The American Nation Chapter 29 Prosperity, Rebellion and Reform, 1945–1980 Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper

The American NationThe American Nation

Chapter 29Prosperity, Rebellion and

Reform, 1945–1980

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

The American NationThe American Nation

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Section 1: Postwar Policies and Prosperity

Section 2: The Civil Rights Movement

Section 3: Protest, Reform and Doubt

Section 4: The Crusade for Equal Rights

Chapter 29: Prosperity, Rebellion and Reform, 1945–1980

Chapter 29, Section 1

Postwar Policies and ProsperityPostwar Policies and Prosperity

• What problems did Americans experience as they shifted from war to peace?

• What factors contributed to the economic and baby booms of the 1950s?

• How did American lifestyles change in the 1950s?


The Problems of Shifting From War to PeaceThe Problems of Shifting From War to Peace

• When World War II ended, experts feared returning soldiers might have trouble finding jobs. They feared that unemployment would rise, and the economy would fail.

• Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights. Under this law, the government made loans to help veterans set up farms and businesses, pay for college, or buy a new home.

• When price controls were ended after the war, inflation, or rising prices, became the major economic problem.

• Workers demanded higher wages to keep up with price increases. Many labor unions called strikes.

• In the election of 1948, President Truman won a surprise victory.• The Republicans nominated Governor Thomas Dewey of New York.• Because of labor strikes and inflation, many people expected Truman and

the party in power, the Democrats, to lose. • Truman campaigned vigorously. He traveled the country by train,

attacking the Republicans as “gluttons of privilege.”


The Problems of Shifting From War to PeaceThe Problems of Shifting From War to Peace

• As President, Truman proposed a new round of reforms called the Fair Deal.

• Conservative Democrats and Republicans opposed Truman’s proposals.

• Only a few of his proposals passed: a higher minimum wage, expanded Social Security benefits, and loans for buying low-cost houses.

• In 1952, General Dwight D. Eisenhower became President.• For the first time, television played a major role in the campaign.• Like most Republicans, Eisenhower believed in limiting federal

spending and reducing federal regulation of the economy.• He favored cutting the federal budget but expanding Social Security

benefits and some other New Deal programs.


The Postwar Economic and Baby BoomsThe Postwar Economic and Baby Booms

• What led to the baby boom?• During the Great Depression and World War II, many Americans had put off

having families.• When the war ended and prosperity returned, the number of births soared.

Population experts called this phenomenon a baby boom. • Improvements in health care and nutrition contributed to the baby boom.

• What factors contributed to the economic boom?• When an economy expands, more goods are produced and sold and more

jobs are created.• Federal projects helped increase production. The government spent more

money on roads, houses, schools, and military goods. • New technology promoted rises in productivity, or the average output per

worker. Corporations began to use computers for calculations and record-keeping.

• High productivity led to a 40-hour workweek, which gave Americans more leisure time.


Suburban living

• Many people bought homes in the suburbs, or communities outside the cities. The GI Bill encouraged home building by offering low-interest loans to veterans.

• Builder William Levitt pioneered a new way of building. He bought large tracts of land, divided them into small lots, and built identical houses on each lot. Because the houses were mass-produced, they cost less to build.

• Shopping centers sprang up near suburban housing.• As millions flocked to the suburbs, central cities began a slow

decline.

Lifestyles of the 1950sLifestyles of the 1950s

The economic boom raised the standard of living, an index based on the amount of goods, services, and leisure time people have. Americans bought washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other consumer goods, especially for the home. This consumer spending reshaped the country.


Sunbelt living

• Americans flocked to the Sunbelt, a region stretching across the southern rim of the country.

• States from Florida to Texas and California experienced a large population growth.

• People were lured by a warm climate, good jobs, and a prosperous economy.

• The work force included many recent Latin American and Asian immigrants.

Car crazy • People living in the suburbs or the sunbelt needed a car to drive to work.

• To accommodate the increase in automobiles, the federal government built thousands of miles of highways.

• In 1956, Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which called for a national network of high-speed roads.

• The highway system boosted the economy because Americans could travel more easily.



Television • As TV sets shrank in price and grew in size, almost everybody wanted one. Nine out of 10 households owned a television by 1960.

• Television helped to make the 1950s a time when people wanted to look and act the same as everyone else. Many programs presented the same view of the ideal middle-class family.

