Today we're traveling back to America of the 1950s. . . and the 1960s. . . and the 1970s. . . ok, pretty much all of postwar American history. . . with Forrest Gump! Join us to learn more about generational shrimping, IQ tests, the Medal of Honor, and, of course, the all-important question of how this movie holds up after 25+ years. 

Sources:

IQ Testing: Stefan C. Dombrowski, TedED: The Dark History of IQ Tests. Available at https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-dark-history-of-iq-tests-stefan-c-dombrowski Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, "Science, Ideology, and Ideals: The Social History of IQ Testing," Centennial Review 38, 2 (1994) Carlos Kevin Blanton, "From Intellectual Deficiency to Cultural Deficiency: Mexican Americans, Testing, and Public School Policy in the American Southwest, 1920-1940," Pacific Historical Review 72, 1 (2003) Jason Ellis, "Inequalities of Children in Original Endowment: How Intelligence Testing Transformed Early Special Education in a North American City School System," History of Education Quarterly 53, 4 (2013) Carl Kaestle. The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education, "Testing Policy in the United States: A Historical Perspective."

Film Synopsis:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristenlopez/2019/07/05/forrest-gump-at-25-disability-representation-for-better-and-worse/ https://www.unilad.co.uk/featured/disabled-actors-need-better-representation-in-hollywood/

Generational Shrimping:

Emily Blejwas, "Shrimpin' the Bayou," Mobile Bay (19 June 2020) https://mobilebaymag.com/shrimpin-the-bayou/ Frye Gaillard, Sheila Hagler, and Peggy Deniston, In the Path of the Storms: Bayou la Batre, Coden, and the Alabama Coast (University of Alabama Press, 2008, ProQuest EBook Central). Marcie Cohen Ferris, "History, Place, and Power: Studying Southern Food," Southern Cultures 21:1 (Spring 2015): 2-7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26220209 Marcie Cohen Ferris, "The "Stuff" of Southern Food: Food and Material Culture in the American South," in The Larder: Food Studies Methods from the American South eds. John T. Edge, Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt, and Ted Ownby, 276-311 (University of Georgia Press, 2013). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n591.20 ; Beth A. Latshaw, "The Soul of the South: Race, Food, and Identity in the American South," The Larder, 99-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n591.11 Jessica B. Harris, "African American Foodways," The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 7: Foodways ed. John T. Edge, 15-18 (University of North Carolina Press, 2007). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469616520_edge.6 Frederick Douglass Opie, "Influence, Sources, and African Diaspora Foodways," in Food in Time and Place: The American Historical Association Companion to Food History eds. Paul Freedman, Joyce E. Chaplin, and Ken Albala, 188-208 (University of California Press, 2014). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt7zw3tn.15 E. Paul Durrenberger, "Shrimpers, Processors, and Common Property in Mississippi," Human Organization 53:1 (Spring 1994): 74-82. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44126561 Sid Moody, No title (Moonies and fishing), The Associated Press (20 May 1979) Nexis Uni. "When "Moonies" Move In," U.S. News & World Report (27 March 1978): 45. Nexis Uni. Also: UPI "Personality Spotlight; NEWLN: Rev. Sun Myung Moon: Controversial religious leader," (14 May 1984). https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/05/14/Personality-SpotlightNEWLNRev-Sun-Myung-Moon-Controversial-religious-leader/9349453355200/ The Associated Press, "Hurricane Winds Buffet Louisiana: Highways Jammed 180 M.P.H. Gusts Hit Coast..." New York Times (8 September 1974). ProQuest. James Wilkins, Rodney Emmer, Dennis Hwang, George Paul Kemp, Barrett Kennedy, Hassan Mashriqui, and Bruce Sharky, Louisiana Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook (Louisiana Sea Grant College Program 2008). http://www.dnr.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/coastal/interagencyaff/LaCoastalHazMitGuidebook.pdf "Carmen Fades; No One Killed," Detroit Free Press (9 September 1974): 18. Alabama Public Television, "Bayou La Batre," Journey Proud YouTube (9 October 2015). https://youtu.be/0h6ZoyBAWGI VICE, "Ex-Cult Member Explains How He Escaped the Moonies," YouTube (14 November 2018). https://youtu.be/slFUtQQM1Ow

Film Background: Eric Kohn, "Forrest Gump 25 Years Later: A Bad Movie That Gets Worse With Age." IndieWire. Available at https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/forrest-gump-bad-movie-25-anniversary-1202154214/ Forrest Gump, Wikipedia. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump Roger Ebert's Review, available at https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/forrest-gump-1994

Medal of Honor: National Medal of Honor Museum, Recipient Database. Available at https://mohmuseum.org/recipient-database/ Joseph Blake, "The Congressional Medal of Honor in Three Wars," Pacific Sociological Review 16, 2 (1973)