MOVEMENTS OF CHANGE IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Today people in the United States enjoy more rights and freedoms than many people in the world. Laws guarantee that
everybody in the U.S. has these rights. But this was not always true. Many groups of people faced discrimination and
hardship in America’s past. People with similar problems often chose to work together to create change. At times they
fought for laws that would protect their rights. Other times they fought against laws that were unfair.
We will explore four examples in American history of people working for change. These examples are called movements.
When people work together to achieve common goals their efforts are sometimes known as movements. Often it takes a
long time for all of the goals of a group to be achieved. Leaders who start the work for change many not live to see their
goals achieved. The examples we will study are movements that still have goals people are working towards in America
today.
The Civil Rights Movement
People have had to work to change unfair laws and policies that discriminated against particular groups. This is called
fighting for civil rights. When people are able to vote, apply for jobs, attend school, own property and travel throughout the
country freely then they have civil rights.
African Americans have led the fight for civil rights in the U.S. for hundreds of years. The people who fought to make
slavery illegal in the United States were working to win basic civil rights for African Americans. However, after slavery was
made illegal and African Americans were free, there were still many rights that they did not have. In some areas of the
country, laws were passed that allowed African Americans to be treated unfairly. The Civil Rights Movement was a long
fight to change these conditions and to improve the lives of African Americans, and all people whose rights were not being
protected.
The Labor Movement
Today, several national and state laws protect workers in the United States from unfair and unsafe working conditions.
Employers must follow these laws and treat workers fairly. Workers have had to work together to achieve these changes.
Workers formed organizations known as unions. Unions were formed because workers who have similar jobs often have
similar problems. That they want to solve and goals that they want to meet. In the United States, the efforts of workers to
achieve change is known as the Labor Movement.
Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland
Curriculum 2.0 – Grade 5 2012
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The Women’s Movement
Professional soccer players, US Senators, university presidents, U.S. Supreme Court justices…the list goes on of
positions held today by women that would have been unheard of 100 or even 20 years ago. Today, women in the United
States enjoy more social, economic and political rights than ever before.
The women’s right s movement is related to other campaigns for social and political change. While women worked to help
African Americans gain civil rights, many became aware of their own need for civil rights. Women also played a large role
in the temperance movement, a campaign to make alcohol illegal. By participating in the fights for temperance and civil
rights, women gain important skills and knowledge on how to work within the American political system to achieve change
and improve their own lives.
Movements for Health and Safety
Unsafe food, medicines that did more harm than good, and no way to make a company responsible for unsafe
products…these were problems that were common in American’s past. People have worked to create laws and
regulations to inform and protect citizens about the goods and services they use. New information and ideas have
influenced the goals of people who work for health and safety. For example until the 1950’s, most people did not know
tobacco use was unhealthy. Once information about the dangers of smoking became known, people began to work to limit
the use of tobacco.
Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland
Curriculum 2.0 – Grade 5 2012
Page 2 of 2