The Chicago 8 Trial, 40 Years Later: A Case Study in Teaching U.S. v. Dellinger (1969)

Publisher： National Council for the Social Studies

ISSN： 0037-7724

Source： Social Education, Vol.73, Iss.5, 2009-09, pp. : 203-206

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Abstract

Growing up in an era when protest at national political conventions is carefully contained in “free-speech zones” (often physically removed from the site of the official conventions), students today may have a difficult time conceptualizing the tumultuous scene that was the 1968 Democratic National Convention (DNC ) in Chicago. Fueled by the consensus-shattering backdrop of the Vietnam War, the upheaval of a civil rights movement turned violent, the assassinations and abdications of national leaders both beloved and despised, and the cultural chasm opened by a rising generation of questioning youth, the chaos and unrest of that historic confrontation open up a unique opportunity for twenty-first-century youth to review fundamental issues of democracy that continue to shape our political culture.