Chapter 23 Notes

Latinos

During the 1960’s the Latino population in the U.S. tripled to 9 million. America’s Latino population includes people from many different areas and each have their own settlement patterns and history. As the Latino presence in the U.S. grew, so did their demand for greater representation and better treatment. In the 1960’s a significant percentage of the Latino population worked as farm and migrant workers.

Although Latinos are a large and diverse group, coming from various countries and each having its own history, as a group they did not enjoy equal treatment or representation within the U.S. Into the 1960’s many Latinos encountered ethnic prejudice, and discrimination in jobs and housing. Many lived in segregated neighborhoods (barrios). Their jobless and poverty rates were almost 50% higher than whites.

A major group of Latinos within the U.S. were working on fruit and vegetable farms, many working as migrant workers, for little pay and few benefits. Many of these workers lived in poverty and their children had few chances for education. Because of the migrant nature of their parents’ work they weren’t in one place long enough to attend school, or weren’t allowed into white schools. Their parents also had a difficult time organizing.

César Chávez

César Chávez was one of these migrant workers. He moved from farm to farm picking grapes, apricots, and olives. He grew up in poverty and experienced discrimination because of his race, he was even arrested once for sitting in a “whites- only section” of a theatre. As an adult he believed that farm workers needed to unionize, this organization would help them gain bargaining strength.

In 1962 Chávez helped form the National Farm Workers Association. Four years later they joined with a Filipino union to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). The UFW then tried to get California’s large fruit and vegetable companies to accept their union. When the California grape growers refused (1965) Chávez launched a nationwide boycott of the companies’ grapes. Chávez believed in using nonviolence to reach his goals.

Chávez went on a three week fast to call attention to the strike. This dramatic act increased public awareness of the problem. In 1970 the UFW negotiated a contract between their workers and the grape growers association. With this victory Union workers were guaranteed higher wages and other benefits. Latinos began to organize, much like the Black Power movement, in the 1960’s.

Groups of Latinos staged walkouts, formed political organizations, and started to elect their own to political office. During the 1960’s eight Hispanic Americans served in the House of Representatives and one was elected to the Senate.

American Indian Movement

American Indians as a group, despite their cultural diversity, have been the poorest group in America and have suffered the highest unemployment rates in the country. They are also more likely than any other group to suffer from tuberculosis and alcoholism. In the 1960’s their death rate was 2x their birth rate. In the 1960’s this group also started to demand better treatment within the U.S.

AIM was first started their philosophy was strongly geared towards the preservation of American Indians’ land. AIM didn’t see nature as being set apart from people. Embodying this philosophy, AIM began its action in the Sioux countries in First they were active in helping the Sioux people stand up to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA insisted that the old pagan Indian traditions, "everything from religion to hairstyle" must go.

In 1972 AIM organized the “Trail of Broken Treaties” March in Washington D.C., to protest the U.S. Government’s treaty violations throughout history. American Indians from across the country joined in the march. They sought the restoration of 110 million acres of land and pushed for the abolition of the BIA. AIM members temporarily occupied the BIA building and destroyed records and caused $2 million in damage.

Wounded Knee (1973) In the spring of 1973, hundreds of Indian people and their supporters went to the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. They intended make a powerful statement demanding an end to the murderous attacks by police and government agents, and demanding that the U.S. government honor its treaties granting Native people land and self-government.

The day after they arrived at Wounded Knee, they found themselves surrounded by an army of over 300 government forces--including agents of the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Marshals, Justice Department and various local and state police. The Indians refused to back down. They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for 71 days of siege.

In 1972 Congress passed the Indian Education Act, and in 1975 passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. These laws gave tribes greater control over their own affairs and over their children’s education. Armed with these laws and old treaties, several tribes took the U.S. to court to regain some of their land. These suits resulted in 40 million acres of land being returned and more than $962 million in cash.

Women

The theory behind the women’s movement of the 1960’s was feminism, the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men. Feminist beliefs had gained momentum during the mid-1800’s and in 1920 when they gained the right to vote. After this point the women’s movement stalled, until reawakened in the 1960’s.

In the 1950’s and 60’s between 30 and 40% of women worked for wages. They were limited to the types of work they could do, mostly clerical work, domestic service, retail sales, social work, teaching, and nursing—all which paid poorly. Not until 1961 did the government, under President Kennedy, start to address this inequality. Women in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements began to push for equal rights for their gender.

Its basis was that women's unhappiness was caused by society which "does not permit women to accept or gratify their basic need to grow and fulfill their potentialities as human beings." Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, became a best-seller and launched the Women's Liberation Movement.

-Feminism: the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men.

In 1966 Betty Friedan helped found NOW (National Organization of Women) and became its first president. She worked to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (a nationwide campaign in the 1970s). As part of the campaign, NOW leaders distributed buttons reading "59¢" to draw attention to the wage gap; that figure represented the median wage then paid to women for every dollar paid to men.

Gloria Steinem

The ERA was not ratified by the original deadline Congress set. Despite this the women’s movement made significant gains during the late 60’s and into the 1970’s. Many women pursued jobs and education. They pushed for enforcement of the ban on gender discrimination in hiring, and started to push into male- dominated jobs. Many protested against beauty pageants, using physical appearance as a job qualification, and for inclusion in school sports.

In 1973 what seemed to be another victory for women, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that women had the right to choose an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. Some thought the ruling might forever brig an end to this controversial issue. Instead, the public argument over the abortion issue continues today.

Another result of the women’s movement was the formation of a more conservative reaction against the pro-ERA and pro- Abortion supporters. This new “pro- family” movement focused on more conservative social, cultural, and moral values. The New Right and the women’s movement clashed on many issues, and the governments role within the family. The New Right continued to grow and eventually helped elect President Reagan in 1980.