Protest and reaction 1963-72 - the social bit

Question 1

Malcolm X

Answer 1

• Offered a more radical position than MLK
• Joined the Nation of Islam, supported separate black communities (separatism)
• Criticised MLK, eventually split from NOI and formed the OAAU.
• Influenced other black radicals after his death, e.g. Black Panthers

Question 2

Changes to the SNCC

Answer 2

• Had played a vital role in desegregating lunch counters
• In 1966, voted to expel all white members. Carmichael replaced as chairman by Rap Brown, a radical
• Rap Brown - supported black armed defence against the police, called for black Americans to take over white businesses in ghettos. Led to race riots

Question 3

Black Panther rise

Answer 3

• 1966
• Advocated black nationalism, followed ideas of Malcolm X
• Demanded reparations from whites, wanted black people exempt from the draft as they believed a disproportionate amount served in Vietnam
• Black Power at Olympic ceremony - two black athletes did the black power salute and were barred from competing again
• Major conflicts with the FBI killed one of the leaders and began the decline
• Focus on violence alienated many black Americans

Question 4

MLK, 1963-68

Answer 4

• Present at signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act under LBJ
• Marched from Alabama to the Capital, was attacked along the way by Florida police, and LBJ was forced to intervene and put police under Federal control - direct contribut. to passing of 1965 Voting Rights Act, guaranteed voting rights
• Lost influence due to radical black power groups, faced huge white opposition during marches
• Further decline when he opposed involvement in Vietnam War, lost LBJ support
• In 1968, went to Memphis to support a strike. Was assassinated at a motel, setting off a huge race riot. Funeral attended by Nixon and Robert Kennedy

Question 5

Cesar Chavez, Chicano

Answer 5

• Also discrimination against Hispanic communities
• Started with a 5 year strike in 1965 from grape workers, grew into wider movement
• Strikers + supporters took name Chicano, a derogatory term for poor Hispanics
• Splintered into moderate and radical factions, over plans to include Hispanic university students

Question 6

Student protest

Answer 6

• 1964, one of the first student protests, Free Speech Movement
• Important student protest group - SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)
• 1967, 500,000 students marched on Washington, disillusioned after Tet Offensive and My Lai, burned draft cards
• Yippies, more radical student protest group
• Kent State Shooting

Question 7

Counterculture

Answer 7

• Changes in youth culture - long hair on men, women going without bras, experimentation with drugs
• 1967 ‘Flower Power’ in San Francisco
• Music changed after 1963, rise of the Rolling Stones and the Doors. The Beatles
• Woodstock in 1969, attracted 40,000

Question 8

Women in work

Answer 8

• Dick Van Dyke show and Father Knows Best in the 50s suggested a woman’s place was at home, but shifted into the 60s
• by 1965, over 25 million women were in regular employment
• 1964 Civil Rights Act, outlawed discrimination in employment based on sex
• NOW felt the act had failed, protested and campaigned to EEOC. Benefited e.g. stewardesses, and the EEOC ruled that airlines shouldn’t fire women when they got married or reached a certain age

Question 9

Women’s rights… in general

Answer 9

• Contraceptive pill in 1960s
  -‘Feminine Mystique’ published in 1963
• NOW created in 1966
• Women’s Liberation Movement created after NOW, a more radical group. Miss America protests
• Education Act 1972, had to end sex discrimination if they wanted continued federal funding
• Abortion legalised in Roe v Wade
• Redstockings, even more radical group

Question 10

Sexual liberalisation

Answer 10

• Contraceptive pill introduced in 60s, used by 1.2 million women by 1962
• Idea of ‘free love’
• By 1970s, surveys indicated around 75% of students in colleges had engaged in sexual intercourse by their third year
• Divorce rate rose almost 100% in 60s
• Ideas of marriage and family life changed radically

Question 11

Origins of gay rights

Answer 11

• Small groups, such as Mattachine society in 1950 and Daughters of Bilitis in 1955
• Gay rights began in earnest in 1969, after the police raid on Stonewall Inn and subsequent 3 days of rioting
• Homosexuality removed as a mental illness in 1973
• 1977, first openly gay elected official in Harvey Milk, later assassinated for his sexuality