Utopian Communities

Introduction

• Utopia - an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects

• Commune - A relatively small, often rural community whose members share common interests, work, and income and often own property collectively

• We will focus on 18th and 19th century utopianism in America, in which we will introduce the readings by Thoreau and Noyes, then look toward the 20th century readings from Freud and Huxley for a somewhat darker perspective on hopes for human society

The Shakers

• Ann Lee Stanley• Albany, NY• Sin• The Shakers’ views• Shaker communities• Decline

Shakers

Emerson & Transcendentalism

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Romanticism• Transcendentalism• “original relationship”• Emerson on

industrialization• Middle-class

audienceRalph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Emerson’s Literary Influence

• Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

• Margaret Fuller• Walt Whitman• Nathaniel Hawthorne

& Herman Melville

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

The Fourierist Movement

• Influence of Robert Owen (1771-1858)– New Harmony, IN

• Charles Fourier & Phalanxes

• Albert Brisbane• Cooperative

communities• Social discontent

Charles Fourier

The Brook Farm Experiment

• Brook Farm Community (1841-1846)

• Self-sufficiency

• Transcendentalists

• A failure

Noyes & Oneida Community

• John Humphrey Noyes

• The Oneida Community (1848-81)

• “Bible Communism”• “perfectionism”• “complex marriage”• Significance

John Humphrey Noyes (1811-1886)

The Mormons

• Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon (1830)

• Church of Latter-Day Saints

• A “New Jerusalem”• Nauvoo, IL• Local resentment• New revelations• Smith’s murder (1844)• Brigham Young• Resistance in Utah• The Mormons’ success

Joseph Smith

Communal Experiments before 1860

Sigmund Freud

• “Father of Psychoanalysis”

• Id, Ego, Superego• Civilization and Its

Discontents (1930)• Instinct vs. society• The paramount challenge

in life is to resolve the incongruity between our inner psychological world and the society in which we live

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Aldous Huxley

• Brave New World (1932)• A World State –

“Community, Identity, Stability”

• Reproduction• Conformity• Contentment• “The Savage”• Huxley saw a dark side to

scientific and social progress

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

Modern Civil Rights

IDS 261 Presentation

Overview of an Era

• The modern civil rights movement began during the second-half of the twentieth century.

• The series of reform movements that took place within the United States represented the impact of decolonization upon the Western world.

• The recognition and empowerment of previously marginalized groups was the focus of these reform movements.

• The movements are ongoing . . . the Civil Rights Movements have not ended.

Voices of Discontent

• “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the blackness of corroding despair.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• “We couldn’t possibly know where it would lead, but we knew it had to be done.” Betty Friedan

• “The times they are a’changin.” Bob Dylan

African American Civil Rights:The Beginnings

• May 1954 – U.S. Supreme Court issues ruling in the case of Brown v. Board ordering desegregation of public education.

• August 1955 – Lynching of 14 year old Chicago youth Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi.

• December 1955 – the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Rosa Parks

Birmingham, AlabamaSpring 1963

• Civil Rights marchers protest segregated hiring practices in Birmingham, Alabama.

• Dr. King is jailed during the marches.

• Children continue the protests as adults fill the jails of Birmingham.

• Police use dogs and fire-hoses against the marchers.

Images such as this were shownaround the world in 1963.

“Why we can’t wait”

• Dr. King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to respond to his critics.

• He continued to advocate a non-violent approach to obtain civil rights.

• His greatest triumph came in the August 1963 March on Washington.

• There Dr. King delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech.

1965 – A Transitional Year

• Prior to 1965, the African American Civil Rights movement was largely a southern, rural phenomenon inspired by the non-violent teachings of Dr. King.

• After 1965, the African American Civil Rights movement became a national, urban phenomenon inspired by the more strident, often violent, voices of young radical leaders.

Chronology of the Movement

• 1964 – Passage of the Civil Rights Act

• 1965 – Assassination of Malcolm X

• 1965 - Passage of the Voting Rights Act

• 1965 – Watts Riot

• 1968 – Assassination of Dr. King

Chronology of Women’s Rights

• 1848 – Seneca Falls Conference takes place in New York. Women demand equal rights in education and the right to vote.

• 1920 – Women in the U.S. receive the right to vote.• 1941-1945 – During WWII, American women provide the

“manpower” to keep factories operating during wartime.• 1950s – a new consciousness begins to emerge among

women who feel disillusioned about their limited roles in society

• 1960 – Development of the birth control pill empowers women and fosters the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s.

Betty Friedan (1921-2006) The Feminine Mystique (1963)

• Born in Peoria, IL• Considered “Mother of

the New Feminist Movement”

• Founder and first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966

• Co-founded National Women’s Political Caucus (1971)

• Convened first International Feminist Conference (1973)

Friedan Breaks the Silence

“The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the mind of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night – she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – “Is this all?’”

Successes and Failures

• 1972 – Congress passes an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and sends it to the states for ratification.

• 1973 – Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion in the U.S. during first trimester.

• 1982 – Failing to win the states required for ratification, the ERA proposal is defeated.

Gay Rights Movement

• Began with a raid and subsequent riot at the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village (1969).

• Goals were equal rights for gay, lesbian, and transgendered people.

• Sought equal-hiring practices and fought against anti-sodomy laws.

• Current debate on “gay marriage” continues.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• Native Americans saw themselves as an invisible presence who felt the sting of being a truly colonized people.

• AIM organized in 1968 to promote “red power.”

• 1969 – takeover of Alcatraz Island “by right of discovery.”

• 1973 – AIM members took hostages and took control of the Wounded Knee site.

• Sought greater tribal autonomy.

Gray Panthers Movement

• Senior Citizens protest movement against ageism (workplace discrimination against the elderly).

• Fought mandatory retirement policies.

• Sought greater pension and medical benefits plans in the workplace.

• Led to formation of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

The Youth Movement

• The youth of president John F. Kennedy inspired “a new generation of Americans” to service.

• His assassination led to the disillusionment of many.

• The youth movement was also motivated by the war in Vietnam.

• America’s youth sought expansion of the right to vote.