Rock music

• Rock-and-roll appeared in the mid-1950s. It combined rhythm, blues, country, and gospel with a hard-driving beat.

• Adults worried that the music was too wild, but teenagers liked it because it provided a way for them to show their independence.

• Early rock musicians who gained fame were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and Elvis Presley.



Discontent • Not all Americans were happy with the emphasis on getting and spending. Some writers and artists criticized what they saw as the growing materialism in American society and its lack of individuality.

• Novelist Jack Kerouac coined the term beat, meaning “weariness with all forms of the modern industrial state.”

• Middle-class observers called Kerouac and others like him beatniks.



Section 1 AssessmentSection 1 Assessment

After World War II, in the United States the greatest economic difficulty wasa) falling prices.b) rising prices.c) controls on prices.d) not enough jobs.

In the 1950s, most of the new housing sprang up in a) central cities. b) farm areas and other agricultural lands. c) suburbs. d) forests and other public lands.

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After World War II, in the United States the greatest economic difficulty wasa) falling prices.b) rising prices.c) controls on prices.d) not enough jobs.

In the 1950s, most of the new housing sprang up in a) central cities. b) farm areas and other agricultural lands. c) suburbs. d) forests and other public lands.



The Civil Rights MovementThe Civil Rights Movement

• How did discrimination affect the lives of minorities in the United States?

• What role did the courts play in helping African Americans and Mexican Americans gain civil rights?

• What was the role of Martin Luther King in the Montgomery bus boycott?

Discrimination created barriers

• In the North, African Americans were barred from good jobs and decent housing.

• In the South, laws enforced strict separation, or segregation, of the races in schools, theaters, restaurants, and other public places. Facilities for blacks were inferior to those for whites.

• In the Southwest, laws, as well as traditions, discriminated against Mexican Americans. Custom kept Mexican Americans from living in certain neighborhoods or using certain hotels or restaurants. Often, they were not hired for better-paying jobs.

How Discrimination Affected People’s LivesHow Discrimination Affected People’s LivesChapter 29, Section 2

Throughout the nation, discrimination limited the lives of millions of Americans. After World War II, their struggles for equality and civil rights intensified.


Breaking down barriers

• For African Americans, the NAACP led the drive against discrimination.

• Under Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund mounted court battles against segregation.

• The NAACP also helped blacks register to vote and fought for opportunities in housing and employment.

Historic firsts in fighting discrimination

• In 1947, Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. He became the first black player in Major League Baseball since 1884.

• Under pressure from civil rights groups, President Truman ordered integration, or the mixing of different racial groups, in the armed forces in 1948. During the Korean War, black and white soldiers fought side by side.

How Discrimination Affected People’s LivesHow Discrimination Affected People’s Lives


1896 In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court decided that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional.

1948 Mexican American veterans founded the American GI Forum of the United States in order to campaign for equal rights.

Early 1950s

• Laws in 21 states and the District of Columbia still enforced separate black and white public schools. Virtually all of the black schools were inferior to the white ones.

• Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas, asked the school board to let his daughter, Linda, attend a nearby white school rather than a distant black school. When board members refused, Brown filed a lawsuit. He hired Thurgood Marshall to present the case in court. Marshall argued that segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave “equal protection” to all citizens.

The Courts Play a Role in Civil RightsThe Courts Play a Role in Civil Rights

During the 1950s, African Americans and Mexican Americans took their struggle for equality to the courts, but they also protested in the streets. Their efforts became known as the civil rights movement.


1954 In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown’s favor: “We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are always unequal.”

1957 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to keep African American students from attending all-white Central High School in Little Rock. President Eisenhower finally sent in federal troops because the Arkansas governor was defying a federal law. The black students entered Central High.

1954 Pete Hernández, a Mexican American, had been convicted of murder by an all-white jury in Texas. In the case of Hernández v. Texas, Hernández’s lawyers argued that Mexican Americans in Texas were denied equality because they were excluded from juries. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ended the exclusion of Mexican Americans from Texas juries.

1955 The Supreme Court ordered the schools to be desegregated.

The Courts Play a Role in Civil RightsThe Courts Play a Role in Civil Rights


Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Bus BoycottMartin Luther King and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Court cases alone were not enough to end discrimination.• In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up

her seat on a bus to a white man, as Alabama’s segregation laws required her to do. She was arrested and jailed.

