Lexual Does The Seventies #1: Tricky Dick and Running Out of Gas (Patreon)

I'm so excited to finally be able to present this project!

First of all, do you see how long this video is? This labor of love was one of my more research intensive projects, and it's only because of my patreon subscribers that it's professionally edited and looks and sounds so damned good. I've been working on it nearly all year. 

This is the first of six episodes, and episode two, Moving On Up?: Black Life in the 70s will be uploaded next week.  Neither one of these full episodes will be available on Youtube for my general audience until January 17th and 24th, respectively. so you are getting VIP early access! You'll also gain access to some of the archival footage used in this video on my youtube channel!  Follow @IntelexualMedia for updates.

Also next week, I'll begin heavily promoting Lexual Does The Seventies on social media, so be sure to share and retweet your thoughts using the hashtag #TheSeventies.  

People don't really take The 70s seriously. But they should. After all, it was the decade that marked the 200 year celebration of American independence and followed the turbulence of the 1960s. But it's especially because of the 1960s-namely the civil rights movement and the beginning of the Vietnam war-- that people see the decade as filled with empty disco music and platform shoes. The 70s were followed by Ronald Reagan's reign, whose personality and "achievements" overshadowed the previous decade.

My original concept for this series sprouted from my frustration with the CNN docuseries The Seventies, because it missed a lot and was white centric history. Lexual Does The 70s is all about tackling the serious changes that happened in America fifty years ago and understanding how they affect us-- black people specifically- NOW. Fifty years sounds like a long time, but it's really not-- and this is perhaps part of the reason that many public school history curriculums rarely approach the decade in depth, if at all.  The series ends at the end of Reagan's first term in 1984 because his election was a direct result of the topics I address! 

 So go ahead, grab a snack and a beverage, and enjoy the show. 

Sources + Additional Reading

The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (Bruce J Schulman)

The 1970s: A New Global History From Civil Rights to Economic Inequality (Thomas Borstelmann)

Fault Lines: A History of The United States Since 1974 (Kevin Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer)

Reinventing Richard Nixon: A Cultural History of an American Obsession (Daniel Frick)

A History of African Americans From 1880 (Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis)

WORST SNOWFALL OF WINTER TIES UP MOST ROADS HERE

Donald Trump isn’t the first president to give fast food his seal of approval  (Chin Jou)

How the GOP became the “White Man’s Party” (Ian Haney-Lopez)

Nixon, Richard Milhous