The 1960s: An Era of Social Change

1. The 1960s: An Era of Social Change Provided notes and a video SWBAT analyze the successes and failures of women’s rights organizations, the American Indian Movement, and La Raza in their pursuit of civil rights and equal opportunities. Agenda: 1.Turn in SCR, 2. Notes, Happy Daze

2. Latinos in America • Increase from 3 million to 9 million in the 1960s • Immigration Patterns: • Braceros – temporary workers brought in during the 1940s – 1950s • Mexicans: Southwest and CA • Living in territory that was taken over by the U.S. in 1848 • Refuges from the 1910s Mexican Civil War • Cubans: NY, NJ and Miami • Refuges from Castro’s Communist revolution in the 1950s • Puerto Ricans: NY • Have citizenship • Immigrated after the 1898 U.S. occupation of P.R. • Discrimination: • Jobless rate 50 percent higher than whites • Live in segregated barrios (Spanish speaking neighborhoods) • Starting in the 1960s, there is a demand for equal representation and respect for their culture

3. United Farm Workers Organizing Committee • 1962 • Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta • Use union to bargain with California’s large fruit/veg companies for better working conditions • 1965 Grape growers refuse to recognize the union; in response the union uses: • Non-violent protests • Nationwide boycott of grapes – unions members traveled across the U.S. to talk • Chavez - 3 week hunger strike • By 1970 the company had agreed to negotiate a contract

4. Brown Power • Inspired by farm workers’ movement • Brown Berets • Formed by David Sanchez • 1968 staged walkouts at high schools to protest conditions like class size • Encourages bi-lingual schools / focus on Latino culture • 1968 Congress enacts the Bilingual Ed Act – provided funds for non-English speaking children

5. Latino Political Power • 1960s – 8 Hispanic Americans serve in the House & 1 in Senate • La Raza Unida (The United People) forms in 1970s by Jose Angel Gutierrez • Supported Latino candidates for elections • Today there are 32 in Congress

6. Native Americans seek equality • 1924: finally made citizens of the US • Historical impact of reservation system (since late 1800s) • Loss of land • Lack of mobility • Serious health conditions: tuberculosis / alcoholism / infant mortality twice the national average / life expectancy lower than national average • Suffered highest unemployment rate • 1954: Eisenhower’s termination policy: “dealt with” problems, but did not respect the people • Native Americans were relocated from reservations into cities and told to assimilate to mainstream urban life • 1961: 61 Native American groups meet in Chicago and drafted the Declaration of Indian Purpose • Called for an end to the termination policy and the development of economic opportunities on reservations • Stressed political / social self-determination

7. American Indian Movement • 1968: Militant NA rights organization – sometimes violent confrontations with the government • Mostly young people frustrated with the slow pace of progress • Tracked by the FBI • Started as self defense against police brutality • Eventually it comes to represent the civil rights movement of NA: • Demands for reservation land, burial grounds etc to be restored • 1972: Trail of Broken Treaties March in Washington • Protest government’s numerous treaty violations throughout history • Called for abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs because of years of corruption • 1973: Rogue group occupies town of Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge Reservation; Siege lasts 71 days and resulted in 2 Native Am deaths • 150 civil rights complaints against the US government • Site selected because of massacre of 146 Native American women and children in 1890

8. Reforms for Native Americans • 1972 Indian Education Act • 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act • Gave tribes greater control over their land, local government and children’s education • Federal court trials • Used copies of old land treaties from the government to regain lost property in Alaska, New Mexico, Maine, South Dakota etc

9. Feminism • Belief that women should have economic, social, and political equality • Historical roots – women’s suffrage campaign • 1/3 of women worked in 1950 and 40% in 1960 • Occupations still divided into “Men’s work” and “Women’s work” jobs like nursing, teaching, social work, retail etc were low paying • 1961 Presidential Commission on the Status of Women • studied work and found that even doing the same job, women were paid less than men; women were promoted less often (regardless of factors like education or experience)

10. The Feminine Mystique • Best seller written by Betty Friedan • Chronicled the condition of women in America • Became the driving force of the Women’s Liberation Movement

11. Women Organize • NOW: National Organization for Women • Formed to pursue women’s goals • The 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibited discrimination wasn’t being enforced; after NOW pushes for reform, job advertisements that were gender segregated were banned • Pushed for the creation of child care centers • National Women’s Political Caucus – moderate group formed to encourage women to seek political office

12. Federal Legislation • Higher Education Act: banned gender discrimination in any school that received federal money; all male colleges begin accepting females • Title 9: “No person …shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...” • covers all educational activities and other aspects of academic life such as dormitories and non-sport activities such as school band and clubs; however, • fraternities and sororities, gender-specific youth clubs such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and Girls State and Boys State are specifically exempt from Title IX requirements.

13. Tax break for child care • 1973 Roe v. Wade – Supreme Court ruling that it was a women’s choice to carry or abort a pregnancy • ERA – Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in 1923; it was brought back in 1972 and passed Congress. • Conservative religious groups and anti-feminists launch a “Stop ERA” campaign because they saw feminism as an attack on the “social order” • ERA isn’t ratified by enough states and doesn’t become law • 1981: Sandra Day O’Conner becomes the first ever female Supreme Court Judge