, the streets were filled with riots and protests about civil rights and the Vietnam War, it was the year of the White Album, Black Power and the rise of Richard Nixon.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of 1968, and, to discuss it, more than 1,500 historians met in Washington recently for the American Historical Association’s annual meeting.
Among them was Shane Dillingham, assistant professor of history at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He calls 1968 a “year of revolt,” in which here and around the world, it seems like every existing institution was being called into question.
I spoke with him more about this tumultuous year, and the new generation of historians, like him, who are looking at this year — and the global 1906s — through a new lens.
