My Group = Liam Karr, Danny Mendoza, Kaylah Jones

The Vietnam War: 1945-1975

This exhibit covered stories and perspectives from the Vietnam war. The exhibit provides the viewer with photos, videos, murals, and oral histories to learn about the war.

One artifact in the exhibit that brought the exhibit to life was the picture of the “Napalm Girl”. The story of the picture is that the Vietcong had invaded a village and the South Vietnamese army dropped napalms on the village. The narrator soon realized that there were still innocent people remaining in the village once he saw people running out and crying. The photographer then saw a girl naked running from the flames. Her clothes had burned off and her skin was burning as well. The resulting photograph represents how brutal the war was and how much of a toll it took on the Vietnamese people. The narrator states she had become “a victim of war”. the picture became a catalyst for the suffering children who faced the horrors of war.

Another artifact shown in the exhibit was the song “What’s Happening Brother” by Marvin Gaye. Before the Vietnam war, Marvin Gaye made songs mostly about love, but once his brother returned and told him about his experiences in Vietnam and his experiences adjusting to life after war, Marvin Gaye made a song called “What’s Happening Brother”. This song was made to show the struggle African-American men faced when dealing with war and adjusting to life post-war. This is truly an artifact that brings the story to life.

In the exhibit, we are provided with a playlist. A song from the playlist that stood out to me as an artifact was the song “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. A very impactful line from the song is when the lead singer sings “There’s battle lines being drawn, Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong, Young people speaking their minds, Getting so much resistance from behind”. This reveals how the morality of the war was extremely vague and there was much opposition from the younger generation.