• Park’s arrest angered African Americans. That night, several women from the NAACP composed a letter asking all African Americans to boycott, or refuse to use, the buses. They hoped their boycott would hurt the city financially and force the city to end segregation on the buses.

• To support the protest, Montgomery’s black leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as its head.

• At a meeting in the Holt Street Baptist Church, Dr. King spoke to thousands. On December 5, 1955, most African Americans in Montgomery refused to travel by bus.



• The boycott lasted from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956. MIA carpools took people to and from work. Many people simply walked.

• Angry whites fought back. Employers threatened to arrest African Americans if they did not abandon the boycott. Police harrassed African American drivers. They jailed King for speeding. Someone bombed his house.

• King insisted that his followers limit their actions to civil disobedience, or nonviolent protests.

• Churches played a central role. In their churches, boycotters held mass meetings, sang together, prayed together, and listened to stories of sacrifice. Churches kept morale high, provided leadership, and gave boycotters courage and inspiration.

• Finally, the MIA filed a lawsuit to end bus segregation in Montgomery.



What the lawsuit and the Montgomery boycott accomplished:• In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Alabama

buses was unconstitutional. The Montgomery bus company agreed to integrate the buses and hire black bus drivers.

• The boycott brought the civil rights movement to national attention. • It launched nonviolent protest as a key tactic in the struggle for

equality. • It introduced a new generation of African American leaders, many of

them ministers from African American churches. One of the most important of these new leaders was Martin Luther King, Jr.

Following the boycott, King and other African American leaders founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to carry on the crusade for civil rights. The group consisted of nearly 100 black ministers.



In the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled thata) separate but equal facilities for blacks and whites are constitutional.b) separate but equal has no place in public education. Separate educational

facilities are always unequal.c) Texas must end its practice of excluding Mexican Americans from juries.d) laws enforcing separate schools for blacks and whites are up to the states.

The federal government should not interfere.

African American citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, organized a boycott of the city’s buses because they wanted

a) to ruin the city of Montgomery.b) to avoid going to work each day.c) to provide a model of violent protest for African Americans in other cities.d) the city to end segregation on its buses.


http://www.phschool.com/atschool/TAN/Survey_2003/Student_Area/TAN_SC29_ACT_index.html



In the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled thata) separate but equal facilities for blacks and whites are constitutional.b) separate but equal has no place in public education. Separate educational

facilities are always unequal.c) Texas must end its practice of excluding Mexican Americans from juries.d) laws enforcing separate schools for blacks and whites are up to the states.

The federal government should not interfere.

African American citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, organized a boycott of the city’s buses because they wanted

a) to ruin the city of Montgomery.b) to avoid going to work each day.c) to provide a model of violent protest for African Americans in other cities.d) the city to end segregation on its buses.




Protest, Reform, and DoubtProtest, Reform, and Doubt

• What goals did Presidents Kennedy and Johnson set for the nation?

• Why did protest movements increase in the 1960s?

• What problems did President Nixon face?• What principles guided the Carter

administration?


President Kennedy’s GoalsPresident Kennedy’s Goals

• In 1960, Republican Vice President Richard Nixon ran against Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kennedy won by a narrow margin.

• During the campaign, Kennedy had been shocked to find hungry families in the United States. As President, he urged Congress to pass laws to help Americans living in poverty. Congress blocked his poverty programs.

• Kennedy called on Americans to fight “the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.”

• Congress did fund Kennedy’s proposal for the Peace Corps—volunteers sent to teach or provide technical help to developing nations.

• Congress also approved Kennedy’s proposal to explore the “new frontier” of space.

• Before any other proposals could be enacted, Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, while he was on a political tour.


President Johnson’s GoalsPresident Johnson’s Goals

• Johnson steered many of Kennedy’s proposals through Congress. • Johnson had his own program—the Great Society. It aimed to create a decent

living standard for every American. The first step was a “war on poverty.” • In just two years, Johnson pushed 50 new laws through Congress.

