Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, universities throughout the United States experienced waves of protest against the Vietnam War. These protests occurred at a pivotal moment in American history, when protests for equal rights for African Americans and women were simultaneously occurring across the nation. This period also saw the birth of the environmental movement and demands for increased student rights. These movements and protests were not isolated from each other, but instead were part of a shared culture of rebellion against the government and institutional authorities.
For this project, I investigated how historians, sociologists, and journalists have examined student anti-Vietnam protests on college campuses during the 1960s-1970s. In addition to historians, researchers from disciplines like sociology and psychology have also explored the emergence and implications of these anti-war protests, often emphasizing the role of the participants. I hope to present this historiography in a digital format, using photographs and documents from Distinctive Collections at the University of Rhode Island Library to supplement my textual analysis.
The digital format of this project serves four primary functions. First, it places events at URI within a wider historical context. By situating these events within the framework of scholarly work, it allows for an understanding of campus unrest at URI within various historical interpretations of the period. Secondly, aligning the historical interpretations of these protests with events at URI provides a microcosm in which we can better understand and evaluate these scholarly discussions. Thirdly, the use of archival materials from the Distinctive Collections makes them more accessible to a broader audience, allowing others to understand events at the University of Rhode Island in this historic moment. Finally, this project demonstrates how a traditional college-level history assignment like a historiography can be merged with web-based tools to achieve two critical outcomes: (1) further development of the student’s skills as historian, researcher, and producer of information; and (2) an innovative approach to a historic topic or event.
This project was created by Alicia Vaandering, MLIS and MA in History. It was created as part of HIS 507: Seminar In United States History.