What started as an unexpected discovery at the Kenton County Public Library has turned into a documentary exploring one of the most turbulent years in American history through the memories of people who lived it.
Northern Kentucky author Rick Robinson never intended to write a book about 1968, much less turn it into a film. But a trip to the library to research an entirely different project led him to an old edition of the Kentucky Post, where he discovered a story that would eventually grow beyond the printed page.
“Nothing about this book was ever planned,” Robinson told LINK nky.
While researching the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Robinson came across a newspaper article that confirmed a childhood memory he had questioned for years. He kept reading, eventually looking through editions of the Kentucky Post from the beginning of 1968.
As he explored coverage of the Vietnam War, civil rights, political assassinations and cultural change, a question emerged.
How did Northern Kentucky experience a year that reshaped the country?
“If you don’t know where you come from, you’re not sure about where you’re going to.” Pam Mullins
That question became his book, “1968,” which LINK nky published in sequence in 2023. Three years later, those stories have found a new audience through a documentary of the same name.
Directed by longtime Northern Kentucky television producer Jason Dudas, the film uses firsthand interviews, historical footage, photographs and music to revisit the events of 1968 through the eyes of people who experienced them.
“As the book was a month-by-month watch of Northern Kentucky, I wanted the movie to be broader,” Robinson said. “So the movie is more of a national basis, as seen through the eyes of people who happen to have lived it. Many of them around Northern Kentucky.”
The documentary covers the Vietnam War, music, social change and the 1968 presidential election.
“The folks in this documentary lived through 1968, and they’re talking about their own memories,” Robinson said. “They’re not reading from a script that somebody prepared.”
Among those interviewed is Pam Mullins, a Covington native who was 15 years old in 1968 and attending Holmes High School.
For Mullins, the documentary offered an opportunity to revisit a period when the civil rights movement was changing the schools, neighborhoods and communities around her.
Growing up in Covington’s Peaselburg neighborhood, Mullins attended a segregated kindergarten before entering an integrated Holmes High School in seventh grade. Her experience differed from that of some classmates who previously attended Lincoln-Grant School, a historically Black school in Covington.
“We had to go through the integration of students coming into a school district that was not friendly to us, but had to absorb us,” Mullins said. “They had to educate us, and they had to educate us on what was considered an equal basis. However, it was not equal.”
Mullins remembers the absence of Black history classes, protests surrounding civil rights and the effects of urban redevelopment on Black families in her neighborhood.
Around 1968, her family moved from Peaselburg to Greenup Street as gentrification displaced residents from their longtime homes. She recalled watching Black property owners lose their homes and, in some cases, become renters because they could not afford to purchase comparable properties elsewhere.
At the time, Mullins did not fully recognize the historical significance of what was happening around her. Looking back, however, she sees how the experiences of that generation shaped her opportunities and desire to participate in public service.
Mullins later became the first African American elected to the Covington Independent School District’s Board of Education.
“What I understand differently now is that I’m here on the shoulders of angels and those before me who had the determination that me as a youth and a child was going to have opportunities to do accomplishments that were greater than they were able to achieve during their time,” she said.
Mullins became involved in the documentary through Dudas, whom she had known for years through her volunteer production work with the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky, also known as TBNK. Dudas suggested Mullins when Robinson was looking for another perspective on the era.
“She brought a real flavor to it that would not have been there, and that was really special,” Dudas said.
For Mullins, preserving firsthand accounts is especially important as the people who experienced the civil rights movement and other defining moments of the 1960s grow older.
“It’s important because too much of the history is being erased,” she said. “If you don’t know where you come from, you’re not sure about where you’re going to.”
Robinson and Dudas had known each other for more than 20 years before collaborating on “1968.” Their friendship began when Robinson volunteered to provide commentary for local swimming competitions covered by TBNK, where Dudas spent 25 years as program director.
They later worked together on sports broadcasts, election coverage and other projects. Dudas recalled that Robinson would often joke about someday having him direct a movie based on one of his books.
When Robinson approached him about “1968,” the project seemed like the right fit.
Turning the book into a documentary meant finding historical footage and photographs to accompany the interviews, but Dudas said the most important moments often came from allowing people to reflect on their memories.
One occurred when a Vietnam veteran shared a personal story after his formal interview had seemingly ended. The crew was still recording, and the veteran’s reflection became the closing moment of the film’s Vietnam section.
“There are some times when you get the best moments from them, letting them tell their story,” Dudas said.
The emotional weight of those interviews also influenced how the filmmakers structured the documentary. After opening with the Vietnam War, the film shifts to music, offering viewers a lighter contrast to the more difficult topics.
Robinson, who was 11 years old in 1968, remembers listening to artists such as Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, thanks in part to his older siblings.
The documentary’s development was almost as unexpected as the book itself. After several people suggested turning “1968” into a movie, Robinson discussed the idea with a business client who offered to pay for a concept reel to seek funding.
The filmmakers recorded their first four interviews in November 2025. They then approached the R.C. Durr Foundation, which Robinson said provided full funding for the project.
That support also allowed money raised through a GoFundMe campaign to be used to license original music from the era.
For Robinson, the documentary was never intended to become a commercial blockbuster.
“The purpose of this movie is to put it into high schools and colleges to try and explain an era that their parents or grandparents went through,” he said.
He hopes younger audiences will understand not only what happened in 1968, but why those events continue to influence how older generations view politics, government and society.
Robinson’s first school screening was held at Ludlow High School, where he graduated.
“A lot of the things that are happening today have happened before, and we sometimes as a nation have a real bad memory on what we do good and what we do bad, particularly what we do bad,” Robinson said.
Dudas, who was born in 1970, said making the documentary changed his understanding of the period. Although he knew about events such as the assassinations of King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War and the unrest surrounding the Democratic National Convention, he had never fully appreciated how much happened within one year.
“I don’t think I’d ever appreciated that year to be the tumultuous moment in modern history that it was,” he said.
He also sees parallels between the uncertainty of 1968 and the political climate today.
“We’re using ‘1968’ in a way to reflect on current day,” Dudas said. “Whether we intended to or not, it’s kind of a happy accident.”
The documentary premiered in Florence, where Dudas said audiences filled two theaters. One of the most rewarding parts of the experience, he said, was watching interviewees see their stories on the big screen for the first time.
The documentary is now available on YouTube.
For Robinson, the ultimate goal is to encourage younger generations to recognize how history continues to shape the present.
For Mullins, that message extends beyond the film.
She hopes younger people will preserve the experiences of their own parents, grandparents and neighbors. With nearly everyone carrying a cellphone capable of recording video, she said there is little reason to let those stories disappear.
“Make use of them and start recording those videos,” Mullins said.
