Chapter 27
The Youth Movement

Challenged:
 Political & social system
 Conventional Middle Class values
 Inspired by the Beats (of the 1950’s)
 Originated with “Baby Boomers”
 By 1970- 58.4% of US 34 years old
or younger.
 1960-1965- enrollment in 4 year colleges
went from 3.1 million to 5 million.
* (1959)Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
 1962*Port Huron Statement (Tom Hayden)
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Anti-Vietnam War
Anti-Big Corporation & Big Government
Anti-Apathy
Also worked against poverty, nuclear power & racism
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*Mario Savio (leader)
UC Berkley limited student
publications & recruitment for
political causes

Dec. 1964- Savio & UC
Berkeley students held sit-ins
on campus & police arrested
700.

Supreme Court said students
have a right to free speech and
assembly on campus
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Mostly white middle class
Hippies- rejected society
Communes
 Living & working together away from the rest of
society
 *Haight Ashbury District
Popular destination for
US hippies (San Francisco)
New Religion
 Unification Church
 Hare Krishna
Decline & Impact of the Counterculture
After a few years the counterculture declined.
Reasons:
1. Hippie communes became dangerous
2. Drug addiction =(death & overdoses)
3. Many hippies got older & moved on
Impact of the Counterculture.
1. Fashion- wore cheap surplus clothes from
earlier decades, long hair= rejected
consumerism
2. Music- made use of folk music & rhythm &
blues.

1969-Woodstock (up state NY)- outdoor music
festival featured singers Bob Dylan, The Who
etc.
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Art

Pop Art
 Contained elements of
popular culture

Andy Warhol
 Pop artist
 Famous people
Music
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Beatles
Bob Dylan
Jimi Hendrix
All of these created a
bigger generation gap
between old & young
Woodstock
 Upstate NY August 1969
 Festival of music
A Renewed Women’s Movement
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19th Amendment (1920)
granted women the right
to vote.
Next 40 years, women’s
movement had little
influence.
WWII- women given
greater opportunities for
work outside home.
Post WWII- society
emphasized a
homemaking role.
1960 –1/3 of married
women were part of the
paid workforce.
Women and the Workplace
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Newspaper ads separated
jobs by gender.
Banks denied women
credit.
Women paid less than men
for doing same work.
President’s Commission on
the Status of Women
(Kennedy)
1963- Equal Pay Act
passed.
Feminism
 belief that men and women
should be equal politically,
economically and socially
 *The Feminine Mystique
 By *Betty Friedan – best selling
book
 Exposed sense of dissatisfaction
women had with the traditional
role.
 Title VII: of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 outlawed job
discrimination based on gender


National Organization for
Women (NOW)
 Demanded greater educational
opportunities (formed by Friedan
& others).
The Feminist Movement

Gloria Steinem: author & public figure - one of the
movement’s leading figures (editor—Ms. Magazine).

*Title IX: prohibited federally funded schools from
discriminating against women

1973- Roe v Wade: ruled that the states could not
regulate abortion in the first 3 months of pregnancy
because it was a time that would violate the
woman’s right to privacy- abortion is legal!

Right to Life: anti-abortion movement

Equal Rights Amendment: would have protected
women against discrimination – it failed (3 states
refused to ratify) opposition –Phyllis Schlafly

*Affirmative Action:
 companies doing business with federal government
should actively recruit African American employees to
improve social and economic status

*University of California Regents v Bakke (1978):
 ruled schools could use racial criteria as part of their
admissions process but couldn’t use fixed quotas

Swan v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
(1970) :
 upheld the constitutionality of busing – transporting
minority students to fully integrate schools

White Flight: Whites responded by removing
their students from public schools
African Americans

Jesse Jackson:

Congressional Black
Caucus:
 political leader
 People United to Save
Humanity (PUSH)
 worked at registering voters,
developing African American
businesses and educational
opportunities
 1971 African American
members of Congress
organized to more clearly
represent the legislative
concerns of blacks
Hispanic Americans

*Cesar Chavez:

La Raza Unida (1969):
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Bilingualism:

1968 Bilingual Education Act:
 fought for farm workers for increased wages,
union recognition and better benefits
 Created United Farm Workers
 political party begun in Texas to represent
Hispanics
 teaching in Spanish while also learning
English
 argument - they would be at a competitive
disadvantage with English speakers because
difficult to understand in another language
 directed schools to set up classes for
immigrants in their own language as they
were learning English
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Declaration of Indian Purpose:

Indian Civil Rights Act:

American Indian Movement:

Indian Self-Determination and
Educational Assistance Act:
 called for policies to create greater
economic opportunities on
reservations
 Instead of wanting assimilation they
wanted more independence.
 guaranteed reservation residents
the protection of the Bill of Rights
 a more militant group that made
stands at Alcatraz and Wounded
Knee in 1970’s.
 increased funds for Native American
education
 expanded local control in
administering federal programs
Save the Earth
*Rachel Carson- *“Silent Spring”- book about pesticide’s effect on
the environment.
 1970- Earth Day:
 Day devoted to addressing nation’s environmental concerns
Environmental Protection Agency:
 created in 1970 by Nixon –
 set and enforced pollution standards, promoted research and
coordinated state activities
Clean Air Act:
 1970 Nixon established emissions standards for factories and
automobiles & ordered industries to comply with standards
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Clean Water Act: 1972
 restricted the discharge of pollutants into the nations’ lakes and
rivers
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Endangered Species Act:
 1973 established measures for saving threatened animal species

Three Mile Island: March 28, 1979
 nuclear facility outside of Harrisburg Pennsylvania overheated after
its cooling system failed & low levels of radiation escaped

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act:
 Ralph Nader in 1966
 regulated the automobile industry for the first time in safety