International School History - European Schools - S7 4hr option
S7 History Last update - 17 May 2023 Official European School History S7 Syllabus: English, French, German
USA
Key Questions Lessons Additional materials and external links
What was the USA like in the 1950s?
USA 1 - Worksheet. Edited extract from  IB 20th Century World History Course Companion

What was the social impact of economic growth?

Revision notes and questions from  James Mason Modern World history to GCSE

Video extract from BBC People's Century series on the US economy and social impact in the 1950s.

Rock and roll music activity
Video on the 1950s boom from the 1990s documentary series People's Century.
 

Walsh GCSE Modern World History for the economy during the war see pp. 366-8 and in the 1950s p.372.

The award winning BBC documentary The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis episode 2 'The Engineering of Consent'.

For American cultural history in the 1950s see these links. A good insight into 1950s mores is through these government information films.

History of 1950s cinema.
 
What was McCarthyism? Revision notes and questions from  James Mason Modern World history to GCSE

Walsh GCSE Modern World History p.373-5.

Video - Cold War episode 6 Reds and accompanying website. This includes a transcript of the episode.

Hollywood feature film of Arthur Miller's The Crucible and George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck.
 
What was the situation of Black Americans in the 1950s? USA 2 - Worksheet.

Walsh GCSE Modern World History 376-381


Episode 1 'Eyes on the Prize' documentary series. PBS website for the series
Wikipedia on Eyes on the Prize

 People's Century video overview on the Civil Rights movement.
 
Full People's Century video which examines the situation of Blacks in South Africa and the USA.

Three part BBC documentary video on the history of racism. Episode 3 is particularly relevant to racism in 20th century USA.

More on the murder of Emmet Till.

Take a 'literacy test' used in Alabama in the 1960s to determine the right to vote.
 
How effective were the methods used by civil rights campaigners in the 1950s? USA 3 - Worksheet - The Civil Rights campaign methods.

Ben Walsh GCSE Modern World History 376.

USA 4 - Worksheet and activity based on James Mason Modern World history to GCSE

The groundbreaking 'Eyes on the Prize' documentary series.

PBS website for the series
Wikipedia on Eyes on the Prize

See Spartacus Education or Wikipedia for encyclopaedic information on any event or character in the Civil Rights movement.
Who killed President Kennedy?

What did Kennedy achieve?

 

 Worksheet


10 reasons why the official account of the Kennedy Assassination must be wrong. John McAdam'santi-conspiracy website

Oliver Stone's JFK and How accurate is it? See Alex von Tunzelmann's review.
The Zapruder hoax website and film. 
Secret service stand down video

How successful was the Kennedy presidency?Worksheet. Walsh 390-91 GCSE Modern World History

 

 

 John Simkin on the various theories concerning the assassination.

BBC video on the assassination.
The notorious video The Men Who Killed Kennedy - 9 episode documentary originally aired in 1989.

Red Dwarf's explanation of the assassination. (Comedy)

 
What were the 'Sixties'? Was 1968 the most important year of the century? Walsh 380-383 GCSE Modern World History

Worksheet

 
Video - Cold War episode 13 Make Love not War and accompanying website. This includes a transcript of the episode. This episode deals with the wider context of the 1960s.
 
People's Century Video - New Release/Young Blood deals with the 1960s. Website for the series.
 
How did the civil rights movement develop in the 1960s? USA 5 - Worksheet - Extract from Farmer and Sanders American History 1860-1990

Walsh 380-383 GCSE Modern World History

Revision sheet to be completed on US civil rights 1945-75

 

 Video - Malcolm X
 
The groundbreaking 'Eyes on the Prize' documentary series. See episode 1 The Time Has Come (1964-66)
PBS website for the series
Wikipedia on Eyes on the Prize

Excellent Guardian article about the 1968 Olympic black power salute.
 

Alistair Cooke's America is a classic 13 part history of the USA produced in 1972.

Episode 13
 

 
What was the 1960s women's movement? USA 6 - Worksheet

Walsh 384-386.GCSE Modern World History 
 

 

 Video history of the women's movement.

Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique Chapter 1 "The Problem that Has No Name". 
 

People's Century Video - Half the People. Extended version of film seen in lesson. Website for the series.

 
What was the LGBT movement and what did it achieve? USA 7 - Worksheet

Video - Boys Beware - 1961 homophobic public information film.

Video - The Stonewall Uprising.

 

 Website for the outstanding PBS film - The Stonewall Uprising

Wikipedia on Stonewall.

 

 

 
 

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