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