Do you ever feel that you were born in the wrong era? That your style and priorities are different than those of your peers? Well be glad you were born in the 21st century, life wasn't all that great in the 1960s. Many people were racially profiled and ridiculed for being themselves more so than they are now today. Life in the 21st century is better than that in the 1960s. The first reason the present day is better than the 1960s is because people are accepted better now than they were back then. African Americans were fighting for equal rights because society was segregated based off your skin color. “In the 1960s, African Americans were fighting for equality. People like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were fighting for African American civil rights. “ (Winn) This states that African Americans were fighting for equal rights in the 1960s. Women also were not seen as equals in the 1960s.Women couldn't vote, they weren't seen as equals to men. “In the early 1960s women were discriminated against in the workplace until the Civil Rights Movement barred it.” (Winn) This quote from the article shows that women were discriminated and not treated as equals in the 1960s. …show more content…
Communication then was letters and being in person. Nowadays you don't have to go the post office to send a letter to your buddy overseas, you can send them through email. Many houses then had one or no TVs now almost every household has one or some form of television. According to the article Pro Con: Was society better in the 1960s where peace and love were promoted “There are new cell phones with internet available on them people can keep in touch ad meet new people easier and faster than 50 years ago.” (Winn) This shows that technology makes it easier to communicate than in the
The United States in the 1950s was quite different from the modern world we live in. There was a time where it was against the law for an African American to ride in the front of a bus or to be in the same school as a white child. Thankfully today our world is more accepting than that and we have the Civil Rights movement to thank for that. The Civil Rights Movement and its participants are responsible for shaping the country we now see today.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
Stephanie Coontz's essay `What we really miss about the 1950's' is an essay that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950's as the best decade for children to grow up. Coontz doesn't believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesn't believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50's only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50's that makes it better than other decades from 20's to 80's. She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken `literally' because from 50's there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50's were good, it didn't lead to a better 60, 70, and 80.
...War and the Civil Rights Movements in order to illustrate how the 1960s was a time of “tumult and change.” To Anderson, it is these events, which sparked the demand for recognition of social and economic fairness. He makes prominent the idea that the 1960s served as the origin of activism and the birth of the civil rights movement, forever changing ideals that embody America. The book overall is comprehensive and a definite attention grabber. It shows how the decade had the effect of drastically transforming life in America and challenging the unequal status quo that has characterized most of the nation's history. Despite the violence and conflict that was provoked by these changes, the activism and the liberation movements that took place have left a permanent imprint upon the country.
As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the American way of life.
While the materialism of the 20’s faded into the economic depression that followed, and the glow of the 1950’s was dimmed by the onset of communist fever, both decades proved to be successful and iconic in the way that they brought about massive prosperity, and because youth found new ways of expressing themselves and inviting progress. Unfortunately, not all outcomes were good, and both eras triggered an onslaught of racial tension that would continue well into the future.
The 1960’s were a time of freedom, deliverance, developing and molding for African-American people all over the United States. The Civil Rights Movement consisted of black people in the south fighting for equal rights. Although, years earlier by law Africans were considered free from slavery but that wasn’t enough they wanted to be treated equal as well. Many black people were fed up with the segregation laws such as giving up their seats on a public bus to a white woman, man, or child. They didn’t want separate bathrooms and water fountains and they wanted to be able to eat in a restaurant and sit wherever they wanted to and be served just like any other person.
In America in the 1960’s, the emerging counterculture and increasing civil rights movements paved the way for the forms of equality and freedom we have in our nation today. Many of the things that we consider ‘normal’ today were strange, if not taboo back in the sixties. People began defending themselves and standing up for their beliefs concerning just about anything they deemed not equal, or unjust. While many freedoms are not completely won today, our society is abundantly more progressive in its thinking and accepting of aspects of our culture.
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
The first reason why the 1960’s is the decade of change is because of the political history. Some major political events included in the 60's, the decade of change is the civil rights movement, space race, and the Bay of Pigs. In the 1900's there was allot of bad stuff happening between blacks and whites. When the civil rights movement was passed it made major changes in the 1960's. The civil rights "movement began peacefully, with Martin Luther King and Stokely Carmichael leading sit-ins and peaceful protests, joined by whites, particularly Jews. Malcolm X preached about Black Nationalism. After his assassination, the Black Panthers were formed to continue his mission. In 1965, the Watts riots broke out in Los Angeles. The term "blacks" became socially acceptable, replacing Negroes"(Goodwin 4). MLK or Martin Luther King w...
The 1960s was a period well remembered for all the civil rights movements that occurred during that time frame and the impact these movements had on the social and political dynamics of the United States. The three largest movements that were striving in the 1960s were the African American civil rights movement, the New Left movement and the feminist movement. These three movements were in a lot of ways influenced by each other and were very similar in terms of their goals and strategies. However, within each of these movements there were divisions in the way they tried to approach the issues they were fighting against. Looking at each of these movements individually will reveal the relationship they all share as well as the changes that were brought forth as a result of each groups actions.
The 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time that eternally changed the culture and humanity of America. It was a time widely known for peace and love when in reality; many minorities were struggling to gain a modicum of equality and freedom. It was a time, in which a younger generation rebelled against the conventional norms, questioning power and government, and insisting on more freedoms for minorities. In addition, an enormous movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War. It was a time of brutal altercations, with the civil rights movement and the youth culture demanding equality and the war in Vietnam put public loyalty to the test. Countless African-Americans, Native-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, women, and college students became frustrated, angry, and disillusioned by the turmoil around them.
The 1960’s was a time period in which produced a plethora of social movements were taking place and consequently, laws were changed that affected our society as a whole. Some of those social movements were the Women Rights and Gay Rights movements, which were directly influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement produced many leaders, two of whom are Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz). King’s call for little black children to play with little white children, his admonishment of a black revolution due to the detrimental effects it would have on black and white relations, and his support of white and black children receiving the same education, directly shows that he supported a united effort to tackle discrimination. Consequently, during the 1960’s racial, political, and socioeconomic divisions were abundant and only through inclusion of all people to promote unity could society become better. Therefore, Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy made the most sense for the 1960’s because he promoted the inclusion of people from all backgrounds to produce harmonious living within our society.
The 20th century brought a tidal wave of tolerance and equal rights for a diverse variety of people in the United States. When the century opened, women did not have an equal position with their male counter parts either in the public or private sectors of society. Women first received their right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920, and the beginnings of an equal footing in the workplace during the obligatory utilization of American women as factory employees during the Second World War. Similarly, African Americans spent the 1950's and 60's fighting for their own basic civil rights that had been denied them, such as going to the school or restaurant of their choice. Or something as simple and unpretentious as where they were allowed to sit on a bus. However, by the end of the 20th Century, women, blacks, and other minorities could be found in the highest echelons of American Society. From the corporate offices of IBM, to the U.S. Supreme Court bench, an obvious ideological revolution bringing ...
In the past, the means of communication were limited. The only means of communication was writing a letter or sending a telegram. The number of people one knew of were limited. At that time, one might not know the person living on the other side of globe but they did know who their neighbors were. They talked and interacted with each other and knew what others were going through. They communicated to less, but communicated more. Sadly, today, one knows the person who lives several thousand miles away through social media but one does not know his next door neighbor. An example of this is cited by Marche, a novelist who writes a monthly article for Esquire. Marche states, “Yvette Vickers, a former Playboy playmate and B-movie star, have been 83 last August, but nobody...