Historical Context:
Sparked by the civil rights movement of African Americans, other groups also began campaigns for equality. Starting in the 1960s and gaining momentum in the 1970s, women, Latinos, and Native Americans successfully began their own civil rights movements.
Task:
A. What were the different methods and goals that women, Latinos, and Native Americans advocated? How were their methods and goals similar or different from the movement of African Americans?
B. Which of these methods and goals was most successful?
Sparked by the civil rights movement of African Americans, other groups also began campaigns for equality. Starting in the 1960s and gaining momentum in the 1970s, women, Latinos, and Native Americans successfully began their own civil rights movements.
Task:
A. What were the different methods and goals that women, Latinos, and Native Americans advocated? How were their methods and goals similar or different from the movement of African Americans?
B. Which of these methods and goals was most successful?
Use details from the sources below to support your ideas.
Please remember:
Please remember:
- Write in full sentences with correct grammar and spelling.
- Incorporate quotes by introducing the author, shortening and integrating the quote into the sentence, and explaining the meaning of the quote.
- Make sure your answer is at least five sentences long. Longer is better.
A. |
In 1966 Lorena Weeks sued her employer for discrimination. The National Organization of Women (NOW) assigned her a lawyer to help her with her case. Below is a 4 minute excerpt about this case, Weeks v. Southern Bell, from the 2013 documentary "Makers: Women Who Make America" by PBS.
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B. |
In 1968, after three years of direct action without victory, some supporters of the farm workers movement called for less peaceful methods. Cesar Chavez, the movement's leader, responded with a 21 day fast. Below are photographs from the fast, and a statement by Chavez for the reasons for the fast.
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C. |
In 1969, thousands of Native American activists occupied and took over Alcatraz Island for a year and a half. The occupation was forcibly ended by the US government in 1971. Below is the statement of purpose for occupation, written in 1969, entitled "To the Great White Father and His People"
We, the Native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery. We wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land, and hereby offer the following treaty: We will purchase said Alcatraz Island for 24 dollars in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago… Our offer of $1.24 per acre is greater than the 47 cents per acre the white men are now paying the California Indians for their land. We will give to the inhabitants of this land a portion of that land for their own… We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our life-ways, in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state… We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable as an Indian Reservation, as determined by the white man's own standards.
By this we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations, in that: 1. It is isolated from modern facilities, and without adequate means of transportation. 2. It has no fresh running water. 3. The sanitation facilities are inadequate. 4. There are no oil or mineral rights. 5. There is no industry and so unemployment is very great. 6. There are no health care facilities. 7. The soil is rocky and non-productive and the land does not support game. 8. There are no educational facilities. 9. The population has always been held as prisoners and kept dependent upon others. |
D. |
In 1970, the 5 year boycott begun by the United Farm Workers to help them win recognition of their union finally bore fruit. Below are excerpts from three newspaper articles from 1970.
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E. |
La Raza Unida is an American political party created in 1970 in Crystal City, Texas by Jose Angel Gutierrez. The 4-minute excerpt below is about the La Raza Unida political movement from the 1996 documentary, "Chicano! A History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement," produced by PBS.
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F. |
In 1972 Gloria Steinem, feminist activist and political activist, founded Ms. Magazine. Below is a 4 minute excerpt about the magazine from the 2013 documentary "Makers: Women Who Make America" by PBS.
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G. |
In 1972 members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the city of Wounded Knee, the site of an Indian Massacre in 1890. AIM occupied the city for 71 days, engaging in frequent shoot-outs with FBI agents. Below is a 5 minute excerpt about one of the tactics of the occupation from the 2009 documentary, "We Shall Remain," by PBS.
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