Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine
Mystique”
The Feminine Mystique
• Written by Betty Friedan in 1963
• Interviews with “average middle class
housewives”
• Findings:
– Many were bored, dissatisfied
• Impact
– Showed dissatisfied women they weren’t alone
– Start of modern feminist movement
The Feminist Movement Goals
• Equal pay
• Equal
opportunity
• Physical
safety
• “Women’s
Liberation”
Women’s Liberation
Gloria Steinem—”A woman
without a man, is like a fish
without a bicycle”
Angela Davis—Black
Panther & Feminist
National Organization for
Women (NOW)
• Political action group for
women’s equality
– Led by Betty Friedan
• Goals:
– Equal pay
• 1966 women earned 60% of men
– Today about 75%
– Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
• Like the 14th Amendment for women
• Passed by Congress, but not ratified
by states
Successes of the Women’s
Movement
• Equal Pay Act of 1963
• Women’s equality part of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
• Widespread acceptance of feminist ideals
• Roe v. Wade
– 1973 Court case affirming abortion rights
Miss America Pageant, 1969
Native American
Movement
American Indian Movement
(AIM)
• Formed in 1968
– Inspired by other freedom movements
• Goals:
– Indian political and economic growth
• By far the poorest, weakest Americans
• Lowest life expectancy
– Indian cultural rebirth
• Reasserting traditional Indian Ways
– Medicine, religion, dress, etc.
AIM activists take
over Wounded Knee,
SD in 1973
Indian Activists “discover” & take over Alcatraz Island, 1969-1971
70’s Native American Literature
Cesar Chavez, 1927-1993
Cesar Chavez
• Organized the United Farm
Workers (UFW) with Dolores
Huerta in 1962
– A believer in Gandhian non-violence
• A union for farm workers
– Mostly Mexican & Filipino
– Poorest of the poor
– Unskilled
• Little hope of any success
• Actually got growers to sign union
contracts
Dolores Huerta
Farm Worker Conditions
•
•
•
•
Brutal hours
Low pay
Terrible living conditions
Cancer causing pesticides
How Chavez Succeeded
• Strictly non-violent
• Cross-racial organizing
• Nationwide grape &
lettuce boycotts
• Protest Fasts
The Chicano Movement
• The Brown Berets
– A Chicano Black Panthers
• Goals
–
–
–
–
–
Latino civil rights
Latino economic improvement
Bilingual education
Immigration reform
Enhancing Latin American culture
An Excerpt From Yo Soy Joaquin (I Am
Joaquin) by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, 1967
And now the trumpet sounds, The music of the people
stirs the Revolution, Like a sleeping giant it slowly
rears its head to the sound of Tramping feet Clamoring
voices Mariachi strains Fiery tequila explosions The
smell of chile verde and Soft brown eyes of
expectation for a better life. And in all the fertile farm
lands, the barren plains, the mountain villages, small
smeared cities We start to MOVE. La Raza! Mexicano!
Español! Latino! Hispano! Chicano! or whatever I call
myself. I look the same. I feel the same I cry and Sing
the same. I am the masses of my people and I refuse
to be absorbed. I am Joaquin The odds are great but
my spirit is strong My faith unbreakable My blood is
pure I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ I SHALL
ENDURE! I WILL ENDURE!
Chicano Movement
Corky Gonzales
Gay Rights Movement
• Gays and Bisexuals had to be secret about
their lives & suffered discrimination
• June 27, 1969—the “Stonewall Rebellion”
– Police attacked a gay bar in NYC
– Patrons fought back
– Birth of the gay rights movement
The Stonewall Rebellion
The Environmental Movement
• Realization that
technology &
population could
destroy the planet
• 1st Earth Day in 1969