1. 1950s to present time
SS5H8 and SS5H9

2. 1950’s and 1960’s
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, minority groups such as African American’s and Women fought for more rights.
On May 17, 1954, The Supreme Court made a decision on Brown vs. Board of Education. The Brown family wanted their daughter to attend a closer all-white school in Topeka, Kansas.
Jim Crow Laws still existed that required that separate but equal for African Americans and Whites – including schools.
The Supreme Court agreed that it was not fair to have separate schools, and made the decision to desegregate, or combine, white and black students.
Even though the decision was made to integrate, many schools did not want it.
In September 1957, nine African Americans attended high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many tried to stop them from going in the building, so President Dwight Eisenhower sent troops to make sure they were allowed into the building.

3. 1950’s and 1960’s
The Montgomery Bus Boycott happened on December 1, 1955.
Jim Crow Laws required that African American’s move from their seat in order for Whites to sit down.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat so a white person could take her seat up front. She was arrested for refusing to move.
As a result, African American’s decided to stop riding buses in Montgomery, that is they boycotted the buses. They said they would not ride until segregation ended.
A Civil Rights leader named Martin Luther King, Jr. led the boycott. King was a minister who encouraged those fighting for civil rights to do so peacefully, and nonviolently.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of These laws banned racial discrimination in public places, and banned the poll tax African American’s had to pay in order to vote.
On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where they demanded equality for African Americans. This is where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

4. 1950’s and 1960’s
Thurgood Marshall was the first African American man to serve as judge on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was appointed (brought in) in 1967.
He was the lawyer for the Brown family in Brown vs. Board of Education.
He was in charge of the group NCAAP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) that is still a civil rights group today.

5. 1950’s and 1960’s
Women were also fighting for rights during the 1960’s.
Women before this time were not encouraged to work outside the home.
Women began working outside of the home more and more during World War II, and they wanted to continue working after the war.
They were often paid poorly, until the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to discriminate against women in the work place.
Today, women have opportunities to work, but they are often paid less than men in the same position.
Women today are often not in as many leadership positions as men.

6. 1950’s and 1960’s
Many important leaders to the United States were assassinated, or killed, in the 1960s.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, Lee Harvey Oswald had shot him through an open window when he was riding with his wife (Jacqueline Kennedy) in a convertible car.
President Kennedy’s brother, Robert, was also shot and killed when he was campaigning to become president. He was shot on June 5, 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan who did not agree with his support of Israel.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also assassinated. On April 5, 1968, King was on a balcony in his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was charged for murdering him.
Leaders like John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King brought about great change for the country. Their ideas of change are still being supported by various civil rights groups today.

7. 1950’s and 1960’s
The “Space Race” was also going on in the 1960s. The United States and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R) were racing to see who could be the first human in space.
The U.S.S.R. won the first round when they sent up a satellite (named Sputnik I) in 1957 to orbit Earth. It was unmanned.
The United States formed an organization called National Aeronautical and Space Administration, or NASA.
In July 1969, The U.S. moved ahead in the race by sending a rocket containing three men aboard. This was called Apollo 11.
The U.S. has stayed ahead in the space race since Apollo 11.

8. 1950’s and 1960’s
“Pop” – or popular – culture was the culture of average people, and it began changing after the war.
By the 1950s, families began to gather around the television while they ate dinner.
Furniture began to change in order to accommodate sitting in the living room to watch television.
The TV could only be seen on the East Coast north of Washington D.C., but by 1951 the entire country had access to a TV.

9. 1950’s and 1960’s
REVIEW:
List 3 important leaders in the Civil Rights Movement.
What were two laws put into effect in the 1960s that relate to the Civil Rights Movement?
What were the impacts of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy?
Who was the Space Race between and what were some of the events of it?
When was the television developed?

10. Modern Developments
Many political movements happened during the 1990’s to present.
The president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev recognized independence for the Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia on December 25, 1991.
Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were also formed into independent states.
When the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) split into nations, the United States and Russia agreed to destroy the nuclear arsenals and warheads by They are not yet finished.

11. Modern Developments
The Persian Gulf War was fought between Iraq and the United States and was joined by 34 other nations.
Iraq took over Kuwait, a small country that borders it, on August 2, 1990.
Within five months, the U.S. began bombing Iraq.
Within five weeks of that happening, Iraq withdrew their troops from Kuwait and the war ended.

12. Modern Developments
Middle East Conflict used diplomacy, or a way to solve differences through talk and negotiation, to avoid war and negotiate nuclear disarmament.
Jimmy Carter helped Egypt and Israel reach a peace agreement in 1979.
Many U.S. presidents have helped to resolve conflicts in the Middle East, specifically Israel and Palestine.

13. Modern Developments
Terrorism can be – kidnapping, hostage taking, assassination, bombing.
Terrorists are people who use terrorism in order to gain political power.
Terrorism has been in the world for many years, but its’ worst attack on the U.S. was during September 11, 2001.

14. Modern Developments
During September 11, 2001, the terrorist group al-Qaeda took over four American planes headed for New York City and Washington D.C.
Two planes were crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Over 2,700 people lost their lives in the attack.
The attack completely collapsed the towers, and destroyed over 16 acres of New York City.
The third plane crashed into the Pentagon building in Washington D.C., killing 184 people.
The fourth plane was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

15. Modern Developments
President (at the time) George W. Bush declared a “war on terrorism.”
The PATRIOT ACT gave powers to the government to seek out and find terrorists.
Al-Qaeda was the government supported by Afghanistan.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the September 11th attacks.
In 2003, President Bush said that the country of Iraq was harboring nuclear weapons and supported al-Qaeda, so the U.S. invaded Iraq with the help of several other countries.
No nuclear weapons were found, but Iraq remained a threat to safety. The U.S. troops stayed in Iraq until very recently.
Terrorism is still a problem for the entire world.

16. Modern Developments Review:
Who was the Soviet Union leader that introduced freedom of speech?
Who were some of the U.S. leaders fighting for peace in the Middle East?
What was the land split into both an Arab state and a Jewish state?
Who was the Persian Gulf War of 1991 between?
What happened on September 11th, 2001?
Who claimed responsibility for the September 11th attacks?
What was George W. Bush’s response to September 11th?
What are benefits of the personal computer and internet?