• Medicare helped pay hospital costs for senior citizens.• Medicaid gave states money to help poor citizens with medical bills.• The Office of Economic Opportunity created job-training programs and

gave loans to needy farmers and to businesses in poor sections of cities.• Congress established the Department of Housing and Urban

Development, or HUD. Its head, Robert Weaver, was the first African American ever appointed to the Cabinet. HUD carried out programs to build housing for low- and middle-income families.

• Johnson’s Great Society had a mixed record. It aided the poor but at a great cost to taxpayers. Still, Medicare, Medicaid, and other reforms became permanent parts of American life.

Counterculture movement

• Many young Americans joined the counterculture movement, which criticized competition and the drive for personal success.

• Inspired by the civil rights movement, counterculture protesters called for peace, justice, and social equality. They wore clothing that made it hard to distinguish between rich and poor. They said American life was empty and materialistic.

• Some people turned to eastern religions in search of spiritual meaning.

Antiwar movement

• As more and more young men were sent to fight in Vietnam, the antiwar movement gained strength.

• As the antiwar movement grew stronger, President Johnson’s popularity fell.


Why Protest Movements Grew in the 1960sWhy Protest Movements Grew in the 1960s

The civil rights movement expanded. Opposition to the war in Vietnam grew. Some young people rejected the values and lifestyles of their parents.


Law and order • Nixon said that he wanted to help the silent majority, those Americans who were disturbed by the unrest of the 1960s but did not protest publicly.

• Nixon began a “law-and-order” program. Federal funds aided local police departments. Nixon named four conservative justices to the Supreme Court.

Space program The space program’s greatest triumph came in 1969, just as Nixon took office, when two astronauts landed a small craft on the moon.

Counterculture movement Problems During the Nixon Years

Counterculture movement Problems During the Nixon Years

Lyndon Johnson chose not to run for another term as President. In 1968, a Republican, Richard Nixon, was elected.

Nixon set about trying to reduce government involvement in people’s lives. He cut funds for many Great Society programs, including job training, education, and low-income housing. He also sought to return power to the states.


The economy • The economy suffered from stagflation, a combination of rising prices, high unemployment, and slow economic growth.

• To fight inflation, Nixon froze wages and prices. • To stimulate growth, he increased federal spending.• Increased federal spending caused federal budget deficits. • An oil embargo caused higher energy prices, which, in

turn, caused prices to rise even further.

Scandal • On June 17, 1972, police caught five men breaking into Democratic party headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.

• Evidence linked the burglars to Nixon’s reelection committee.

• Senate hearings revealed that Nixon had made secret tape recordings of conversations in his office. The tapes showed that the President and several advisers had tried to cover up the truth about the Watergate break-in.

Problems During the Nixon YearsProblems During the Nixon Years


Scandal • In a second scandal, Vice President Spiro Agnew was accused of taking bribes and was forced to resign.

• A House of Representatives committee passed articles of impeachment against the President. In August 1974, before an impeachment trial could take place, Nixon resigned from office.

Nixon’s pardon • Vice President Gerald Ford became President. In order to help the nation emerge from the political scandal, Ford granted Nixon “full, free, and absolute pardon.”

• Some people felt that Nixon should have been brought to trial. Ford, however, wanted to save the country from a bitter debate.

Problems During the Nixon YearsProblems During the Nixon Years


Principles of the Carter AdministrationPrinciples of the Carter Administration

• In 1976, Republicans nominated Gerald Ford for President. Democrats chose Jimmy Carter, the former governor of Georgia. Carter’s promises of a new approach led him to a narrow victory.

• In his first year, Carter sent Congress almost a dozen major bills. They included reforms in the Social Security system and in the tax code. But Carter’s lack of experience in Washington hurt him. Congress would not support his legislation.

• Carter, like Nixon, could not do much about inflation. Although the government tried to slow inflation, prices kept rising.

• Carter was a strong defender of human rights. Just before Carter took office, the United States had signed the Helsinki Agreement. Thirty-five nations pledged to respect basic rights. Carter said that the United States should keep this pledge and not aid countries that violated human rights.



In the 1960s, the counterculture movement criticizeda) competition and the drive for personal success.b) people who dressed in shabby clothes and men who grew beards.c) people who turned away from traditional families to live together in

groups or communes.d) rock music.

President Nixon resigned just as the House of Representatives was about to place him on trial for

a) taking bribes.b) breaking into Democratic party headquarters.c) blocking justice by covering up the truth about the Watergate break-in.d) making secret tape recordings.





