The first anti-Vietnam War teach-in occurred at the University of Michigan on March 24 and 25, 1965, following President Johnson’s Operation Rolling Thunder, which escalated U.S. soldiers and munitions in Vietnam. The teach-in lasted twelve hours, with speeches, film screenings, guest speakers, and more.
Inside the University of Michigan’s Angell Hall during the first anti-Vietnam War teach-in in March 1965. Photo by Doug Fulton, courtesy of Anna Fulton. Source: Michigan Alumnus
As Robert Cohen writes,
This first teach-in drew some 3,000 students, faculty, and community members. It was, in the words of one of its speakers, Carl Oglesby, “like a transfigured night. It was amazing: classroom after classroom bulging with people hanging on every word of those who had something to say about Vietnam.” Michigan’s antiwar faculty then helped raise funds for more teach-ins in May, which connected with faculty and student activists on more than 100 campuses, with the movement reaching its peak at a University of California, Berkeley, weekend teach-in that drew some 30,000 participants. All this provided a major boost to the peace movement and helped make the campuses a center of antiwar activism.
The University of Michigan teach-ins were initiated by faculty, who wrote “An Appeal to Our Students.” Students played a major role in the teach-ins, too — especially the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — sparking student-led anti-war protests on campuses around the country.
A teach-in flier from the University of Michigan, distributed by the Faculty Committee to Stop the War in Vietnam. Source: Michigan Live
Additional Resources
“A Way to Honor the Teach-in Movement at 60” by Robert Cohen (Inside Higher Ed)
“Resistance and Revolution: The Anti-Vietnam War Movement at the University of Michigan, 1965–1972” (Michigan in the World), including oral history interviews with those who participated in the teach-ins
“The First Teach-In” by James Tobin (University of Michigan Heritage Project)
“History Lessons: Teach-In Reactions” by Gregory Lucas-Myers (Michigan Alumnus)
“U-M Professors’ First Teach-in 50 Years Ago Launched a National Movement” by Jeremy Allen (Michigan Live)
As part of the University of Michigan’s Teach-In +50, the video below by Andre Ray shows a new teach-in focused on the escalating war against the planet represented by climate change and the threat it poses to life on earth.
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