Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique”

The Feminine Mystique

• Written by Betty Friedan in 1963• Interviews with “average middle class

housewives”• Findings:

– Many were bored, dissatisfied

• Impact– Showed dissatisfied women they weren’t alone– Start of modern feminist movement

The Feminist Movement Goals

• Equal pay

• Equal opportunity

• Physical safety

• “Women’s Liberation”

Women’s Liberation

Gloria Steinem—”A womanwithout a man, is like a fish without a bicycle”

Angela Davis—Black Panther & Feminist

National Organization for Women (NOW)

• Political action group for women’s equality– Led by Betty Friedan

• Goals:– Equal pay

• 1966 women earned 60% of men– Today about 75%

– Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)• Like the 14th Amendment for women• Passed by Congress, but not ratified

by states

Successes of the Women’s Movement

• Equal Pay Act of 1963

• Women’s equality part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Widespread acceptance of feminist ideals

• Roe v. Wade– 1973 Court case affirming abortion rights

Miss America Pageant, 1969

Native American Movement

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• Formed in 1968– Inspired by other freedom movements

• Goals:– Indian political and economic growth

• By far the poorest, weakest Americans• Lowest life expectancy

– Indian cultural rebirth• Reasserting traditional Indian Ways

– Medicine, religion, dress, etc.

AIM activists takeover Wounded Knee,SD in 1973

Indian Activists “discover” & take over Alcatraz Island, 1969-1971

70’s Native American Literature

Cesar Chavez, 1927-1993

Cesar Chavez• Organized the United Farm

Workers (UFW) with Dolores Huerta in 1962– A believer in Gandhian non-violence

• A union for farm workers– Mostly Mexican & Filipino– Poorest of the poor– Unskilled

• Little hope of any success• Actually got growers to sign union

contracts

Dolores Huerta

Farm Worker Conditions

• Brutal hours

• Low pay

• Terrible living conditions

• Cancer causing pesticides

How Chavez Succeeded• Strictly non-violent

• Cross-racial organizing

• Nationwide grape & lettuce boycotts

• Protest Fasts

The Chicano Movement

• The Brown Berets– A Chicano Black Panthers

• Goals– Latino civil rights– Latino economic improvement– Bilingual education– Immigration reform– Enhancing Latin American culture

An Excerpt From Yo Soy Joaquin (I Am Joaquin) by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, 1967

And now the trumpet sounds, The music of the people stirs the Revolution, Like a sleeping giant it slowly

rears its head to the sound of Tramping feet Clamoring voices Mariachi strains Fiery tequila

explosions The smell of chile verde and Soft brown eyes of expectation for a better life. And in all the fertile farm lands, the barren plains, the mountain villages, small smeared cities We start to MOVE. La Raza! Mexicano! Español! Latino! Hispano! Chicano! or whatever I call myself. I look the same. I feel the same I cry and Sing the same. I am the masses of

my people and I refuse to be absorbed. I am Joaquin The odds are great but my spirit is strong My faith

unbreakable My blood is pure I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ I SHALL ENDURE! I WILL ENDURE!

Chicano Movement

Corky Gonzales

Gay Rights Movement

• Gays and Bisexuals had to be secret about their lives & suffered discrimination

• June 27, 1969—the “Stonewall Rebellion”– Police attacked a gay bar in NYC– Patrons fought back– Birth of the gay rights movement

The Stonewall Rebellion

The Environmental Movement

• Realization that technology & population could destroy the planet

• 1st Earth Day in 1969