Timeline:
1777-1783 - North becomes more industrialised and urbanised
1861 - Civil war started
1863 - Abraham Lincoln signed proclamation freeing slaves
1865 - KKK formed
North wins civil war
Slavery abolished
1950’s - Baby boomers
1963 - President Kennedy assassinated
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
Eleanor Roosevelt’s commission on gender equality
1964 - Civil rights act & Equal pay act
Escalation of involvement in Vietnam
1965 - Voting rights act
Malcolm X assassinated
Many students faced the draft
1966 - Black panther party formed
NOW formed
1968 - Dr King assassinated
Nixon wins election
Miss world pageant
Tet Offensive
1969 - Woodstock
1973 - Roe v Wade
US withdrew from Vietnam
Context:
Saw successes of the civil rights and black power movements & wanted to change the
govt/authorities → the machine
Young generation of baby boomers started questioning why the older generations were
dictating their lives/forcing them to conform
1950s
- Baby boomers were conforming to status quo
- suburban, middle class, conservative
- Berkeley university was the biggest state/national uni
- nuclear testing
- hub of student protest
- uni refused to allow political action on campus → freedom of speech movt
- Peace movt began with freedom of speech movt at Berkeley
General Student Movement:
Berkeley university → angry about being unheard and having to conform
Unrest atmosphere in the USA
Actions
- Sit-ins, marches, songs, demonstrations → followed civil rights movt actions
- Demands made to the uni to allow freedom of speech & association on campus
1
, Aims
- To challenge the system
- To expose racism and other injustices at universities
- Students supported any victims of the system → mostly privileged, white, middle
class students
- Supported campaigns for nuclear disarmament
- Criticised US involvement in 3rd world countries
Significance
- Successful at Berkeley
- given rights to protest on campus
- given a say in the running of universities
- Sparked off the idea of the role of students and young people
- Paved the way for the anti vietnam war protests
Anti-Vietnam War Protests:
Escalation of US involvement in Vietnam
Lots of money spent especially during Johnson and Nixon (mid 60s - early 70s)
- Dropped the Great society program
Death rate directly impacted young ppl → they were the ones fighting
Many students faced the draft
Actions
- Sit-ins, teach-ins
- Burning draft cards & american flag (treason → life sentence)
- Marches, demonstrations
- Created awareness: protest songs, music festivals
- “Make love, not war”
Significance
- Us only withdrew in 1973 → unsuccessful
- Govt noticed protests
- esp after Tet Offensive when protest increased
- Johnson didn’t seek reelection (students blamed him)
- Nixon won based on “bring boys back home”
- but continued bombing
- exposed by Kent state uni → led to shooting of 4 students by national guard
- criticised for his actions → greatly unpopular
- Students changed times
- new ideologies → values and freedom
- fashion, music
- 60s & 70s totally different to 50s
- Students rejected the values & society of their parents
- conservative: sexism, racism, homophobia
- Achievements weren’t sustained
2
1777-1783 - North becomes more industrialised and urbanised
1861 - Civil war started
1863 - Abraham Lincoln signed proclamation freeing slaves
1865 - KKK formed
North wins civil war
Slavery abolished
1950’s - Baby boomers
1963 - President Kennedy assassinated
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
Eleanor Roosevelt’s commission on gender equality
1964 - Civil rights act & Equal pay act
Escalation of involvement in Vietnam
1965 - Voting rights act
Malcolm X assassinated
Many students faced the draft
1966 - Black panther party formed
NOW formed
1968 - Dr King assassinated
Nixon wins election
Miss world pageant
Tet Offensive
1969 - Woodstock
1973 - Roe v Wade
US withdrew from Vietnam
Context:
Saw successes of the civil rights and black power movements & wanted to change the
govt/authorities → the machine
Young generation of baby boomers started questioning why the older generations were
dictating their lives/forcing them to conform
1950s
- Baby boomers were conforming to status quo
- suburban, middle class, conservative
- Berkeley university was the biggest state/national uni
- nuclear testing
- hub of student protest
- uni refused to allow political action on campus → freedom of speech movt
- Peace movt began with freedom of speech movt at Berkeley
General Student Movement:
Berkeley university → angry about being unheard and having to conform
Unrest atmosphere in the USA
Actions
- Sit-ins, marches, songs, demonstrations → followed civil rights movt actions
- Demands made to the uni to allow freedom of speech & association on campus
1
, Aims
- To challenge the system
- To expose racism and other injustices at universities
- Students supported any victims of the system → mostly privileged, white, middle
class students
- Supported campaigns for nuclear disarmament
- Criticised US involvement in 3rd world countries
Significance
- Successful at Berkeley
- given rights to protest on campus
- given a say in the running of universities
- Sparked off the idea of the role of students and young people
- Paved the way for the anti vietnam war protests
Anti-Vietnam War Protests:
Escalation of US involvement in Vietnam
Lots of money spent especially during Johnson and Nixon (mid 60s - early 70s)
- Dropped the Great society program
Death rate directly impacted young ppl → they were the ones fighting
Many students faced the draft
Actions
- Sit-ins, teach-ins
- Burning draft cards & american flag (treason → life sentence)
- Marches, demonstrations
- Created awareness: protest songs, music festivals
- “Make love, not war”
Significance
- Us only withdrew in 1973 → unsuccessful
- Govt noticed protests
- esp after Tet Offensive when protest increased
- Johnson didn’t seek reelection (students blamed him)
- Nixon won based on “bring boys back home”
- but continued bombing
- exposed by Kent state uni → led to shooting of 4 students by national guard
- criticised for his actions → greatly unpopular
- Students changed times
- new ideologies → values and freedom
- fashion, music
- 60s & 70s totally different to 50s
- Students rejected the values & society of their parents
- conservative: sexism, racism, homophobia
- Achievements weren’t sustained
2
