Counter culture

Question 1

what were the 1960s characterised by

Answer 1

The 1960s was a decade of change and protests from Americans who did not share in the American dream and or sought to revise it. The CRM helped inspire the radicalisation of some African Americans and also protesters such as students, women and those opposed to the Vietnam war

Question 2

why did students protest

Answer 2

An unprecedented number of students protested in the 1960s for the following reasons :
1. The student population decided it should and could protest without risk because everyone else was and students had nothing to lose
2. President Kennedy’s New Frontier encouraged idealism on issues such as peace and prejudice. Many students used hid idea to demand peace in Vietnam and end ethnic discrimination
3. CRM gave them inspiration
4. They resented college authorities who treated them as children and supported an unjust war in Vietnam

Question 3

when did Student Radicalism first gain attention

Answer 3

Student radicalism first gained attention in Dec 1964 at UC Berkeley

Question 4

Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement

Answer 4

The leader of the Berkeley Protests was Mario Savio. Savio wanted to raise money for the SNCC but the university authorities did not allow fundraising and political activity on campus. This led to student protests by thousands at the Uni, protesting against the infringements of their constitutional rights to free speech. They occupied the administration building until the police ejected them and made 800 arrests. This movement became known as the Berkeley Free Speech movement and they gained considerable support from the Berkeley teaching staff and so the university backed down and allowed political discussion on campus. BFSM triggered nationwide protests and students criticised their universities for undertaking paid research for government defence agencies

Question 5

what other protests were led by Students

Answer 5

Anti-War movement
Columbia University Protests

Question 6

what were the motives for the anti-war movement

Answer 6

The draft, opposed bombing, felt the Vietnamese should be left alone

Question 7

when was the first notable anti-war protest

Answer 7

The first notable protest took place in May 1964 when 1000 Yale University students staged a protest march in New York City

Question 8

what did many universities hold during the protests

Answer 8

During 1965, many universities held teach ins with anti-war lectures and debates. 20,000 participated in a Berkeley teach in. The protests frequently led to disorder

Question 9

what was the largest anti-war protest

Answer 9

The largest anti-war protest was staged by SDS in Washington DC in 1965, as many as 25,000 participated in a March that brought the SDS national attention.

Question 10

who were the two anti-war groups

Answer 10

SDS
New Left

Question 11

what did the SDS and New Left establish

Answer 11

The SDS and the New Left established the National Mobilisation Committee to End the war and organised a demonstration in Washington as part of the Stop the Draft Week in 1967. Over 100,000 attended the march, chanting ‘hell no, we won’t go’

Question 12

what happened during the Stop the Draft Week

Answer 12

During the stop the draft week, draft cards were publicly burned across America and several thousand Berkeley radicals tried to close down the Oakland draft headquarters. The protests were violent and led to disorder as they were faced with 2000 police officers who attacked them with clubs.

Question 13

what was the trigger for protests in 1968

Answer 13

The trigger for many of the protests in 1968 was events at Columbia university, which demonstrated how anti-war sentiments often combined with other grievances to generate youth activism

Question 14

what was the columbia university protests caused by

Answer 14

In 1968, the protest was caused by -
the university’s involvement in weapons research which assisted the government and the Vietnam war effort
The relationship between the university and the black and hispanic populations in Harlem. Columbia expansion programmes led to the eviction of several thousand Harlem residents.

Question 15

how did Columbia escalate

Answer 15

Their grievances generated protests in which 1000 of columbias 17,000 students participated. They seized five university buildings and covered walls with pictures of Malcolm X and Communist heroes. The police used clubs and made 692 arrests. Columbia shut down for the term

Question 16

did the student protests achieve anything?

Answer 16

The University at Columbia terminated its contract with the Institute for Defence Analysis and decided not to continue its expansion programmes. Many believed they helped persuade Johnson to halt escalation and Nixon to end the war. Others argue that Johnson and Nixon were motivated by their realisation that America could not win the war. Some say it was a combination of both. While some credit the student protests with improving the quality of life for ethnic minorities and with ensuring the US withdrawal from Vietnam, others believed that student protests promoted violence, offered little that was constructive and damaged the American liberal tradition. Many contemporary Americans disliked protesters and the counter culture. This contributed to a conservative reaction that helped the republican Nixon in the white house in Nov 1968

Question 17

what type of culture emerged

Answer 17

Counter-culture

Question 18

counter culture

Answer 18

Some defined it as including all who protested against the dominant culture such as feminists, anti-war activists, the Black Panthers and hippes

Question 19

hippie counter culture

Answer 19

Hippie counterculture developed from the beat generation. The greatest counter-culture happening was the Woodstock festival in NY in 1969 which 400,000 attended. Their slogan was ‘make love, not war’. The hippie movement had faded by the mid-1970s, but it had influenced US society. Hippies drew attention to and popularised the liberalisation of attitudes towards sex and drugs. They also helped trigger the conservative reaction that led to Nixon’s win compared to the anti-war protests they were insignificant

Question 20

what book sparked the feminist movement

Answer 20

The Feminine Mystique published by Betty Friedan in 1963

Question 21

what feelings did Friedan’s book create

Answer 21

The book challenged social limits on women and sparked hidden ambition in women, the feelings the book created ignited the feminist movement.

