Elected president. Hes young, hes charismatic. He had platformed on a number of promises. So this should give a bit of context to where the Womens Movement is coming into play as we work through some of these overview issues. Now, the 60s as much promise as there was, we also know there was a lot of issues. Particularly racial issues. But it was a period of great change, warfare, and for those who did find promise in the 1960s, there were those who didnt get access to that. And so there are a number of individuals and groups fighting for access. So we have the 1967 detroit riots. A series of political assassinations. Jfk in 1963. In 1968 you also have the assassinations of Martin Luther king jr. And bobby kennedy. So theres also a lot of fear about what this change means and a lot of people are reacting to that. Focusing on jfk because were going to be talking most about women in the Civil Rights Movement today, well be focusing on other womens experiences on wednesday. But to give you an idea, jfk was initially hesitant. We have a legacy now of him as a major shaker in the Civil Rights Movement. But he was very hesitant and cautious about the Civil Rights Movement in the initial year or so of his presidency. He was very concerned about alienating southern politicians and voters. Because were still in a period of deep segregation in the south. But in 1963, he issues the report to the American People on civil rights. This is his response to black americans who argued with him that youve made these promises for sufl rigcivil rights and yo making very much progress on them. And he realized that civil rights wasnt just a general issue, but that it was a moral issue for the nation. And so he starts to move beyond some of that initial hesitation. And it really signified to people that there was some change happening at least at the administrative level. But after kennedys assassination later that year, the question is will that progress continue . Will the promises that jfk offered come to fruition . And there are concerns about Lyndon Baines johnson, the Vice President who takes over in 1963. But johnson was very shrewd as far as politics go, and he takes the legislation and the content of that earlier speech and he incorporates that into what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now, this act was part of the Great Society legislation, this domestic policy platform that lbj adopts after becoming president. The Civil Rights Act prohibited distribution based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin. It was designed to prohibit unequal application of Voter Registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, public accommodations, et cetera. Now, this act was very significant, but it still takes time for the administration to implement those pieces particularly in areas where people were not as keen on this legislation. Johnson also puts forth the Voting Rights act of 1965 which some say is the most significant piece of the Civil Rights Era legislation. But this prohibited Racial Discrimination in voting. Now, this is all well and good, but during both jfk and lbjs presidencies, we also see a significant increase in our involvement in the vietnam war. Its also called the second indochina war and in vietnam its known as the american war. Now, it started in 1955 for us. Lasted until 1975, but its really the 60s we see that increase. We go from having fewer than a thousand troops in 1959, by 1963 we have about 16,000 troops involved. At the start of 1974, we have 23,000 troops. And by the end of 1964 with the gulf of tonkin resolution, lbj has increased troop presence to 184,000 troops. So you can see that rapid increase in the 1960s. This also is a period where we see deployment of Ground Troops for the first time. And so americans are becoming more conscious of what our involvement in vietnam means. And youre going to see a rise in protest movements, antiwar protests in particular. Fatalities in the vietnam war also, the more troops you put in, the more lives are going to be lost at the end of the vietnam war over 58,000 americans are killed. Thats a significant number and a reason for protest in the u. S. , but protesters were also keenly aware of the fatalities happening in vietnam. Not just soldier but civilian casualties. Estimates ranged from about 966,000 vietnamese soldiers and civilians to upwards of 3. 8 million depending on which records youre looking at. Theres also hundreds of thousands of laotians and cambodians killed during the war. And women are playing a very Important Role in these antiwar protests. Part of it you see the increase in draft issues. Women are not being drafted, but their husbands, their sons, men in their life are. And so theyre home trying to get involved in this movement. Were also in the era of the Civil Rights Movement. Now, its a movement that has a very long history. Some have argued that we actually need to movement because it didnt just pop up in the 1950s. But we are going to see significant strides happening in the 50s and 60s as the Movement Fights for constitutional and legal rights and protections that are being granted to americans everywhere. The Civil Rights Movement is going to inspire a series of other movements during this time period. Some more well known than others. The womens Rights Movement, what well be talking about as the second wave of feminism. Well define what that means in just minute. Mexican americans are fighting for bilingual Education Programs in schools, worker protections, the