Regional and Ethnic Divisions
The West
➢ Became the hub of high-tech industries such as IBM’s research base in Silicon Valley
near San Jose and a giant Boeing company in Seattle-Tacoma.
➢ LA dominated cinema and TV production.
➢ Las Vegas turned into the home of gambling places, gangsters, golf courses, and
instant marriages and divorces.
➢ The West experienced the fastest rate of social change anywhere in America
➢ The inward migration of Hispanics, mostly from Mexico.
➢ There had been a first wave of such migration in the 1930s (alongside the migration
of 'Okies' from the Dust Bowl Midwest).
➢ From 1942 to the mid-1960s there was a second wave of migrants under the
'Bracero Program, set up by the US and Mexican governments to supply guest
workers.
➢ There was also a lot of 'illegal migration, often organised by people-smuggling
gangs.
➢ 1975 - there were 2 million Mexican Americans.
The New South
➢ The war made a difference through the experience of AA soldiers and improved
opportunities for education.
➢ The new age of TV made developments in the South visible to the whole nation,
building awareness of racial injustice and feeding demands for change and reform.
➢ A renewed surge of northward migration out of the South to the ‘Promised Land’ of
northern cities like Chicago.
➢ Migration in the 1950s and 1960s was on a larger scale than before.
Race and Immigration
African Americans
➢ Existing civil rights organisations like the NAACP grew stronger.
➢ 1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) set up.
➢ New charismatic black leaders emerged.
➢ New generation of AA politicians won elections.
○ 1965 - Julian Bond election to HoR.
○ 1974 - Maynard Jackson became the first AA mayor of Atlanta.
Native Americans
➢ FDR’s 'Indian New Deal' of 1934 had only tinkered with the problems of social
integration and the protection of Indian rights.
➢ 1970s - A new generation of activists was campaigning for reforms and for the
restoration of what had been robbed from Native Americans in the past.
➢ 1969 - The American Indian Movement (AIM) was formed in Minneapolis; it was part
of the Rainbow Coalition, linking with radical African-American groups such as the
Black Panthers.
➢ 1973 - AIM activists from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota occupied
Wounded Knee (where Sioux warriors had been massacred in 1890), and there was
a violent confrontation with the FBI.
Civil Rights and American Society
➢ 1955 - Montgomery Bus Boycott.
○ Sparked by Rosa Park’s refusal to sit in the ‘coloured only’ section of the bus,
directly challenging racial segregation.
○ This led to the SC declaring segregation in buses illegal in 1956.
➢ The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a new type of activism skilfully led by MLK and the
The West
➢ Became the hub of high-tech industries such as IBM’s research base in Silicon Valley
near San Jose and a giant Boeing company in Seattle-Tacoma.
➢ LA dominated cinema and TV production.
➢ Las Vegas turned into the home of gambling places, gangsters, golf courses, and
instant marriages and divorces.
➢ The West experienced the fastest rate of social change anywhere in America
➢ The inward migration of Hispanics, mostly from Mexico.
➢ There had been a first wave of such migration in the 1930s (alongside the migration
of 'Okies' from the Dust Bowl Midwest).
➢ From 1942 to the mid-1960s there was a second wave of migrants under the
'Bracero Program, set up by the US and Mexican governments to supply guest
workers.
➢ There was also a lot of 'illegal migration, often organised by people-smuggling
gangs.
➢ 1975 - there were 2 million Mexican Americans.
The New South
➢ The war made a difference through the experience of AA soldiers and improved
opportunities for education.
➢ The new age of TV made developments in the South visible to the whole nation,
building awareness of racial injustice and feeding demands for change and reform.
➢ A renewed surge of northward migration out of the South to the ‘Promised Land’ of
northern cities like Chicago.
➢ Migration in the 1950s and 1960s was on a larger scale than before.
Race and Immigration
African Americans
➢ Existing civil rights organisations like the NAACP grew stronger.
➢ 1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) set up.
➢ New charismatic black leaders emerged.
➢ New generation of AA politicians won elections.
○ 1965 - Julian Bond election to HoR.
○ 1974 - Maynard Jackson became the first AA mayor of Atlanta.
Native Americans
➢ FDR’s 'Indian New Deal' of 1934 had only tinkered with the problems of social
integration and the protection of Indian rights.
➢ 1970s - A new generation of activists was campaigning for reforms and for the
restoration of what had been robbed from Native Americans in the past.
➢ 1969 - The American Indian Movement (AIM) was formed in Minneapolis; it was part
of the Rainbow Coalition, linking with radical African-American groups such as the
Black Panthers.
➢ 1973 - AIM activists from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota occupied
Wounded Knee (where Sioux warriors had been massacred in 1890), and there was
a violent confrontation with the FBI.
Civil Rights and American Society
➢ 1955 - Montgomery Bus Boycott.
○ Sparked by Rosa Park’s refusal to sit in the ‘coloured only’ section of the bus,
directly challenging racial segregation.
○ This led to the SC declaring segregation in buses illegal in 1956.
➢ The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a new type of activism skilfully led by MLK and the
