Watching a mini-series; The 60's

The 60's mini-series stars people like Josh Hamilton, Julia Stiles, Jerry O'Connell, Bill Smitrovich and Annie Corley. The series shows the side of both African Americans and Caucasians in the time period of, obviously, the 60's.


The Caucasian family, the Herlihys, are a working class one originally from Chicago. we see the father Bill Herlih is a former marine that as we learn through the series is very set in his ways, he approves and supports the Vietnam War and is outwardly discriminant but rather a more silent one, the mother Marie is a typical housewife; she cooks, cleans and takes care of her children, a quote that aptly describes her submissiveness ways is when she says 'I've been married a long time, I know what battles are worth fighting' however she does taken a stand in that same scene by signing a presidential campaign petition to end the war that her son Michael gives her.  The three children take completely different paths, the oldest son Brian joins the Marines right out of High School much like his father after not being offered a scholarship to Sacred Heart College which  is offered to his best friend and goes to Vietnam, the second son Michael becomes involved in the civil rights movement he campaigns for Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, both of which his father looks down on him for, he becomes involved in radical politics, and little sister Katie gets pregnant at a party by a lead singer that moves away to San Francisco, prompting her to make the move herself after a less than desirable reaction from her father when she informs him that she's pregnant, she then joins a hippie commune 'Pig farm' if I'm not mistaken. In the end we see how oldest son Brian comes back broken from the war and how his brother Michael is one of the main reasons of why he gets better, Michael himself speaks on behalf of his movement protesting the war and asking for the government to bring back the soldiers from Vietnam and sister Katie is reunited with her brothers at Woodstock and finally comes back home with her child Rainbow.

Meanwhile, we see the Taylors that are an African American family living in the deep South. The father a pastor is very much involved in civil movements and after a protest march in their community of which they've been a part of for what looks to be a long time, their house and church is burned down forcing them to move. When Willie Taylor, the father is shot to death by a police officer in a riot protecting his son, his son Emmet moves to the city and eventually joins the Black Panthers, serving as a bodyguard for Fred Hampton. After he is killed, he takes up the position of leader in his community.

Fundamentally I must say that I do like this series, it gave a pretty good insight as to what it was like to live in that time period; I think it was more than historically accurate, it showed both views, and truly showed how society would function in the situations that were presented. Of your interested in this period I fully recommend watching this series and for you to give your own thoughts on the situations.