unionizizations of farm workers. You have those demanding the government look at indigenous sovereignty. And attempting to preserve indigenous cultures and Indigenous Women who well be talking about on wednesday take a key role in that as well. This is also the era of the lgbt movement. Yes. This is where gay and lesbian individuals at the time are focusing on ending legal zpri s discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Were going to start to see how that movement is taking shape in response to the Civil Rights Movement. So this is sort of our context, right . In which women are operating, women are recognizing their roles, and the ways in which they can affect change locally and nationally. The second wave feminism, this idea of feminism as a wave is the result of martha mears New York Times article the second feminist wave. Now, prior to this people werent really thinking of feminism in those terms. But she argues, quote, feminism which one might have supposed as dead as a polish question is again an issue. So shes right now as shes writing about it making the case that this isnt new. That women had a history of activism and fighting that it is just now becoming a National Issue once again. She says, proponents call it the second feminist wave. The first having ebbed after the glorious victory of suffrage and disappeared finally into the sand bar of togetherness. Now, there are some issues with the terminology. This idea of the wave as a metaphor. Feminist historian Linda Nicholson argues, yes, this can be a useful term in terms of reminding people that the Current Movement had a past. But it can be reductive. It suggests whether explicitly or implicitly that each wave of feminism is some sort of monolith. That it has a unified agenda. That women of all types are fighting together for the same common causes. It implies also that feminism peaks at certain times and reseeds at others. And so it ultimately can ignore the conflicting ideals, goals, agendas of these different women, different groups of women. Right . For example, the women well be talking about today in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, black womens experiences in activism is not going to be the same as white womens experiences. And their goals are not necessarily going to be the same. Women in the workforce, for example. Equal pay for equal work. I mean, on its head, that sounds like it would apply to all women. But the issue is that despite the fact that women of color and white women might both be fighting for equal pay for equal work, it ignores the fact that women of color black women especially made less than their white female counterparts. So theres a race issue along with the gender issue that is not affecting white womens activism. White women are fighting for things like contraception and Birth Control. Were going to see a series of Landmark Supreme Court cases through the 60s and 70s which gave married and unmarried women the right to use Birth Control. We have griswold versus connecticut in 1965, for example, which had struck down a law stating that married couples could not use Birth Control or inform themselves about it going all the way back to the comstock law era. So this particular piece allowed married couples to access contraceptives. Its not going to be until 1972 that eisenstat versus baird, that Supreme Court case suggests that unmarried women should have the same access to contraceptives as well. By the end of the 1960s, over 80 of married women of the childbearing age were using contraception. Part of this is made possible because in 1960 the federal government approved the production of the Birth Control pill. So this made it easier and more effective despite many of the numerous side effects, easier for women to access contraceptives and take personal control over their bodies. As opposed to other cont contraceptive methods. Women are fighting for the end of Sexual Harassment and domestic violence. For example, the criminalization of marital rape, that doesnt start until the mid1970s. So throughout this time period that were talking about, the 1960s, as women are fighting for control over their lives and bodies, marital rape is not a crime in any state. Women are fighting for equality. Betty fridans the feminine mystique comes out. Argues women are fighting for this thing that has no name, this systemic issue. This systemic sexism that taught women that their place is in the home. That they should find enjoyment and fulfillment in caring for that home and raising up their husbands, rearing their children. If you couldnt have children, theres another issue. And that if women couldnt find enjoyment or fulfillment in their roles as housewives, it was only because they were broken and perverse. Its their problem. And fridan argues, i thought there was something wrong with me because i didnt have an orgasm waxing the floor. I mean, shes putting it out there. She is unafraid. But shes also working she is aa Context National organization for women. It is mourn in 1966 and 1968 a series of women protest the win Miss American pageant as sexist paternalistic. Argues that women are being judged purely on their success despite the fact that pageants organizers were saying but theyre also talking to about their plans for the world and what they know. The protesters were like, absolutely not. This is a huge issue. But contrary to popular belief, it is not like all the women are out there going to dumpsters and throwing their bras in there and burning everything. It is not how