About this episode
This episode explores the intersection of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, highlighting the political and social upheaval of the 1960s.
In this episode of The Persistence , Angélica Cordero examines the breaking point of the 1960s, when the promises of the Civil Rights Movement collided with the reality of the Vietnam War, political violence, and a growing crisis of trust in American institutions. By the mid-1960s, landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act suggested progress. But on the ground, racial inequality, police violence, and economic injustice persisted. Then 1968 reshaped everything. The Tet Offensive exposed the gap between government messaging and the reality of the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while organizing for labor and economic justice. Weeks later, Robert F. Kennedy was killed. Across the country, protests, uprisings, and political fractures revealed a deeper truth: the system wasn’t failing. It was functioning as designed. Through the rise of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the emergence of Black Power, and the tensions within coalition politics, this episode explores how movements shift from demanding civil rights to confronting power itself. This is a story about the 1960s, but it is also about how people recognize when the official…
People in this episode
Host: Angélica Cordero
Topics covered
- Civil Rights Movement
- Vietnam War
- political violence
- racial inequality
- Black Power
- protests
- coalition politics
Keywords
- Civil Rights Act
- Tet Offensive
- economic justice
- police violence
- political fractures
- 1968
- SNCC
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Books & works: Don’t Kid Yourself Baby
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