During the tumultuous years of the 1960s, American culture was dramatically changed. Disillusioned with the racist and sexist America they lived in, young citizens began to adopt a negative attitude towards authority.
In the first student led resistance to authority was the Free Speech Movement that took place at University of California at Berkeley in 1964. After the school banned the use of campus areas for political debate, students led a nonviolent protest against the university, claiming that it was too preoccupied with corporate interests. As disdain for the Vietnam War continued to grow, more violent student protests would spread throughout American universities.
The 1960s also brought about a “sexual revolution” in America. Due to the new birth control pill, worries about unwanted pregnancies were greatly reduced and, as a result, sexual desires were more readily pursued. Gay rights movements also emerged during this decade. During the Stonewall Rebellion, a group of gay men attacked by an off-duty policeman fought back. This marked a turning point in the nonviolent era as victims of beatings would no longer refuse to protect themselves.
These counterculture (ideas that go against the established cultural norms) attitudes were also present among the flower children of the 1960s, those that embraced the ideals of universal peace and love. Commonly referred to as hippies, these individuals sought a world that was more perfect than the one they lived in. Also prominent during this time were communes, a type of living wherein a group of people pool resources and agree to live by a certain philosophy. Along with those that experimented with mind altering substances, these groups of young people made up a generation that was fed up with the society in which they lived and sought to create a better one themselves.
In the first student led resistance to authority was the Free Speech Movement that took place at University of California at Berkeley in 1964. After the school banned the use of campus areas for political debate, students led a nonviolent protest against the university, claiming that it was too preoccupied with corporate interests. As disdain for the Vietnam War continued to grow, more violent student protests would spread throughout American universities.
The 1960s also brought about a “sexual revolution” in America. Due to the new birth control pill, worries about unwanted pregnancies were greatly reduced and, as a result, sexual desires were more readily pursued. Gay rights movements also emerged during this decade. During the Stonewall Rebellion, a group of gay men attacked by an off-duty policeman fought back. This marked a turning point in the nonviolent era as victims of beatings would no longer refuse to protect themselves.
These counterculture (ideas that go against the established cultural norms) attitudes were also present among the flower children of the 1960s, those that embraced the ideals of universal peace and love. Commonly referred to as hippies, these individuals sought a world that was more perfect than the one they lived in. Also prominent during this time were communes, a type of living wherein a group of people pool resources and agree to live by a certain philosophy. Along with those that experimented with mind altering substances, these groups of young people made up a generation that was fed up with the society in which they lived and sought to create a better one themselves.
Another important movement was the second wave of women's rights. Suffragettes of the late 19th and early 20th century had formed the initial round of women's rights protesters, at the time concentrated on gaining the vote for women. In the sixties, the movement was focused on gaining equal rights between men and women. Equal wages, education, and job opportunities formed the basis of the women's rights platform.
The second wave of Women's rights began with the publication of Betty Friedan's novel The Feminine Mystique. In it, Friedan wrote of the depression women felt as they were forced to be nothing more than mere housewives, subservient to their husbands and children. Feminists led several protests against female oppression. One of the most notable instances was the demonstration against the 1968 Miss America Beauty Pageant, which the protesters argued was commercialized and racist, as well as expecting women to conform to absurd beauty standards.
The focal point of the woman's movement was the Equal Rights Amendment, which outlined full equality of the sexes as enforced by the federal government. This amendment would eventually reach Congress in the seventies, but the sixties laid the foundation for the future of the modern feminist movement.
The second wave of Women's rights began with the publication of Betty Friedan's novel The Feminine Mystique. In it, Friedan wrote of the depression women felt as they were forced to be nothing more than mere housewives, subservient to their husbands and children. Feminists led several protests against female oppression. One of the most notable instances was the demonstration against the 1968 Miss America Beauty Pageant, which the protesters argued was commercialized and racist, as well as expecting women to conform to absurd beauty standards.
The focal point of the woman's movement was the Equal Rights Amendment, which outlined full equality of the sexes as enforced by the federal government. This amendment would eventually reach Congress in the seventies, but the sixties laid the foundation for the future of the modern feminist movement.