An Era of Social Change

The Latino Struggle for Equality

• Dramatic population increase 3mil-9mil during the 1960s

• Diverse group: Chicanos, braceros, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians…

• Discrimination• Segregation and

poverty: barrios

The Farm Worker Movement•1962 Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta established the National Farm Workers Association which eventually became UFWOC or the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee

•Used nonviolence techniques such as boycotts, strikes, and fasting

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7GCCBIgFaQ

Advancements in Latino Rights

• 1940s-1950s: LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) won court cases against segregation

• 1968: Congress enacts the Bilingual Education Act which provided funds for schools to develop bilingual and cultural heritage programs for non-English speaking students

• 1968: the Brown Berets organize walkouts in E. LA schools to protest inequities in education

• 1970: La Raza Unida, a group established by Jose Angel Gutierrez, helped get Latino candidates elected in 5 states and numerous state and local elections

Native American Struggle for Equality

• Diverse: 558 officially recognized distinct tribal groups (including AK and HI)

• Historical mistreatment: broken treaties, displacement, genocide, cultural destruction, forced assimilation, boarding schools…

• 1924: Native Americans officially considered citizens and given the right to vote

• Tribal Sovereignty• Demographics: poorest group of Americans, highest

unemployment rates, disproportionately high rates of infant mortality and health problems such as obesity, substance abuse, and mental disorders.

Native American Protest• 1968: American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded

and took a militant approach to achieving rights. They wanted to earn back land, burial grounds, fishing, and timber treaty rights revoked by the US government.

• 1968-1971 Alcatraz Island Occupation• 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties march to Washington D.C.

Protesters took over a building, destroyed records, and caused $2 million in property damage in their attempt to get the US government to restore 110 million acres of land to Native Americans and to eliminate the BIA.

• 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation: 200 Lakota seized the town of Wounded Knee, took hostages, and engaged in a shootout with the FBI.

Native American Victories

• Wounded Knee led to a reexamination of treaty rights

• 1972: Congress passed the Indian Education Act

• 1975: Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act

• 1970s-80s: regained some lost land

• 1983: Supreme Court upheld Ojibwe spearfishing rights in WI (called the Voight Decision)

The Women’s Movement

• Women get the right to vote in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment

• However, women still could not enjoy the same freedoms as men. Their “place was in the home”

• Public vs. Domestic spheres

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScLNAVwmjgQ

• Women and men should be equal before the law.

• Women and men should be valued equally by society.

• Changes in the law and in society need to be made to ensure a better life for women.

• Violence and repression against women worldwide needs to end.

“Feminism is the radical concept that women are people” - Cheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler

True or False?

1. Feminists hate men

2. Feminists are all Pro-choice

3. Feminists are bra-burners

4. Feminists don’t respect stay-at-home mothers

These are all stereotypes.

Second Wave Feminism1960s-1980s

• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

• NOW: National Organization for Women founded in 1966

• Protests

•Gloria Steinem

-1971 founded National Women’s Political Caucus

-1972 founded Ms. magazine

Legal and Social Gains

Reproductive freedom:

-Availability of birth control

-Roe v. Wade 1973

-Maternity leave

Equal Opportunities:

-Employment

-Education

-Athletics

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):-First introduced in 1923

-Purpose was to guarantee that both men and women would enjoy the same rights and protections under the law

-Congress passed in 1972

-Only 35 of 38 states ratified

-Wasn’t enough and the ERA failed

Working Women Today

111th Congress

-17 female Senators (including Hillary Clinton)

-74 female Representatives in the House

-Women’s representation in Congress now equals a record breaking 17%.

-Overall, women make up just 25% of the elected officials in this country

Women in Politics

Quick Quiz (3pts)

1. Name one nonviolence technique Cesar Chavez utilized to fight for equal rights for workers and Latinos.

2. Name one right American Indians hoped to achieve through their activism and protests.

3. Name one inequality that women still face presently in 2009.