1968 with Tom Brokaw

Port Arthur is known for two things — Janis Joplin and the Museum of the Gulf Coast. Joplin got the hell out of Port Arthur as soon as she could; the museum has decided to stick around for a bit. The museum’s current exhibit is “1968 in America,” a collection of clothing, posters, campaign buttons, photos and record albums, among other things, that recall the era’s music, political struggles and counterculture. To accompany the exhibit, the museum is screening the documentary 1968 with Tom Brokaw, which recounts 365 days of never-before-seen violence and uprising in America. In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy were both assassinated, and the Tet Offensive showed a side of the Vietnam War that nobody could deny. Riots, protest marches and sit-ins were the norm of the day. A young, earnest Brokaw interviews people who not only saw historic events firsthand, but who sometimes made history themselves. There’s Andrew Young (he was standing next to MLK when the reverend was shot), Rafer Johnson (he tackled Kennedy’s assassin in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel) and a host of musicians including Arlo Guthrie and James Taylor, who reflected the troubled times in their songs. The program repeats on March 14, but you can see it today at 2 p.m. 700 Procter, Port Arthur. For information, call 409-982-7000 or visit www.museumofthegulfcoast.org. Free.

Sat., Feb. 28, 2009