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Time Capsule from the 1960s
Christel Monk
SS310-24 Exploring the 1960s - An Interdisciplinary Approach
July 15, 2013

Introduction The 1960s was a decade full of both positive and negative events. It coincided with the first land on the moon, which was a great achievement. It also coincided with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. This paper describes five items that have been found in a time capsule that dates back from the 1960s. It explains the reasons for which each of these items is especially important in defining the 1960s. Some of these items are events, while other items are objects being representative for that period of time. The paper is written from the perspective of an archeologist who, in 2325, discovered the time capsule containing information that dates back to the 1960s.
The Time Capsule According to Goodwin and Bradley (2011), the sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children from the post-war baby boom grew to become young adults and teenagers. This decade was characterized by a different and very revolutionary way of thinking as the population has moved away from the conservative type of reasoning. As Goodwin and Bradley (2011) point out, the population of the United States was about 178 million, while 3.8 million people were unemployed. The national debt was $286.3, while the average salary was $4,743. A teacher's salary back in those days was near $5,200 while the minimum wage per hour was $1. The life expectancy for males was 67 years, while for females was 73 years. These are statistical facts from that period of time. As previously mentioned, the time capsule discovered by the archeologists in 2325 was dated back to the 1960s decade. There were five items inside this time capsule. These items are: a video copy of Martin Luther King Jr. speech which is know as

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