1-manifold is orientable I am trying to classify all compact 1-manifolds. I believe I can do it once I can show every 1-manifold is orientable. I have tried to show prove this a bunch of ways, but I can't get anywhere.
Please help,
Note, I am NOT assuming that I already know the only such manifolds are [0,1] or $S^1$. This is my end goal.  

If I understand your question correctly, I guess you have proven that all the connected orientable 1-manifolds are $[0,1]$ and $S^1$. Now suppose that $X$ is connected but not orientable. Then $X$ has a universal covering space $\tilde X$ which is still a 1-manifold but is orientable. Both cases $\tilde X = [0,1]$ or $S^1$ give a contradiction.
