Section 4 Other Americans Seek Rights

Objectives 1. Discover the gains made by the women’s movement. 2. Find out how Mexican Americans struggled to win equal treatment. 3. Explore how Native Americans, older Americans, and the disabled sought fairer treatment.

Key Terms and People Betty Friedan Cesar Chavez Bilingual Mandatory retirement Maggie Kuhn

A. Women’s Rights Movement 1. Betty Friedan – a. Author of the book The Feminine Mystique, which reignited the women’s rights movement. – b. Her book challenged traditional ideas about the roles of both men and women. – c. Friedan helped found the National Organization for Women (NOW), which fought for greater equality.

A. Women’s Rights Movement 2. The ERA – a. Equal Rights Amendment, which would forbid any form of sex discrimination. – b. Opponents argued that women might lose their rights to alimony or be forced to serve in combat. – c. They also thought this would undermine traditional values and that other laws provided legal protection to women’s rights. – c. Ultimately, ERA did not receive enough votes to be ratified.

3. Notable Gains a. Equal Pay Act required equal pay for men and women doing the same jobs. b. More women were working outside the home. c. More women were elected to city councils, state legislatures, and the U.S. Congress.

Questions What were some of the gains made by the women’s rights movement? What arguments did opponents of the ERA make? More women attended college and worked outside the home, and more women were elected to positions in government. They argued that the amendment would undermine traditional values and that other laws provided legal protections for women.

B. Civil Rights for Mexican Americans Mexican Americans were not subject to official segregation laws. In the Southwest, all- white schools did not allow Mexican American children.

1. Organizing for Change a. A Mexican American man was convicted of murder by an all-white jury. b. Hernandez v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that excluding Mexican Americans from juries was illegal.

2. Chavez and the UFW a. Cesar Chavez helped form the United Farm Workers (UFW). b. The main goal was to win higher wages and decent working conditions for migrant laborers. c. Chavez favored nonviolent protest.

3. Protecting Voting Rights a. Voting Rights Act of 1975 required areas with large numbers of foreign speaking citizens to hold bilingual elections. b. Bilingual – in two languages. c. Supporters of bilingual education said that it would help students keep up with their work as they learned English.

Questions Why did Cesar Chavez organize farm workers into a union? How was the Voting Rights Act of 1975 different from the Voting Rights Act of 1964? He wanted to win higher wages and decent working conditions for migrant laborers. The 1975 act included a provision that required areas with large numbers of foreign- speaking populations to hold bilingual elections.

C. Organizing for Change 1. Native Americans – a. The National Congress of American Indians sent delegations to Washington to regain land, mineral, and water rights. – b. The American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, for several days to remind people of the government’s long history of unfair dealings with Native Americans.

2. Older Americans a. Mandatory Retirement – a policy that required people to stop working at a certain age. (most companies set the age at 65) b. American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was founded to promote health insurance for retired Americans.

3. Maggie Kuhn a. She was forced to retire because she reached the age of 65. b. Organized the group the Gray Panthers to combat age discrimination.

4. Americans With Disabilities a. Public buildings were required to provide access for people with disabilities. b. This included reserved parking spaces, ramped building entrances, wheelchair lifts on buses, and Braille buttons on elevators.

4. Americans With Disabilities c. The Education for the Handicapped Act of 1975 guaranteed a free education for all children with disabilities. d. In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which outlawed discrimination in hiring people with physical or mental impairments.