Transcript Chapter 23 An Era of Activism

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Background to the Women’s Movement
 Feminism: The pursuit of equality between men and women in
economic, social and political areas
 Fight began back in the 1800’s
 WW2 saw advances but women were expected to return to their “traditional”
roles after the war
 Education and Employment
 Only ¼ college degrees earned by women in 1950 – 43% by 1970
 Employers were reluctant to hire women because they traditionally quit after
they married and/or when they had children
 Women who did work were paid less than men for the same work or were
delegated to specific lower paying jobs
 The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
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“How To” model from the Civil Rights Movement gave a blue print for success
Women grew frustrated with the lowered expectations/demands
The Civil Rights Act gave women legal tools to challenge status (EEOC)
Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress but failed at the state level
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“Feminine Mystique”
 Women became more active in pressing for their rights
 Freidan’s book got women talking about their lives and their hopes
and aspirations and their roles in society
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Women’s Groups Organize
 Support Groups: women met in each other’s homes to talk about
what they were going through and what they could do to improve
their situations
 Organizing NOW (National Organization of Women)
 1966 – 26 professional women gathered to take action
* Sought fair pay & equal job opportunities
* Attacked the false image of women in the media
* Called for marriage to be more balanced
* Within a year, more than 1,000 members had joined
* Within 5 years, 15,000 belonged
* Many felt NOW was too aggressive
* NOW served as a rallying point to end sex discrimination
and to promote equality for all women
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Impact of Feminism
 A Shift of Attitudes
 1972 – Congress passed a law outlawing sex discrimination in education
 1971 – National Women’s Political Caucus formed to get more women in
politics
 Most women did not participate in NOW activities but agreed with their goals
 Radical Feminists pushed to end the male dominated world as it was known,
rejecting marriage, child birth
 Roe v. Wade
 Abortion became an issue that could split the movement
 NOW pushed for laws allowing women the ability to choose abortion rather
than continue an unwanted pregnancy (controlling their own bodies)
 Many states had laws outlawing abortion or severely limiting access
 Supreme Court (1973) ruled for abortion stating a women’s right to privacy
 No restrictions in the first 3 months, states could put limitations after that
 Still today a very controversial issue
 The Equal Rights Amendment
 “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
sex.” ERA 1972
 Fell 2 states short of passing, but most gender based laws had been
stricken from the books by then
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Opposition to the Women’s Movement
 Some opposition to the ERA came from women
 Unneeded, laws could be changed without amending the Constitution
 Many women likes their roles as stay-at-home moms & homemakers
 Many men hostile to the whole Women’s Movement
 Didn’t want things to change
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Latinos Fight for Change
 The Latino Population
 Big increase in people from Central America in the 1960-70’s
 Centered in areas around the US (FL, TX, AZ, CA)
 1960’s – began to organize to protest discrimination in education,
employment and the legal system
 Cultural Identity
 Pride in their original cultures expressed
 Claims that “Anglos” used pressure to control Latinos (church, school)
 Students walked out of their schools to protest and demand improvements
 Organizing to Fight Discrimination
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Cesar Chavez united the migrant workers for better pay, conditions
Chavez believed in non-violent protests like Dr. King
United Farm Workers (UFW) fought for changes
1975, CA passed law requiring collective bargaining
Chicano’s pushed for political power (getting Latino’s elected)
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Chinese and Japanese Americans have fought for
equality since coming to the US
Asian Americans Fight Discrimination
 Japanese Americans after the war
 Interned during WW2; lost all property ($100,000,000’s)
 Japanese American Citizen’s League won passage of the Japanese
American Claims Act which allowed survivors small compensation
 Not until 1988 did Congress apologize and further compensate them
 Economic and Political Advances
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Despite being well educated, Asian Americans earned less
Faced prejudice in hiring/workplace
As a group, made faster economic progress
When Hawaii became a state in 1959, Asian Americans gained a voice in
Congress
 Hiram Leong Fong, Senator
 Daniel Inouye, Representative
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Native Americans Face Unique Problems
 Unique social and legal position in the US
 Routinely denied their rights
 Land Claims
 US government took lands that traditionally were tribal territory
 1946 Congress created the Indian Claims Commission to look into land claims by
native tribes
 Most tribes refused money offered, they wanted their land back
 The American Indian Movement (AIM)
 A coalition to fight for Indian treaty rights
 Fought and won tribal autonomy, control of natural resources
 Continues to confront government (militaristic)
 Confronting the Government
 1972 – Broken Treaty Caravan – traveled to DC/BIA; occupied for 6 days
 1973 – Wounded Knee SD – took over town and refused to leave until government
agreed to investigate problems on reservations. Federal marshals storm the protest.
