The Politics of IndenityCh 29

pages 895-903

The Politics of Identity -The Black Panthers

• In October 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the political party the Black Panthers

• It advocated self-sufficiency, full employment opportunities, decent housing and no military service due to the unfair numbers being drafted and killed in Vietnam

• Police shootouts occurred and the FBI conducted many investigations

• Panthers helped out with many community projects in urban ghettos

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 and Beyond

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 targeted de facto discrimination

It ended discrimination in housingBy 1970, 2/3 of African Americans were registered

to voteBlack elected officials grew from 100 in 1965 to

more than 7,000 in 1992In the late 1960’s early 1970’s Affirmative Action

programs were started (Bakke vs CA 1985)

Women Fight for Equality

• What factors led to the women’s movement of the 1960’s?

• What were some early gains and some losses within the women’s movement?

• What was the legacy of the women’s movement in employment, education, and politics?

Sisterhood is Powerful• In 1920 the 19th Amendment was passed giving

women the right to vote (Women’s Suffrage)• In the 1960’s Feminism was the belief that women

should have economic, political, and social equality with men

• In 1963 Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique identified the “problem that has no name” Women were not happy in the 1950’s (Men’s work v Women’s work)

• In the 1960’s women were forced into clerical work, retail, social work, nursing, and teaching

Women’s Activism of the 1960’s

• Women were members of SNCC and SDS, and active in the civil rights movement

• In 1966 28 women including Friedan founded the National Organization for Women (NOW)

• NOW fought against gender bias in hiring and in the workplace and pushed for child-care facilities

• In 1968 the New York Radical Women protested the Miss America Pageant in AC

• “Women’s Garbage” into “Freedom’s Trashcan”

• In 1969, a journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem joined the feminist movement

• She founded the National Women’s Party Caucus

• In 1972 she founded and wrote for Ms. (Women’s Magazine)

Roe V Wade• Feminist groups supported a woman’s right to

chose to have an abortion • In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the

feminists• Extremely Controversial• Pro-Choice v Pro-Life

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

• Congress passed the ERA in 1972, it was first introduced in 1923 (Men and Women same rights and protections)

• 38 states needed to ratify it to make it part of the Constitution ( 35 received)

• A Stop-ERA campaign was launched by conservative religious groups, and anti-feminists led by Phyllis Schlafly

• Radical Feminist “hate men, marriage, and children”• Fears of women being drafted, no husband responsibility,

and possible same-sex marriages

http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~hius202/images/lecture24/phyllis.htm

The New Right Emerges• In order to combat pro-choice

and the ERA conservatives formed the “pro-family” movement which became the New Right (Social Conservatism when dealing with social, cultural, and moral problems)

• They debated family centered issues and played key role in Pres. Reagan’s election in 1980

The Gay Liberation Movement• In the 1950’s the Mattachine Society and the

Daughters of Bilitis were campaigning to reduce discrimination towards G/L

• 1960’s The Society for Individual Rights was founded in Greenwich Village/SF

• June ,1969 the Stonewall Inn Riot in NYC pitted aggressive police against bar patrons “Gay Power” appeared

• After Stonewall the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed (Gay Pride Marches)

• In 1975 the Gov. ended its ban on employment of G/L

Latinos of Varied Origins• Mexican Americans – 1million came in 1910’s

following the Mexican Revolution, some came in the 1940’s and 1950’s as braceros, and 1 million came in the 60’s

• Puerto Ricans began immigrating after the Spanish American War of 1898, and by 1960’s 1miilion in the US (1/2 NYC)

• Cubans fled Castro after 1959 and large communities formed in NYC, Miami, NJ

• During the 1960’s thousand of Central and South American emigrated

• Most Latinos lived in barrios

The Chicano Rebellion• In 1966 Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta merged

their new unions to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee

• Chavez believed in non-violence in dealing with California’s large fruit and vegetable companies (Ex. Boycotts/Fast)

• In the 1960’s the Chicano Movement took off, “Brown Power” and the “Brown Berets” demanded Spanish speaking classes and Chicano studies programs at universities (Bilingual ED. Act of 1968)

Latino Political Power• During the 1960’s eight Hispanic Americans served

in the House and Joseph was elected to the Senate• In the 1940’s and 1950’s the League of United Latin

American Citizens LULAC fought in the courts for school desegregation and gov. funding

• In the 1970’s La Raza Unida ( Mexican Americans United) ran Mexican Candidates in many local elections

• In 1963 the more radical Alianza Federal de Mercedes seized a Texas courthouse

Native Americans Fight For Equality

• Native Americans suffered the highest unemployment rates, alcoholism, infant mortality rates and suicides

• In 1954 Native Americans had to deal with the government’s Termination Policy

• In 1961 reps from 61 tribes drafted the Declaration of Indian Purpose

• In 1968 LBJ established the National Council on Indian Opportunity

RED Power -Voices of Protests• In 1968 the AIM (American Indian Movement) was formed

to demand lands, burial grounds, fishing/ timber rights, and a respect of their culture (George Mitchell and Dennis Banks)

• In 1972, AIM leader Russell Means organized “The Trail of Broken Treaties” march on DC ( Occupied the BIA building)

• In 1973, the AIM led 200 Sioux to occupy Wounded Knee, SD where a massacre of Sioux had occurred in 1890

• After negotiations a shootout with the FBI left 2 dead, and many wounded

“Red Power”• Russell Means Dennis Banks

Native American Victories• In 1975 Congress passed the Indian-Self-

Determination and Education Act which gave tribes control to govern their own affairs including education

• In 1970 the Pueblos Taos, NM regained sacred Blue Lake Land

• In 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act gave 40million acres and $962 million

• Political Representation improved by working through the system (Ex. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell)

The Asian American Movement• In 1968 the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA)

was founded at Berkley which unified Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino activists

• Protested the Vietnam War and racism directed at Asians

• 1969 “Shut it Down” strikes at Berkley• “Yellow Power” Conference to learn of Asian

American history and destiny• 1968 San Francisco’s Chinatown Grievances

(Housing and Medicine)• Japanese American Citizens League brought forth

the issue of internment