The 1970s gets a bad rap. Rarely revered as a glorious—or even particularly memorable—time in contemporary American history, the seventies is more often seen as the sad stepchild to the 1960s, which is celebrated as a decade of peace, love, and revolutionary social change. In sharp contrast with the 1960s, the 1970s was painted, even as it progressed, as an era of crushing disappointment: defeat in Vietnam, bad or downright corrupt political leadership, staggering economic problems, disenchantment, disenfranchisement, and inane fads.
Yet to dismiss the 1970s is to forget the immense strides that Americans made toward sex and gender equality during that decade. Through the 1970s, members of groups considered minorities began to demand equal
Many say that the movement failed because of the fear that gender roles and family values would be infringed upon by the passage of this amendment. Other’s felt that there was no need for it due to the recent Supreme Court cases, i.e. Roe v. Wade, which made way for a broadened spectrum of women’s rights. It is on this topic of why exactly the ERA failed that Mary Frances Berry focuses her attention, by examining why the movement failed and how future reformers can learn from the mistakes of the ERA. Berry analyzes the failure of the ERA in both legal and historical terms. She claims that due to the difficulty of amending the Constitution, in order for any amendment to be ratified there needs to be a sweeping consensus and a sense of urgency among Americans that this is an issue
Many people think the most predominant social injustice in the 1960’s revolved around racism, which was mostly true. But few realize that gender inequality was a much more harmful than racism in aspects such as employment, family life, and government service, where women were disregarded and underpaid. To notice the differences between discriminations in gender and race, one would have to fall into both categories as Shirley Chisholm had, the first African-American Congresswoman. Having experienced this disadvantage, Chisholm directed her career in a different direction. On August 10th, 1969 in Washington D.C., Shirley Chisholm made history by addressing gender inequality in her speech, “For The Equal Rights Amendment”.
Several social changes in the post-war years opened women to feminism's message. P. 2, The demand for a larger and more skilled labor pool generated by the Cold War, and postwar consumer economy were the driving force cause American society to become more open to feminism’s message. No doubt WW II created the demand for expanded women’s roles in the workplace, Document 1. Having proved their equal abilities during the war, they stood ready willing and able to contribute moving forward. Nevertheless attitudes toward women staying in the workforce after World War II were not favorable.
The 1960-70’s was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans were dedicated to gaining liberties which only whites could exercise freely, and did this was done through peaceful as well as violent means of protest. Individuals such as Martin Luther King protested by means of preaching peace and utilizing nonviolent actions against whites while others such as Malcolm x and elijah muhammad resorted to not only violence, yet separatism to protest and show their urge to gain civil Liberties. Though, both methods of protest were aimed towards the same goal, only one was to be influential and bring about the change that African Americans desire.
The culture in Northern America during the 1960’s and 1970’s was very controversial. There were several that were happy with it but several that were extremely unhappy with it. There were several causes for the protests that took place in the United States during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Allen Ginsberg was a prominent figure during the time of counterculture. Ginsberg lived from 1926-1997 and he was a very key individual in all these protests.
During the progressive era our country faced many problems. The rise of substantial businesses caused industrial problems. Women suffrage, alcohol, child labor, and safety issues caused social problems. The necessitation of citizens in government decisions also caused political problems. Progressives were people who wanted to solve all of these quandaries.
In this paper I will be going over issue 17, “Has the Women’s Movement of the 1970’s Failed to Liberate American Women?”. Sara M. Evans and F. Carolyn Graglia each voice their opinions about the issue. They talk about the history of the women’s movement throughout time and the effects it had in our country. F. Carolyn Graglia writes about how she agrees the movement has failed to liberate American women. Her views on feminism concluded that the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s was a reasonable but a faulty idea, in that it was based on a worthy opinion (that all men and women should be equal).
This all started to change with the suffrage movement in that women started to enter the professional workforce, obtain higher levels of education, and became more involved in political life resulting in a shift of gender roles as women were entering long held male domains (McCammon et al., 2001, p. 53). Haferkamp and Smelser (1992) discuss further changes regarding social equality and how in the 1970’s the social movements of the 1960’s shifted towards women’s rights. This is when women focused on equal opportunities both in private and public capacities (Haferkamp & Smelser, 1992, p.
Challenges that Black Americans faced in the early 1970’s, like the Benign Neglect, what was a policy to neglect racial issues, is what led to poverty in the South Bronx, New York, which then led to the birth of hip hop culture, which was a form of entertainment as well as a way to fight for racial equality for Black Americans by addressing the discrimination and struggles they faced. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former American politician who served as an advisor to President Nixon, created the Benign Neglect on June 16, 1970. Moynihan looked at certain aspects such as programs that helped African Americans, Black single mother families, Black unemployment, Black education, and saw no improvement in Black American lives. This caused him to
Dating back to World War II the United States was immensely preoccupied with the war front. Their continuous worry about having enough ammunition put many people to work. Around the 1940s, many individuals were asked to work jobs they usually would not have been offered. There was a simple phase of false hope for the struggling families. Readers have had a chance to see the reality behind the era of World War II through the documents left behind in Chapter 13: Gender, Race, and Sexuality During World War II of Sharon Block’s book Major Problems in American History Volume II: Since 1865 and also Chapter 8: Origins of the Civil Rights Movement of Thomas Holt’s book Major Problems in African American History.
The decades of the 70s was a time of often in fits and starts. They were the years when the women’s movement became a recognizable political force. In 1972 years after the campaigning of feminists, Congress passed the Equal Right Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution. The 1970s, many groups of Americans continued to fight for expanded social and political right. President Richard Nixon passed the Education Amendment in 1972.
The 80 's was a pivotal and controversial decade in American history. It can be characterized by prominent political, religious, military, economic and social aspects. While turbulence was common, it is also noted for being one of the most influential and important periods for America and the rest of the world as well. When asked what they remember about 1980 's politics, one might immediately think of Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was born February 6th, 1911.
First, in the 1960s there was a variety of political issues. ¨At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans believed they were standing at the dawn of a Golden Age¨. On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy became president of the United States. During his presidential campaign in 1960, John F. Kennedy had promised the most ambitious domestic agenda since the New Deal, a package of laws and reforms that sought to eliminate injustice and inequality in the United States. But the New Frontier ran into problems instantly. The Democrats Congressional majority depended on a group of Southerners who loathed the plan’s interventionist liberalism and all they tried to block it.
Throughout American society, Women have been downgraded in the face of men. In america’s past, women were seen purely as housewives, and had no place in a higher position. Today women have many more rights, putting them on much more equal terms as men. With this, women have shown their capabilities and their worth to society, leading its progression, and proving that the arguments of the anti-suffrage movement were initially the opposite of what women could really do. The arguments that women’s place is only at home and that men have the sole job of running government and society has been proven wrong by women in contemporary society.
The 1970’s was a time for radical change. Within the radical change was feminism, sex and sexuality, and drugs. Although this may not have been part of everyone’s lives, it was there, and it was prevalent. However, in 1970’s television none of this was talked about. Even though the 1970’s was a turning point in censorship in American television, the ideas and values were still moderately the same as the previous decades.