300+ arrested, 2 killed
 The Government Response
 Some positive laws were passed in response to the protests
 Indian Education Act of 1972 – more tribal control of schools/education
 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 – gave local control
to social programs administered to help Native Americans
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A Time of Change
 “Counterculture” – youth adopted values counter to those of their parents
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“HIPPIES” promoted peace, love and freedom
Experimented with styles, music, sex and drugs
“Generation Gap”
“Baby Boomers” had huge impact on society – in shear numbers, goods produced to
appeal to this group of people, politicians played to their concerns
 Sixties Style
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Distinctive, frivolous and free
Hair, clothing were loose, free, easy: Rejected 50’s standards
Hippies adopted the clothing of the working and oppressed, who they were fighting for
Bright colors painted EVERYTHING
Much of the art, music were as if created when on drugs
 The Sexual Revolution
 Counterculture demanded freer choices
 Believed sex should be separated from traditional ties to family structure
 Traditional relationships rejected, different living patterns emerged
(living together, communes)
 More open discussing in mainstream media
 Birth Control & Abortion changed options, behavior
 The Drug Scene
 Psychedelic drugs used to reach “a new consciousness”
 These drugs caused brain to alter perception of reality/hallucinate
 Use of other drugs went up dramatically as they experimented
 Timothy Leary became the guru
 “Tune in, Turn on, Drop Out”
 Danger of overdosing and other serious side effects of drugs very real
 Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendricks, Jim Morrison all died of overdoses
 The lost potential of a generation from their attempt to escape reality
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The Music World
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Music reflect and created the changes of the 60’s
Folk Songs, Protest Songs
“Fab Five” – music, attitude and style made Beattles HUGE
Woodstock - 1969
 400,000 gathered to hear major music stars
 Fellowship, Openness, Peacefulness of the crowds
 Older generations looked on with disgust
 Hated the drugs, sex and nudity they saw at the festival (childish behavior)
 Altamont – California’s version of Woodstock
 300,000 gathered to hear the Rolling Stones
 When promoters failed to provide adequate security, the Stones hired the “Hells
Angels” to protect them
 One man beaten to death, violence broke out
 Signaled an end to the era of “peace and love”
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Both demanded honesty and accountability from
industry and government by the youth of the 60’s
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Protecting the Environment
 Rachel Carson – “Silent Spring” – 1962
 Book that spoke against the use of chemical pesticides (DDT) and what it
was doing to our environment
 Sparked a national concern and a presidential advisory study
 Research ordered about effect of chemicals on environment
 DDT outlawed
 People/Government began pushing for other
environmental reforms
 Nuclear Power
Concerns over “non-renewable” resources such a gas and oil
Development of new sources of energy
Nuclear power was believed to be better than burning oil, coal
Objections of Nuclear power began when it was noticed that water
temperatures raised near Nuclear power plants, killing fish and plant life
 Fear of Nuclear accidents caused the government to create the NUCLEAR
REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) to oversee the nuclear industry
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 Public Reaction
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People and government were becoming more openly concerned about the
environment and peoples’ impact on it
 An oil spill off Santa Barbara, CA in 1969 concerned/angered many
 Earth Day – created April 22, 1970 – a day to teach about the environment
 It’s aim still today is to raise concern for the environment and to work to
clean up pollution and litter
 Government Action
 EPA – Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act (1970) designed to regulate industrial pollution
* Made auto industry regulate emissions and build “greener” cars
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Balancing Economic Growth and the
Environment
 Costly changes for businesses – said it would cost jobs
 Government worked to balance environmental concerns and
maintaining jobs – IE – Alaska Oil Fields
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Oil Companies allowed to drill for oil
Alaska would have several million acres of lands set aside as a wildlife preserve
The Consumer Movement
 Ralph Nadar led the movement to protect the consumer
against unsafe products
 Purified Food and Drug Act
 Actions against the Auto Industry (ie-Corvair & Pinto)
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How did the Civil Rights Movement influence the
following groups? (give examples)
› Women
› Latino
› Asian American
The CounterCulture rejected the ways of the
generations that came before them. Explain 2
specific things “hippies” did to reject old ways.
 The Environmental Movement began in the
1960’s. Identify and explain 2 areas where the
government acted to change how we were
impacting the environment.
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