Episode Details

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 narrative stops making sense and what happens next.

This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.

Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.

Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits

Books

The Day They Marched: 1963 March on Washington Booklet edited by Doris E. Saunders

Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII by Pauli Murray and Mary Eastwood (George Washington Law Review 34, No. 2 December 1965: 232-56p) (How and Why Was Feminist Legal Strategy Transformed, 1960-1973?, Women and Social Movements, Alexander Street)

The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II by Luis Alvarez

“Zoot Suit” performance and play full text

Links

“A Million Vietnam Wars,” (Blogs, Folklife Today, American Folklife Center & Veterans History Project, Library of Congress)

“An Invisible Giant: The Legacy of Pauli Murray (J.D. ’44, H. ’17), Trailblazing Civil Rights Lawyer,” (The Dig, Howard University)

“America Sees the Truth,” (Stories, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian)

“Baptist Street Church Bombing,” (Famous Cases and Criminals, History, FBI)

“The Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington, 60 Years Later,” (Library Guides, Libraries, University of Minnesota)

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