1960s

Question 1

What was the Great Society?

Answer 1

○ Ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation, and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson
○ Main goals were ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality, and improving the environment
○ Largest social reform plan in modern history

Question 2

What was the Elementary and Secondary School Act?

Answer 2

○ a Great Society program enacted in 1965
○ The program allocates federal funding for primary and secondary school education and forbs the establishment of a national curriculum.
○ The current reauthorization of this bill is the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in 2001.

Question 3

What was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?

Answer 3

○ Also known as the Hart-Celler Art
○ Eliminated the national origins quota system, which had set limits on the number of individuals from any given nation who could immigrate to the United States
○ Signed into law by LBJ on October 3, 1965

Question 4

Who was Rachel Carson (“Silent Spring”)?

Answer 4

○ A marine biologist and nature writer
○ Catalyzed the global environmental movement with her 1962 book Silent Spring
○ “Silent Spring” outlined the dangers of chemical pesticides and led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides

Question 5

What were the Freedom Rides?

Answer 5

○ a series of political protests against segregation by Blacks and whites who rode buses together through the American South in 1961.
○ The Freedom Rides were organized by CORE
○ Sought to test a 1960 Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia.

Question 6

What was the March on Washington?

Answer 6

○ Massive protest march that occurred in August 1963 when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
○ Event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation
○ Also, the occasion of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech

Question 7

What was the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission?

Answer 7

○ Investigates charges brought against employers regarding discrimination against employees and job applicants
○ Created by Congress in 1964
○ The law applies to all aspects of work, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits

Question 8

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 8

○ Ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
○ Considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.
○ First proposed by JFK but was signed into law by LBJ

Question 9

What was the Freedom Summer?

Answer 9

○ Was a 1964 voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi.
○ Over 700 mostly white volunteers joined African Americans in Mississippi to fight against voter intimidation and discrimination at the polls
○ Organized by civil rights organizations like CORE and SNCC and run by the local COFO

Question 10

What was the Selma March?

Answer 10

○ Political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, that occurred March 21-25, 1965.
○ Led by MLK, the march was the culminating event of several tumultuous weeks during which demonstrators twice attempted to march but were stopped, once violently, by police
○ Directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Question 11

What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

Answer 11

○ Signed into law by President LBJ
○ Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
○ Considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history

Question 12

Who was Malcolm X?

Answer 12

○ African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam
○ Articulated concepts of race pride and Black nationalism in the early 1960s
○ After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story made him an ideological hero, especially among Black youth.

Question 13

Who was Stokely Carmichael?

Answer 13

○ West-Indian-born civil rights activist
○ Involved with SNCC and the Black Panther Party
○ The originator of the Black Nationalism rallying slogan, “Black power.”

Question 14

What was the Black Panther Party?

Answer 14

○ African American revolutionary party, founded in 1966
○ Party’s original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality
○ Eventually developed into a Marxist revolutionary group that called for the arming of all African Americans

Question 15

What was the Domino Theory?

Answer 15

○ Cold war policy that suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states
○ In Southeast Asia, the U.S. government used this theory to justify its involvement in the Vietnam War and its support for a non-communist dictator in South Vietnam
○ The Domino Theory was accepted by a succession of United States presidents and Western policymakers..

Question 16

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

Answer 16

○ Authorized President LBJ to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam
○ Passed on August 7, 1964, by the U.S. Congress after an alleged attack on two U.S. naval destroyers stationed off the coast of Vietnam
○ Launched America’s full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War

Question 17

What was Operation Rolling Thunder?

Answer 17

○ Codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War
○ The massive bombardment was intended to put military pressure on North Vietnam’s communist leaders and reduce their capacity to wage war against South Vietnam
○ Marked the first sustained American assault on North Vietnamese territory and represented a major expansion of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

Question 18

What was the Tet Offensive?

Answer 18

○ A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam.
○ Attack was launched in late January 1968 during the Vietnamese lunar new year holiday Tet.
○ Was a tactical defeat for the North, but it struck a sharp psychological blow that erode support for the war among the American public and political establishment

Question 19

What was The New Left?

Answer 19

○ A broad range of left-wing activist movements and intellectual currents that arose in the late 1950s and early ’60s
○ Often regarded as synonymous with the student radicalism of the 1960s, which culminated in the mass protests of 1968
○ Campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, gender roles, and drug policy reforms

Question 20

What was the Counter Culture Movement?

Answer 20

○ Involved youths who rejected mainstream American culture and societal norms
○ The youth movement criticized consumerism, promoted peace, and yearned for individualism
○ The movement organized protests while brandishing signs promoting peace, love, and drugs along with burning draft cards

Question 21

What was the Women’s Liberation Movement?

Answer 21

○ Diverse social movement, largely based in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s
○ Sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women
○ It coincided with and is recognized as part of the “second wave” of feminism which touched on every area of women’s experience, not just legal rights

Question 22

What was The Chicano Movement?

Answer 22

○ Largest and most widespread civil rights and empowerment movement by Mexican-descent people in the United States
○ Called for the Chicano community to be able to control its own resources and determine its own future such as community control of its schools, its economy, its politics, and its culture
○ The key years of the movement are between 1965 and 1975

Question 23

What was The American Indian Movement?

Answer 23

○ A grassroots movement for Indigenous rights, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
○ Originally an urban-focused movement formed in response to police brutality and racial profiling.
○ Grew rapidly in the 1970s and became the driving force behind the Indigenous civil rights movement

Question 24

What were the Stonewall Riots?

Answer 24

○ Began on June 28, 1969, when NYC police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in NYC
○ The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protest and violence with law enforcement
○ Served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the U.S and around the world