A Film History of America’s Decade of Crisis and Change

The Birmingham Public Library is hosting the National Video Resources (NVR) film and discussion series The Sixties: America’s Decade of Crisis and Change. In conjunction with the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the NVR selected twenty-five libraries to host this series of community programs based on this fascinating decade. Birmingham Public Library is proud to have been selected as one of the twenty-five libraries to be able to offer this series in our libraries throughout the area. The Sixties: America’s Decade of Crisis and Change features six programs with topics that show the drastic and sometimes horrific scenes of America’s life during this turbulent decade. 

The film and discussion series will be held at six Birmingham Public Libraries during the month of May and will be led by Karen Utz, a history instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The series uses documentary films and text to engage a public discussion of this period of extraordinary change and social conflict in American history. The entire series maybe previewed at a special gathering of sixties memories on May 1 at the Avondale Regional Library. Music, Mustangs and memories will all be part of the fun as short previews will be given throughout the day of the six programs that will be presented. Plan on joining the fun beginning at 11:00 until 2 on May 1st at the Avondale Regional Library.

The film and discussion series will begin Monday, May 3, at the Smithfield Branch Library at 6:00 p.m. The Politics of Reform features the documentaries 1960-1964: Poisoned Dreams form The Century, produced by ABC News and   hosted by Peter Jennings and LBJ, a PBS production, produced and directed by David Grugin. These two films will spark the discussion covering the Camelot years as the nation faced crisis on many fronts. Cuba, Vietnam, civil rights, and the death of a president create an astounding backdrop for the first in this six part series.

Freedom Bound: The Struggle for the Civil Rights will be the second session in the series on Monday, May 10, at the North Birmingham Public Library beginning at 6 p.m. The documentary Freedom on My Mind will highlight the summer of 1964 as over 1,000 white college kids were recruited to help run voter registration drives in rural Mississippi.

Vietnam: The Lengthening Shadow is the third in the series and will be presented at the Avondale Regional Library Tuesday, May 11, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  Two documentaries, LBJ and Vietnam: A Television History,  will showcase the span of personalities that made the war an unforgettable part of our history. From LBJ, a larger-than-life personality, to the soldiers that fought on both sides of the conflict, these documentaries will begin the discussion on the perspectives from all sides of the war.

The Counterculture, the fourth in the series, will be presented at the Southside Branch Library on Wednesday, May 12, at 6:00 p.m. Making Sense of the Sixties, Episode 3, Breaking Boundaries, Testing Limits is a documentary that explores the growth of a movement involving millions of young people that became known as the Counterculture. The rebellion of these young people focused on every part of American life and how they thought it should be lived. The movement itself created changes in our culture that still resound today. Join this discussion of how life changed in the sixties.

The War at Home, part five of our series, will be presented at the Springville Road Library on Monday, May 17, at 6:00 p.m.  Episode 4 of Making Sense of the Sixities, In a Dark Time, spotlights the anti-war movement as it begins to accelerate into a startling rebellion against the government and the belief system of the time. Discussion will include the war and its effects on America.

1968: Rage and Reaction, the conclusion of the series, will be presented at the Five Points West Regional Library on Monday, May 24, at 6:30 p.m. Nixon, produced by PBS and Elizabeth Deane, chronicles the life of Richard Nixon from the efforts to gain the presidency to his reluctant downfall. Join the discussion on the close of the decade and all that it meant to American.

These programs are free and open to the public. For more information please call (205) 226-3610.