The Role Of Student Protest In The 1960s

The 1960s were a tumultuous decade, the country was being rocked by social turmoil, and we were at war in Vietnam. However, out of this tumultuousness the country arose as a more just, culturally diverse, and politically tolerant nation that it had been in the previous decade. A great example of how the country changed for the better are the student movements that took place protesting the war in Vietnam. Never before in the history of the nation had such a group arisen to protest a war that the United States was in. In all previous wars the country had been unified politically, but as Bob Dylan said in his famous 1964 song of the same name “The Times They Are a-Changin” this slogan right here perfectly embodies that type of change that was taking place in the 1960s that was turning the country into a more just, culturally
To understand how these student protest against the war in Vietnam helped the country become a better place we know to know more about the protest. The student protest movement originated in Port Huron, Michigan in 1962 when a group called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was formed. SDS denounced both racism and militarism, and they disagreed with the war in Vietnam, which they viewed as an imperialistic act. They pioneered the protest tactic of staging “teach-ins” to discuss the consequences of further escalation in Vietnam. This idea which at first was limited to elite institutions, and major state universities soon spread throughout academia. The student protest movement, and more specifically SDS contributed to making the United States a more just, culturally diverse, and politically tolerant