History Books

The burning monk, 1963

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The burning monk, 1963

"In June of 1963, Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quang Duc burned himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon. He was attempting to show that to fight all forms of oppression on equal terms, Buddhism too, needed to have its martyrs. John F. Kennedy said in reference to a photograph of Duc on fire: “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one”. Photographer Malcolm Browne captured the scene in Saigon for the Associated Press, and the stark black and white image quickly became an iconic visual of the turbulent 1960s."

When Robert F. Kennedy Died 50 Years Ago, ‘Something Died in All of Us, But We Kept the Faith,’ John Lewis Says

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When Robert F. Kennedy Died 50 Years Ago, ‘Something Died in All of Us, But We Kept the Faith,’ John Lewis Says

"Robert F. Kennedy was killed 50 years ago on June 6—the third in a trio of high-profile assassinations during that dec­ade, the bloody coda to an era of political violence. Today, in our divided, uncivil time, it’s worth remembering that Americans survived the horrors of the 1960s and early ’70s, which began with the murder of Robert’s older brother, President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. But 1968 was something of a watershed: “The year that shattered America,” as Smithsonian has called it, demolished the hippie fever dream of the ’60s with an explosive cocktail of escalating war, racially charged riots, ­police brutality and the assassinations of Martin ­Luther King Jr. and then RFK."

"There was no 24-hour news cycle back then. Social media was not spreading hate or forging divisive bubbles. The president wasn’t fanning flames with regular tweets, covert Russian hackers weren’t propagating fake news, and books proclaiming the end of democracy hadn’t become a lucrative sideline for publishers—all of which exacerbates our current turmoil, which can feel intractable."

May 4 Chronology – Kent State University Library

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May 4 Chronology – Kent State University Library

"On Friday, May 1, students organized a demonstration to protest the invasion of Cambodia. A copy of the Constitution was buried to symbolize its "murder." A second meeting was called for noon, Monday, May 4. On Friday evening, warm weather, drinking and indignation over the invasion of Cambodia resulted in a crowd which moved toward the center of town breaking some windows. Police met and dispersed the crowd at the intersection of Main and Water streets. The Kent city mayor viewed the scene, heard rumors of a radical plot, declared a state of emergency and telephoned the governor in Columbus for assistance. A National Guard officer was immediately dispatched. Bars were closed by local authorities and hundreds of people were forced into the streets and herded toward the campus with tear gas from riot-geared police. The town was quiet by 2:30 a.m."hist

1950s Cook Binaural records

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"A look at and listen to Emory Cook's crazy binaural LPs, which brought stereo sound to vinyl records five years before Columbia and other major record labels introduced stereo records in the format that is still used today."