Question 22

what group did Friedan create

Answer 22

In 1966 she and others formed the National Organisation for Women.

Question 23

why was NOW founded and what was its main grievance

Answer 23

In 1966, they issued a statement of purpose explaining why the organisation was needed - it contained dismantling prejudices. The organisers were unhappy when the government’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commission refused to enforce Title VII of the 1964 CRA which banned discrimination in employment based on race and sex. NOW aimed to monitor the enforcement of the legislation and to demand an amendment to the constitution that affirmed women’s right to equality

Question 24

tactics used by NOW

Answer 24

Litigation
Political Pressure
Public Information Campaigns
Protests
Consciousness Raising

Question 25

NOW - litigation

Answer 25

Now represented Lorena Weeks who said that the southern bell company had contravened the 1964 CRA, when it denied the application for promotion to switch man because it was thought that women would not be able to lift 30 pounds. NOW lost the case in 1966 but won in 1969 after several appeals

Question 26

NOW - political pressure

Answer 26

NOW presented politicians with a Bill of Rights for Women 1968 that sought the enforcement of Title VII, equal access to education and employment, maternity leave, federally funded childcare to assist working moms and reproductive rights

Question 27

public information campaigns - NOW

Answer 27

They helped gain national attention in 1967 for flight attendants’ fights against sexism and sexist airline advertisements such as ‘I’m debbie fly me’

Question 28

protests

Answer 28

NOW organised a national strike for equality in 1970 with the slogan “dont iron while the strike is hot”

Question 29

consciousness-raising

Answer 29

The procedure adopted by feminists to raise awareness of women’s issues. They held these meetings in colleges and in the community that sought to raise awareness of gender inequality and encourage activism to combat it. Awareness increased - In 1960 - one-quarter of women polled said they felt discriminated against after consciousness raising it reached two-thirds by 1974

Question 30

disunity in the womens movement

Answer 30

Women activists frequently disagreed over tactics and issues -
1. Some NOW members felt that the dramatic demonstrations by some supporters of women lib alienated public opinion for example in 1968 over 100 women liberationists disrupted the miss america beauty pageant
2. Some disagreed over the demand for legalised abortion
3. Breakaway groups such as Radicals resented the lack of support from NOW for lesbian women
4. Some felt that the women’s movement was dominated by white middle-class women
5. Phyllis Schlafly brazenly carved a reputation for herself out of male-driven conservative politics, but not as a champion for women’s rights — as an opposer.

Question 31

what happened despite the disunity in the womens movement

Answer 31

Despite the disunity, the womens movement proved to be more lasting than most 1960s protest movements. It was an effective movement as demonstrated in 1967 when Johnson responded to NOW lobbying with an executive order banning gender discrimination by federal contractors. NOW monitored enforcement, fighting over 1000 discrimination cases and winning $13M compensation for women by 1971

Question 32

wins by the NOW movement

Answer 32

Griswold v. Connecticut 1965 - SC ruled that married couples could not be refused contraception
Roe v Wade 1973
Inspired the ERA - an amendment to the constitution that would guarantee women equal rights under the law, although it was defeated in 1973, it generated discussions on what equal rights were and how to better guarantee them

Question 33

failures of the feminist movement

Answer 33

Didnt achieve the ERA
Negative media coverage
disunity within the movement - radfems alienated the public
Led to the rise of anti-feminist movements

Question 34

role of the media

Answer 34

The media provided exhaustive coverage of the protest movements and counter culture, while the media might ridicule movements like feminism it gave them a national platform that helped change attitudes

Question 35

media and civil rights

Answer 35

Coverage of the CRM helped its progress. For example, repeated showing of the violence of bloody sunday helped win Northern White support for the voting rights act. However, media coverage of ghetto riots and radicalised African Americans helped turn many against further aid for black Americans after 1965 MLK had positive media coverage in the North, he focused on the problems in the South but coverage in the North when he focused on the problems in the South but received unfavourable coverage after his chicago campaign and the development of his increasingly socialist convictions. The media made much of the unusual and the extreme such as the Black Panthers and hippies

Question 36

media and others

Answer 36

Gave hippies disproportionate coverage covering the roughly 10,000 counterculture communes established between 1965-75. In October 1967 the diggers in San Fran, who sought a socialist revolution and the end of capitalism proclaimed Death of the Hippoe and rejected the counterculture as it had been taken over by the media. Media coverage of hippies evicted a backlash among the socially conservative