Interpret

Your next step is to interpret what you’ve observed. You will try to discover what the footage can tell you about the historical event and the time it represents.

Keyboard Shortcut	Action
Space	Pause/Play video playback
Enter	Pause/Play video playback
m	Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows	Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows	Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9	Fast seek to x% of the video.
f	Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c	Press c to toggle captions on or off

The Oil Crisis, 1979

Video: 1m 42s

Watch this news footage from 1979, in which drivers wait in long lines at gas stations because of the second petroleum crisis of the decade. Pay attention to how statements made by people being interviewed are supported by what appears in the footage.

Take Notes

Based on your observations—and what you might already know about the subject—make some inferences that can be supported by the video. Here are several questions you might consider:

What was the purpose of this video/news footage?
Who was the intended audience?
Does the footage explain why the events were happening?
Was a solution being presented to the problem?
What action, if any, was being taken?
What historical questions can you answer about American society at the time using this source?
What questions does this source not help you answer?