In the 1960s, the counterculture movement criticizeda) competition and the drive for personal success.b) people who dressed in shabby clothes and men who grew beards.c) people who turned away from traditional families to live together in

groups or communes.d) rock music.

President Nixon resigned just as the House of Representatives was about to place him on trial for

a) taking bribes.b) breaking into Democratic party headquarters.c) blocking justice by covering up the truth about the Watergate break-in.d) making secret tape recordings.




The Crusade for Equal RightsThe Crusade for Equal Rights

• How did African Americans work for equal rights during the 1960s and 1970s?

• Why did the women’s movement grow stronger?• How did the Latinos’ drive for equal rights

compare with the efforts of other groups?


African American Crusade for EqualityAfrican American Crusade for Equality

In the 1960s, segregation laws still limited the rights of black Americans across the South. African Americans, joined by some whites, pursued nonviolent direct action in their crusade for equality. These actions included sit-ins, boycotts, marches, and other peaceful methods. By remaining nonviolent, protesters gained a moral advantage and the sympathy of many Americans. • Sometimes police responded by using attack dogs or

water hoses.• Sometimes houses and churches of black leaders were

bombed. • Civil rights workers—black and white—were sometimes

injured or killed.


Sit-ins • In 1963, Anne Moody and two other African Americans sat at a “whites only” lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi. When a waitress told them to move to the black section, they continued to sit and asked politely to be served. A crowd smeared them with ketchup and mustard and dragged them from the lunch counter.

• Anne and her friend were using a form of protest called sit-ins, in which people sit and refuse to leave.

• The first sit-in took place at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

March on Washington

• In 1963, more than 200,000 Americans marched on Washington, D.C. They wanted Congress to end discrimination and help the poor.

• Among the speakers that day was Martin Luther King, Jr.

Freedom Rides

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized “Freedom Rides.” Busloads of young Freedom Riders—black and white—rode from town to town to integrate bus terminals in the South.



Civil Rights Act of 1964

1. This act protected the right of all citizens to vote.2. It also outlawed discrimination in hiring and ended

segregation in public places

Voting Rights Act of 1965

1. This act allowed federal officials to register voters in states that practiced discrimination.

2. It ended literacy tests used to block African Americans from voting

The demonstrations spurred Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to press for federal civil rights laws. Kennedy failed but Johnson succeeded. The new civil rights laws did not end all forms of discrimination, however.




Black Panthers • The Black Panthers and other radical groups told African Americans to arm themselves.

• Blacks, they said, had to be ready to protect themselves and to fight for their rights.

Black Power • Both moderates and radicals talked of “black power.” They urged African Americans to achieve economic independence.

• Leaders also called for “black pride,” encouraging African Americans to learn more about their heritage and culture.

Black Muslims • Black Muslims, such as Malcolm X, argued that blacks could succeed only if they separated from white society.

• Later, Malcolm X began to change his views. He called for “a society in which there could exist honest white-black brotherhood.”

Some African Americans believed that nonviolent protest had failed.

Protests turn violent

• In crowded city neighborhoods, anger about discrimination, lack of jobs, and poverty boiled over into violence.

• In August 1965, rioters in Watts, a section of Los Angeles, set fire to buildings and looted stores.

• Over the next two years, riots also broke out in Chicago, Detroit, and other cities.


Results of the Crusade for EqualityResults of the Crusade for Equality

• In April 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike of black sanitation workers. A white gunman killed him. King’s life has continued to inspire Americans to work for peaceful change.

• The civil rights movement began to show some results in the 1970s. African Americans won public offices in small towns and large cities. Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Los Angeles all elected black mayors.

• African Americans also made gains in the federal government. In 1967, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts became the first black senator since Reconstruction. In 1968, President Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court.

• Many businesses and universities adopted affirmative action programs. These programs sought to hire and promote minorities, women, and others who had faced discrimination.


The Women’s Movement Grew StrongerThe Women’s Movement Grew Stronger

• Since the 1960s, women’s drive for equal rights has been known as the Women’s Rights Movement. In the workplace, qualified women found that male employers were unwilling to hire them for certain jobs. They were usually paid less than men. They were fired before men and promoted less quickly.

