During the 20th century, there was a lot of difference of opinions over White and Hispanic relationships, Yankee and Texan relationships across regions, old money vs new money, generational differences, and role of women in politics, religion in politics, and the impact of oil industry. The film Giant takes place between the 1920s and the 1950s, and it is in this time that the Hispanics were not recognized as equals to the white people. (Producers Stevens and Ginsberg & Director Stevens, 1956). According to Maxwell, Crain, Jones, Davis, and Flores, (2015) “Latinos were relegated to the lowest-paid jobs, as either service workers or farm workers” (p. 17). In Giant the Benedict’s family had many Hispanics farm workers who provide helpful hands …show more content…
Jett strikes oil and goes to proclaim to the Benedict’s family that he will have more money than them (Producers Stevens and Ginsberg & Director Stevens, 1956). Maxwell et al. (2015) stated, “Since the discovery of oil, the Gulf Coast has experienced almost continuous growth … the various energy booms of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries” (p.8). Discovery of oil dramatically impacted Texans’ lives. The Texas Almanac states, “When oil came gushing into Texas early in the 20th century, the changes were even more profound. Petroleum began to displace agriculture as the principal engine driving the economy of the state…” (Ramos, 2000). The discovery of oil was life changing for the growth of Texas. Today, we use oil for almost everything: making the roads, transportation, electricity and heating. The discovery of oil in the Giant, leads to a conflict of new money versus old money. Rink came into money and is classified as “new money” were as the Benedict family was born into money and would be classified as “old money” (Producers Stevens and Ginsberg & Director Stevens, 1956). This provides a reason behind why Rink gets caught up with purchasing materialistic items, he is trying to ‘catch up’ to the Benedict’s wealth. During the discovery of oil, many people were financially impacted. As more and more people came into wealth from the oil industry …show more content…
However, many women did not take advantage of their new right mainly, due to the fact that in the South it was socially unacceptable for women to voice their political opinion or play any role in politics. There is a prime example of this in the film, Jordan Benedict is discussing politics with a group of men and as his wife Leslie enters in the conversation, Jordon encourages her to leave the conversation and becomes frustrated when she refuses (Producers Stevens and Ginsberg & Director Stevens, 1956). Men in the south did not think it was proper for a lady to discuss or even listen to politics. There were even a generational differences that influenced women’s minds about voting. The women of the older generation, which had gone without voting the majority of their lives, did not feel confident or capable of making such a decision. This was controversial due to the fact that the younger generation had fought during the Women’s Suffrage to gain the freedom to vote and then after the many hardships the younger generation endure, women were still not using their new found right to
Throughout American history, politics changed with the times, forming and growing as new situations and environments took place. However, the most drastic differences occurred between 1815 and 1840. During this time, the North and South develop different economic systems, which created political differences between the regions. Between 1815 and 1840, the number of eligible voters drastically increased as politicians utilized a wider variety of campaigning methods in order to appeal to as many voters as possible, all essentially caused by economic growth. Politics grow to include universal white male suffrage, a strong national government, and nationalism versus sectionalism. Economic Growth (American System, Industrial Revolution, Sectional Economies, Internal Improvements & Inventions) caused the political party changes.
(Nugent, p. 116) The amendment granted woman’s suffrage, and was the fruit of many years of labor of several women’s rights groups, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and prominent women’s rights activists, such as Susan B. Anthony. The amendment expanded the bounds of popular democracy, bringing attention to women who felt increasingly ignored as participants in the political system (Piott, p. 166). Being the inalienable right of any citizen, the right to vote inevitably expanded the political freedom of American women, and also opened other doors of opportunity to them; they could advocate for more job opportunities, better economic security, and advantageous marital and family
Today, women and men have equal rights, however not long ago men believed women were lower than them. During the late eighteenth century, men expected women to stay at home and raise children. Women were given very few opportunities to expand their education past high school because colleges and universities would not accept females. This was a loss for women everywhere because it took away positions of power for them. It was even frowned upon if a woman showed interest in medicine or law because that was a man 's place not a woman’s, just like it was a man 's duty to vote and not a woman 's. The road to women 's right was long and hard, but many women helped push the right to vote, the one that was at the front of that group was Susan B. Anthony.
After the war, the American people made the change from "old" ways to "new" ways. Many factors, such as new technology, fundamentalism, new looks and church led to tension between the old and the new. The 1920s were a time of conflicting viewpoints between traditional behaviors and new and changing attitudes.
According to Ellen Carol Dubois, the campaigns to acquire women suffrage were not easy that they required voters to “be persuaded to welcome new and unpredictable constituencies into the political arena” (420). There was also severe resistance in the North about the immigrant vote and the exclusion of African American and poor whites in the South (420). Immigrants in the North and African American in the South were not fully qualified to vote for the women. Harriot Stanton Bl...
Before 1920 women did not have the right to vote. They were known as “second class citizens”. Women were to stay home to help and organize the family’s necessities. Having any other higher power was said to be way out of their limitations. Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be head of the household and everything else in between.
Still, the idea of women voting was considered distasteful and unnatural. People argued that women did not want to vote. Many implied that a decent woman would be too busy caring for her family to worry about politics. Some cautioned that in some states women may outnumber men and the “rule of petticoat” would prevail. 5 Women were reminded that a ballot was not needed to shine a sink spigot. J. B. Sanford, Chairman of the Democratic Caucus was only looking out for America’s youth when he explained “The mothers of this country can shape the destinies of the nation by keeping in their places and attending to those duties that God Almighty intended for them. The kindly, gentle influence of the mother in the home and the dignified influence of the teacher in the school will far outweigh all the influence of all the mannish female politicians on earth.” in
Women used many methods to gain their rights to vote and evidently they faced a lot of obstacles while trying to gain
Susan's parents taught her that in this world gender equality was important, specially their skin color, nationality, gender or mindset. Susan’s sister and their parents supported the cause of women, the right to vote. While his two brothers were in Kansas to support th...
America was supposed to treat everyone equally, although, when the country was founded, women were excluded from the right to vote. It was socially unacceptable. Women were continually taught, from a very young age, that they weren’t mature enough, or mentally capable of making decisions for themselves. This was an injustice to women, and, in order for them to gain justice, they had to fight for their right to vote, a right that should’ve been given to them from the beginning.
Women throughout the suffrage act were faced with many challenges that eventually led into the leading roles of women in the world today. Suffrage leaders adopted new arguments to gain new support. Rather than insisting on the justice of women’s suffrage, or emphasizing equal rights, they spoke of the special moral and material instincts women could bring to the table. Because of these women taking leaps and boundaries, they are now a large part of America’s government, and how our country operates.
During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the country in the twenties to the sixties.
The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Consititution provides women equal voting rights to men, and states citizens’ vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” It is the congress’ job to bring this regulation into focus (Grolier,2009). Women being given the right to vote is important not only to society but also because it has had a significant influence in women’s personal lives.
"Women Get the Vote." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, Et Al. Vol. 3: 1920-1929. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
Before the 1920s men and women were thought to have two separate roles in life. People believed women should be concerned with their children, home, and religion, while men took care of business and politics. In 1920 there were significant changes for women in politics, the home, and the workplace. When the 19th amendment passed it gave women the right to vote. “Though slowly to use their newly won voting rights, by the end of the decade women were represented local, state, and national political committees and were influencing the political agenda of the federal government.” Now a days it’s normal for women to be involved in politics and it’s normal for women to vote. Another drastic change