Protest Movements of the 1960s

American Indian Movement  AIM founded in 1968  Organized for self defense (similar to the Black Panthers)  Challenged the Bureau of Indian Affairs  Wanted more economic opportunities and the end of police harassment  Young Urban Activists demanded to be called Native Americans

Protests of AIM  1969: Occupied Alcatraz demanding a cultural center and university  Red Power Movement (1972): Occupied headquarters of Bureau of Indian Affairs  Wounded Knee Occupation  Site of 1890 massacres  Asking for federal government to honor treaty rights  FBI had shoot to kill orders  2 Indian fatalities, 1 wounded federal marshal

Successes/Failures of AIM  Blue Lake given back to Pueblo Indians  Alaskan natives granted 40 million acres (and $1 Billion in compensation)  Native American Rights Fund gained thousands of acres in Atlantic coast states  “Indian Renaissance”  Dumping by industry and government  Alcohol abuse and ill health

Gay Liberation  “Say it loud, Gay is Proud”  Began to organize due to police raids and harassment  End of entrapment policy  Stonewall Riot: started new movement for civil rights and liberation  Gay Liberation Front formed  Supported Black Panthers  Took stand against Vietnam War

Developments in the Liberation  American Psychiatric Association changed homosexuality from a mental illness to a sexual orientation  Decriminalization of homosexual acts  Gay Pride parades began drawing 500,000 participants

Sisterhood is Powerful  Publishing of Feminine Mystique (1963) by Betty Friedan  Civil Rights Act of 1964  Formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) 1966  Goals of NOW:  Laws banning sex discrimination in work and education  Maternity leaves for working mothers  Government funding of day-care centers  Equal Rights Amendment  Wanted repeal legislation prohibiting abortion and restricted birth control

Women’s Liberation  “We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor”  Patriarchy: Domination of men in institutions from family to business to military to protest movements  Radical feminists and street theater

Activities  Sit-ins at Newsweek  Established:  Health clinics  Day-care centers  Rape crisis centers  Shelters for abused women  Feminist bookstores, publishing companies  Women’s studies programs

Conflicts in the Movement  Mainly middle class white women  No unity across race, class, or sexual orientation  Lesbians created their own organizations  African American women formed “womanist” movement  Latina movement created to address issue unique to women of color