The American Vision: Modern Times © 2008

Chapter 20: The Politics of Protest

Chapter Overviews

This chapter describes how the civil rights movement inspired several groups to express their own ideals and protest for expanded rights during the 1960s and 1970s.

Section 1 discusses the student protest movement of the 1960s and the emergence of the counterculture. In the 1960s college students throughout the country began rejecting traditional values, political structures, and social norms. As they became increasingly active in social causes, these young radical activists protested the Vietnam War, poverty, campus regulations, and racism. A New Left emerged, and student groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gained national attention. Students in the Free Speech Movement not only demanded and won the right to hold political activities, they also established a model for other college demonstrators. While the student movement sought to change traditional society, the counterculture chose to simply leave it behind. The hippies rejected materialism, promoted personal freedom, and embraced spirituality. Ironically, the counterculture influenced many changes in the food, clothing, music, and art of the mainstream society it had rejected.

Section 2 describes how women organized to gain greater rights and opportunities during the 1960s and 1970s. The early 1960s saw the women's movement reawaken and gain focus as more women entered the workforce. New feminist networks and strong leaders helped influence Congress to include women in the 1964 Civil Rights Act—the decisive legal basis for advances made in the women's movement. New organizations, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) formed to demand equal pay, expanded employment opportunities, greater educational opportunities, and representation in government. In 1972 feminists won a significant victory with the passage of a law that prohibited gender discrimination in education. While the women's movement brought about profound changes in society, some issues created strong opposition. A Supreme Court ruling on abortion sparked an impassioned debate that continues today, while a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equality failed to win ratification.

Section 3 explains the significance of the growing population of Latino Americans in the United States. Americans of Mexican heritage have lived in the United States since before the Revolutionary War. As U.S. territories and states spread across the continent, Mexicans—and, later, Mexican Americans—faced increased discrimination and harassment. In the twentieth century, large numbers of Puerto Ricans and Cubans joined the Spanish-speaking American population. Around this time, Latino civil rights organizations began to fight against discrimination. Because many Latinos worked as poorly paid agricultural workers, one main front of protest was the effort to improve agricultural working conditions. César Chávez and United Farm Workers led this fight in the 1960s and played a major role in the civil rights movement.