American Social Movements of the 1960s.doc

American Social Movements of the 1960s
I Introduction
1 . Greensboro “Sit-in”
The quiet “sit-in”by black students in Greensboro began the civil rights movement in the 1960s , the first of several social movement during the decade . On February 1 , 1960 , 4 freshmen from a black college in Greensboro , North Carolina , went to a store and sat down at a lunch counter . The waitress refused to serve them . The 4 students thought that the segregation law prevailing in the state was wrong . So they sat there until the store closed . And then more and more students joined them . The sit-ins in Greensboro were successful .
2. Definition
A social movement is a type of behavior in which a large number of participants consciously attempt to change existing institutions and establish a new order of life . All social movements have two basic characteristics : structure and spontaneity . And the movements need ideas for social change , collective action to make the change , and organization to direct the action and attract supporters .
3 . The civil rights movements , and the youth anti-war , and the women’s liberation movements had made great changes in American society .
II. The Three Social Movements of the 1960s
1. The Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement began when black people spontaneously protested segregation laws and created organizations to make the protests successful . In 1955 , Rosa Parks , was arrested because she refused to give her seat to a white man . This spontaneous action was believed to be the true beginning of the civil rights movement , 5 years before the Greensboro students ‘sit-in’ . The civil rights movement began to spread all over the South and segregation was breaking down in the 1960s . The older male , Negro leaders ; black and white young people , some white professional men and women , and some white housewives worked in this movement .
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Cogress of Racial Equality (CORE) , the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) were the three organization which provided the leadership , the nonviolent tactics , the network and the people to fight against Southern segregation .
Civil rights activists first used ‘sit-in’ tactics to fight segregation and later ‘freedom rides’ . And then the next direct action of the three civil rights organizations was voter registration .In 1963 , Martin Luther King , who led the SCLC , gave the famous speech ‘I have a dream’. In 1964 , the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Johnson in order to improve the racial relations .
The movement had brought several changes . The black leaders in other parts of the country spoke in favor of black separatism and against nonviolence in fighting discrimination and racism . And many of members in SNCC began to think the tactic of nonviolence was wrong . In 1966 , the first black student to enter the University of Mississippi , began a ‘march against fear’ , walking all alone through Mississippi . Unfortunately , Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy who was runnin for president were assassinated in 1968 .
2. The Youth Movement/Anti-War Movement
Many white students from the North changed a lot after working in the South during ‘Freedom Summer’ 1964 . They attempted to changed the situation at that time .They gave speeches about the civil rights movement , about nonviolence , and the need to change society and worked to gain support for the civil rights movement .
In 1964 , a CORE organizer distributing information and collecting money , and stated that university authorities should not keep CORE from recruiting new workers for the civil rights movement in the South and that the university’s rule was illegal . And he was arrested . The students sat around the car for 32 hours in spontaneous , nonviolent , direct action . At last , the teachers and professors voted to change the rule that violated the 1st and 14th Amendments . The young people’s ‘Free Speech Movement’ began with success .
The anti-war movement became more organized and was aimed at ending the war in Vietnam . The organizations’ direct action strategies included teach-ins on college campuses , protest marches and rallies , and attacks on federal offices to destroy draft records by radical anti-war groups .
3. The Women’s Movement
The three groups of women and an accident began the women’s movement . The women who formed the movement included professionals ; educated women of color ; young or middle-aged whited housewives and mothers , and young activists .
The first was a group of professional women who were appointed to a Commission on the Status of Women by President Kennedy in 1961. The second group were mostly white housewives and mothers who read Betty Friedan’s book , The Feminine Mystique , published in 1963 . The third group were young activists in the civil rights and anti-war movement . The accident was a word in the Civil Right Act passed in 1964 . The changes women worked for included changes in economic practices and in social practices and attitudes . At last , women worked hard in the 1970 .
III Conclusion
The social movements of 1960s had a profound effect on the way people think and act , and caused changes in many laws . The result of the Civil Rights Movement was that Legal segregation ended in the South . And for the anti-war movement , most of people in US wanted to end the war in Vietnam . The US signed a peace treaty in 1973 . The women’s movement continued to gain more rights and opportunities for women . But there still have many problem like these need to be solved in US society .