it works. Snow bra burnings. There might have been one. One. As a protest in miss some merica pageant and various other protests against the sexist ideals, they are taking tokens or symbols or items that they feel represents oppression. The bra might be one of those, but there are also running around setting play boys on fire. You dont hear about that but its far more interesting than sitting abroad on fire. Theyre taking items from the home. Mops, rooms, whatever. They are destroying these ideals in a physical form. They are really specific when you get down to it to white middle class women. Despite the demands of equal pay for equal work, it is one thing if you are being denied the opportunity to work because you want to work, but it is another thing to be denied the opportunity to work when you need to work. When it came down to the families during the 1960s, far more women of color needed to work to supplement household incomes, because even men of color were making less than their white counterparts. So again they are fighting for different things, another example is that, the right to contraception and contraceptive knowledge. While black and white women are fighting for that right, fighting for access to abortions, there is something black women have to focus on which is not part of the main stream part of the feminist movement. Had it not been a lived experience of those white women at the time, it was not part of that mainstream feminist movement. There are a lot of different examples of how race and nationality, ethnicity can play a role in the different lift experiences of women in the 1960s. We have talked quite a bit about how that operated in the thirties forties fifties but despite the vast changes of the 1960s, we are still seeing some of those same issues playing out. We know for example that black women, specifically playing a very important and prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement. Yet how often do you hear their names . Who are you most likely to hear about or think of when you hear the phrase Civil Rights Movement . Its mostly all men, not women. First name that will come to mind is Martin Luther king junior. He is the face we associate with the movement. Malcolm ex, because it was controversial in nature, that he is a prominent figure. You can think about john lewis, or carmichael. If you do think of the women, you might think of rosa parks. But, when i have asked my history student in the past if they can name another woman aside from rosa parks, it is often very difficult for them to do so. Many women in the Civil Rights Movement are facing gender discrimination and Sexual Harassment within the movement. They are facing external and internal pressures and harassment. According to the National Museum of african culture the 1963 march on washington provides a really clear and concrete example of this. While the march pushed for equality while women were instrumental in helping to organize and put the march together, the event was purely dominated by men. The formal program. Excuse excluded women from speaking no women were invited to be part of the delegation for meeting president kennedy later in the day. But as we will talk about some key individuals, i can go on and on all day about different women involved in the movement. Today we will focus and particularly on those who took the stance of either education or who were student activists, because i thought for this class with each of you being students you can make some personal connections with their experiences. But black women are serving a strategist, advocates, activists, organizers, educators and leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, the spike the dangers of participating in the movement. Not only do they have to fear the same physical violence that their male counterparts were subject to. In an added component that they had to fear was Sexual Violence perpetrated against them. But they participated anyway. s introducing you to poinsettia clark. She was born to a formerly enslaved man she is the second of eight children she fought and spent her life fighting for Educational Rights for black individuals she graduated from the every normal institute. Which was the first accredited secondary school for African Americans in charleston where she grew up. After graduating she taught and segregated schools throughout much of South Carolina. While doing so, she earned a bachelors degree from Benedict College in 1942 and a historically black college she also a few years later earned a masters decree from Hampton Institute no hamster new never. City during that entire period, she recognized that despite her best efforts, the segregated schools, no matter what she did, because they did not have the same resources, the same funding as all white schools. Her efforts to educate could only go so far. So she continued to fight for equal Educational Opportunities and rights. In 1956, she lost her job as an educator, because South Carolina band membership in the end double acp because she fused to comply. She had been a longstanding member of naacp. She was ultimately hired to become the director of workshops which was ultimately absorbed into the southern christian leadership conference. During that time period, she and her cousin bernece robinson, another prominent female figure in the movement created the first Citizenship School to educate blacks and literacy, State Government and election. Procedures Martin Luther king jr. Relied on her expertise regarding education, lite