| The events below should help you situate the educational developments
in this chapter in a broader historical context. These events are illustrative-you
might have chosen differently if you were constructing such a timeline.
For any item, you should be able to consider, "What is its educational
significance?" Some of these are not mentioned in the Chapter and might
lead you to further inquiry. |
1940's |
| 1940 | The US Department of Labor reports that less than 17% of all
married women in the US are employed outside the home |
| 1941-45 | U.S. enters
World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor; women enter the workforce
while men are at war (Rosie the Riveter): African-Americans pressure Roosevelt
to establish Fair Employment Practices Committee. |
| 1944 | G.I.Bill
of Rights is passed, paving way for masses of WWII veterans to attain college
education at government expense. |
| 1945 | Thousands of white students walk out of classes in protest
of integration in Gary, IN; this walkout becomes precedent for future integration
resistance. |
| 1945 | U.S. destroys Hiroshima and Nagasaki with first use of atomic
bomb, bringing end to WWII in the Pacific . |
| 1946 | Dr.
Benjamin Spock publishes Baby and Child Care, the child-rearing guide for
parents of baby boomers. |
| 1947 | On behalf of the NAACP, W.E.B. Du Bois edits and presents
to the United Nations an appeal against racism in the US. |
| 1947 | Jackie Robinson becomes first African American to play in
baseball's major leagues. |
| 1948 |
1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, shaped largely by Eleanor
Roosevelt, passes UN General Assembly.
|
| 1948 | Truman orders end to segregation in armed forces. |
| 1949 | Nuclear arms race between the US and USSR begins when Soviets
test atomic bomb. |
1950's |
| 1950 | Senator
Joseph McCarthy whips up national fears of Communists in media, entertainment,
government, and public life. |
| 1950 | Apartheid is established by the white-led government in South
Africa |
| 1950 | Harvard Law School admits women |
| 1951 | J.D.
Salinger publishes The Catcher in the Rye |
| 1952 | Ralph Ellison's first and only novel, Invisible Man, is published;
Ellison wins the National Book Award for this literary work |
| 1953 | Department of Health, Education, and Welfare established |
| 1953 | Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg executed for atomic-secrets spying |
| 1953 | Earl Warren becomes chief justice |
| 1954 | The
US Supreme Court rules in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka that segregated
schools are "inherently unequal" and thus unconstitutional, reversing
Plessy v. Ferguson; Brown also establishes that other public facilities
separated based on race are inherently unequal |
| 1953-61 | Dwight D. Eisenhower is thirty-fourth President |
| 1954 | The Battle of Dienbienphu brings about the end of French control
over Indochina (Vietnam) |
| 1955 | The US Supreme Court orders that the integration of schools
proceed "with all deliberate speed" |
| 1955 | Montgomery
bus boycott begins as result of Rosa Parks's refusal to sit in the back
of the bus |
| 1957 | Launching
of Sputnik I by the USSR leads Americans to believe that the Soviets are
ahead of the US in missile technology; schools blamed for "technology
gap" |
| 1957 | Congress creates Commission on Civil Rights to study racial
conditions in U.S. |
| 1957 | Southern
Christian Leadership Conference forms; led by Martin Luther King, Jr., it
is dedicated to non-violent protest of racial discrimination |
| 1958 | First U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile is fired successfully |
| 1959 | IBM introduces computers that use transistors instead of vacuum
tubes, revolutionizing computer technology |
| 1959 | U.S. National Defense Education Act promotes teaching of sciences,
foreign language, and mathematics |
| 1959 | Fidel
Castro takes power in Cuba, forming the first communist government in Latin
America |
| 1959 | James B. Conant publishes The American High School Today |
1960's |
| 1960 | John
F. Kennedy elected president; serves until assassination in November 1963 |
| 1960 | Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960,
which acknowledges the Federal government's responsibility in matters involving
civil rights |
| 1961 | Eleanor Roosevelt is appointed by President John F. Kennedy
to the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women |
| 1961 | Michael Harrington publishes The Other America, revealing
that millions of Americans live below poverty level |
| 1962 | Students for a Democratic Society formed at Port Huron, Michigan,
goes on to lead student protests against Vietnam throughout the nation |
| 1962 | The All-African Organization of Women is founded to discuss
the right to vote, activity in local and national governments, women in
education, and medical services for women |
| 1962 | The
Supreme Court orders the University of Mississippi to admit student James
H. Meredith; Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi tries unsuccessfully
to block Meredith's admission |
| 1963 | Publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan revitalizes
the feminist movement |
| 1963 | More than 200,000 marchers from all over the US stage the
largest protest demonstration in the history of Washington, D.C.; the "March
on Washington" procession moves from the Washington Monument to the
Lincoln Memorial; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, delivers his celebrated "I
Have a Dream" speech |
| 1963 | W.E.B. duBois dies at his home in Africa |
| 1963 | Medgar
Evers, field secretary for the NAACP, is assissinated outside his home in
Jackson, MS |
| 1963 | Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, TX |
| 1964 | President Johnson calls for "Great Society" programs
as part of his "war on poverty" |
| 1964 | Fannie Lou Hamer and Ruby Davis lead the Freedom Democratic
Party at the Democratic Convention |
| 1964 | Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed, granting equal voting
rights to African Americans |
| 1964 | Martin Luther King is awarded Nobel Peace Prize |
| 1964 | Escalation
of US troops in Vietnam following the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident |
| 1964 | Title VII of the Civil Rights Act becomes the basis for numerous
subsequent legal suits charging discrimination in hiring on the basis of
race |
| 1964 | Student-initiated Free Speech Movement, lead by Mario Savio
at the University of California at Berkeley |
| 1964 | Economic Opportunity Act provides funds for Job Corps and
Head Start Programs |
| 1965 | United Farm Workers strike |
| 1965 | The Medicare Act, Housing Act, Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, a new immigration act, and voting-rights legislation are enacted |
| 1965 | National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities and the Department
of Housing and Urban Development are founded |
| 1965 | The Autobiography of Malcolm X is published and he is also
assassinated this year
|
| 1966 | National
Organization for Women is formed |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education