• In 1966, writer Betty Friedan helped to set up the National Organization for Women (NOW), which worked for equal rights in jobs, pay, and education. It helped women bring discrimination cases to court and campaigned for maternity leave and child-care centers.

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 required equal pay for equal work.• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in hiring based on

gender and on race.• In the 1970s, the women’s movement suffered a major defeat. In 1972,

Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution. However, conservative women led a successful campaign against its ratification.


Latinos Drive for EqualityLatinos Drive for Equality

Mexican Americans

• Mexican Americans are the largest group of Latinos in the United States.• Although many Mexican Americans lived and worked in cities, many

more were migrant workers who traveled from farm to farm looking for work.

• Mexican Americans were often barred from better-paying jobs and from better neighborhoods.

Puerto Rican Americans

• Many Latinos in the eastern United States came from Puerto Rico.• Puerto Ricans also faced discrimination in housing and jobs wherever

they settled.

By the end of the 1970s, more than 10 million Latinos lived in the United States. Like others, Latinos also worked for equal rights.

Cuban Americans

• A third group of Latinos came from Cuba in two waves.• Between 1959 and 1962, some 200,000 people fled when Fidel Castro set

up a communist government in Cuba.• A second wave came in 1980 after Castro allowed thousands of people to

leave the island. Most of the new refugees were unskilled and had a hard time making a living.

• Cuban Americans became a strong economic and political force in southern Florida.


Latinos Drive for EqualityLatinos Drive for Equality

• In the 1960s, new Latino organizations sought change.• César Chávez formed a union of migrant workers, the United

Farm Workers. When farm owners refused to talk to the union, Chávez called for a nationwide boycott of farm products. In the end, the owners recognized the union.

• Latino groups registered voters. These new voters helped elect more Latino officials.

• One result of Latino efforts was a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1975. It required areas with many non-English speaking citizens to hold bilingual elections. Bilingual means in two languages.

• Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1973 promoted bilingual programs in public schools with Spanish-speaking and Asian students.


Asian Americans

In 1968, students at the University of California at Berkeley founded the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA). Students of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and other Asian descent joined to promote the rights and culture of Asian Americans. As a result, many universities created Asian American studies programs.

Native Americans

• Native Americans claimed rights not only as individuals, but also as members of tribal groups.

• In the 1940s and 1950s, the federal government tried to break up tribal governments and encouraged Indians to leave reservations. In the 1960s and 1970s, Native Americans organized the National Congress of American Indians to defend Indian rights.

• The American Indian Movement (AIM) protested the treatment of Indians.

• In 1973, AIM members occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, for several weeks. AIM wanted to remind people of the government’s failure to deal fairly with American Indians.

Other Groups Seek EqualityOther Groups Seek Equality


The Human Rights MovementThe Human Rights Movement

1975 Voting Rights Act

1973 AIM Occupation of Wounded Knee

1966 Founding of NOW

1965 Voting Rights Act

1964 Civil Rights Act

1963 March on Washington

1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-in

1955 Montgomery bus boycott

1954 Brown v. Board of Education



Which statement best describes the Civil Rights Act of 1964? a) It called for African Americans to achieve economic independence by

starting their own businesses.b) It supported northern practices that kept African Americans out of

housing in certain neighborhoods.c) It protected the right of all citizens to vote, outlawed discrimination in

hiring, and ended segregation in public places. d) It said that businesses and universities had to hire and promote a certain

percentage of minority employees.

Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1973 promoted bilingual programs in certain public schools. Bilingual means

a) Chicanos, from the Spanish word Mexicano.b) in two languages.c) especially for migrants.d) Spanish-language newspapers.





Which statement best describes the Civil Rights Act of 1964? a) It called for African Americans to achieve economic independence by

starting their own businesses.b) It supported northern practices that kept African Americans out of

housing in certain neighborhoods.c) It protected the right of all citizens to vote, outlawed discrimination in

hiring, and ended segregation in public places. d) It said that businesses and universities had to hire and promote a certain

percentage of minority employees.

Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1973 promoted bilingual programs in certain public schools. Bilingual means

a) Chicanos, from the Spanish word Mexicano.b) in two languages.c) especially for migrants.d) Spanish-language newspapers.



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The American Nation Chapter 29 Prosperity, Rebellion and Reform, 1945–1980 Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper