This lesson plan was created to provide teachers and instructors with the material to engage with the history of the underground newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s. This lesson plan engages students with material from the Art Kunkin / Los Angeles Free Press Collection to explore and understand the social and political landscape of the 1960s through the lens of alternative journalism. This lesson plan provides suggested activities with selected primary sources for teachers and their students to engage with the question: Why did the underground press rise and decline during the 1960s and 1970s, and what insight might their pages provide into this turbulent historical time in America?
This lesson plan was created by Maureen Burns thanks to the generous contribution of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.