【VIP专享】美国60年代社会运动小结American Social Movements of the 1960s

American Social Movements of the 1960sI. IntroductionAmerican social movements in the 1960s was marked with the quiet "sit-in".On February 1,1960,4 freshmen from a black college in Greensboro went to a store and sat down at the lunch counter which refused to serve the black .The students ,believing the segregation law was wrong ,didn't move and continued to sit .There were three trends in the 1960s in America,the civil rights movements,the young anti-war and the women's liberation movements. "We shall overcome!" "Let it all hang out !" and"Speak your heart without interruption"somehow expressed their attitude and goals in the movements.II. The Three Social Movements of the 1960s1. The Civil Rights MovementIn the 1960s after the World War II ,Afo-Americans were dissatisfied with their lives because of the segregation laws in Southern states.Black and white children couldn't go to the same school ,and most Negroes were not allowed to vote. They were prevented from good jobs and education,which was not the American way of life and couldn't fulfill their American dreams.The civil rights movements began when black people spontaneously protested segregation laws and created organization to make the protest successful.The true beginning was that a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955.The members of NAACP informed other organization about her act of civil disobedience.Black people began to boycott the bussystem.From Rosa Parks' spontaneous action and from the social base of Negro churchs,community and political organizations ,grew support for protest against segregation.There main organizations were Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),Southern Christian Leadership Conference(SCLE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC).Civil rights activists used different direct action tactics .They first used "sit-in" tactics to fight segregation and later ,"freedom rides".Black and white CORE members travelled together on buses to challenge segregation. In the summer of 1963,hundred of thousands of peaceful demonstrators went to Washington DC,where Martin Luther King gave the famous speech "I HAVE A DREAM". In 1965,as racial violence continued ,black people began to change their nonviolence in fighting discrimination into violence.They made Stokely Carmicheal chairman of the SNCC.He spoke about "black power" and organized the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland in 1966.In September 1961,the federal government declared segregation illegal in all interstate bus stations.In 1964,the Civil Rights Act was passed Congress and signed into law by President Johnson to improve the racial relations.Legal segregation ended in the South as a result of the civil rights movement.Southern Afro-American can vote.2. The Youth Movement/Anti-War MovementMany young people resented traditional white male values in US society.They believed their fathers were selfish and they don't want to follow their mothers' examples either.Young people believed they had the rights to choose the way theywould live their lives.They wanted to work at jobs which were interesting,not just to make money.When the Vietnam began,many people thought it was wrong.Young people,black and white,didn't want to join the army.Mothers didn't want their sons drafted into the army.After working in the South during "Freedom Summer" in 1964,many white students changed greatly in their attitudes and beliefs.In October 1964,students protested that the CORE workers be free and rules against free speech be changed.They sat around the police car for 32 hours.Graduates students organized a strike and closed the university.The young people's "Free Speech Movement"began with success.Later some students formed a "counterculture".They reject capitalism and other American principles.They were looked for happiness and called Hippies which represented a new culture they created.Their direct action strategies included teach-ins,protest marched and rallies,and attacks on federal offices.A loose coalition of many organization was formed under a series of"Mobilization Committees to End the War in Vietnam"The president Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1968 because of the anger of people.In 1973,the US signed a peace treaty.3. The Women’s MovementMiddle-class white women were well-educated and had the opportunity to work in responsible jobs during WWII. But when men returned from war,they were given the good jobs.Thus women earned less and had fewer opportunities.They becamehousewives ,isolated at home with their children.The women movement was started by three groups and an accident.The first was a group of women who were appointed to a Commission on the Status of Women,They found women were not equal with men and situation of some women was shocking.The second group were mostly white housewives and mothers who read Betty Friedan's book,The Feminine Mystique.The book changed the way women thought about themselves and other women.The third group were young activists in the civil rights and anti-war movements.They believed male leaders of these movements were discriminating against women in the movements.They became known as the "women's liberation "group ,or "women's lib",used radical tactics and received a great deal of bad publicity.The accident was a word in the Civil Rights Act,which made discrimination in employment based on race or sex illegal.In 1966,the National Organization for Women(NOW)was formed.They argued that women were strong leaders and organizers and they could do more than simple work such as cooking and secretarial work.They also called for a change in working area and economic practice.To educate the public and the gain support,women used many of the same tactics used by the civil rights and anti-war movements and added some of their own tactics. III ConclusionThe social movements of 1960s had a strong effect on the way people think and act,and caused changes in many laws.However,many of the problems they hoped to solve still exist in US today.。