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Introduction and goals of the Equal Rights Amendment ---- This amendment was first proposed by the National Woman’s Political Party in 1923. The purpose was to provide legal equality of all genders and to abolish the discrimination on the basis of sex.
Under the leadership of four feminist politicians, they won the requisite two-thirds vote from the U.S. House of Representatives in October 1971. During the mid-1970s, the feminist movement got a large amount of backlash which led to a good amount of states that failed to ratify the amendment. However, on March 22, 1972, the amendment was passed by Congress and sent to all states. -
Purpose and Impact of the Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act is a labor law that prohibits gender-based wage discrimination in the U.S. It was signed by President Kennedy in 1963. The law mandates equal pay for equal work by forbidding employers from paying men and women different wages or benefits for doing jobs that require the same skills and responsibilities. This law also includes guidelines for when unequal pay is given, specifically on the basis of worth, seniority, workers’ status or other factors are not determined by gender. -
Formation and goals of the United Farm Workers Movement
Cesar Chavez founded the formation of the UFW in 1965. This was created after many struggles in their workplace and fails to unite farm workers under a union. So, in 1965, The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, and the National Farm Workers Association came together to create the United Farm Workers Movement. The combining of the two movements began in Coachella, California. They began with strikes and marches in an effort to gain better wage and better working conditions. -
Start and goals of the California Grape Boycott
On this day, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee decided to strike against grape growers in Delano, California, to protest years of poor pay and bad working conditions. AWOC leaders asked the National Farm Workers Association, lead by Cesar Chavez to join their strike. The protest began in Delano and grew into a broader boycott. By 1970, the boycott had worked and grape growers signed their first union contracts, guaranteeing workers better pay, benefits, and protections. -
Formation and goals of N.O.W ---- N.O.W was founded by a group of activists who were determined to end gender discrimination. Betty Friedan randomly wrote three letters on a paper napkin: N O W. She then invited fifteen women to her hotel room.
Then, Catherine Conroy gave her cash, told her to put her name down, and at that moment, the National Organization for Women came to life. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement and historic marches, the women founded this organization to ensure the equal treatment of both sexes. They wanted to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They did this by holding marches and strikes to send a message. -
Formation and goals of the Brown Berets ---- In 1967, a group of Mexican youth leaders dedicated to improving education and community service, called the Young Citizens for Community Action. Later to be known as the Brown Berets, because of the LAPD.
Over time, the group began to focus on issues of police brutality within their communities. As police brutality continued to spread in not only their communities but black ones as well. The brown berets became more and more direct, joining protests surrounding anti-Mexican acts. They also created a newspaper called La Causa to help spread awareness of the issues and inform their communities on the latest news surrounding politics, activism, racism and police brutality. -
Formation and goals of the American Indian Movement (AIM) ---- This movement was founded by Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton Banai, and George Mitchell in 1968.
Its original purpose was to help Indians in urban ghettos who had been moved by government programs that had forced them from their home of the reservations. The group's goals changed to helping the entire spectrum of Indian problems some being, protecting traditional culture, protection of legal rights, and re-ownership over tribal areas and the restoration of lands that had been taken away from them. AIM was involved in many protests to accomplish these things. -
Start and goals of the Chicano “blowouts” ---- At Garfield High School on this day, students streamed out of classrooms and stood before the school entrance shouting “Viva la revolución!”.
They were preaching in many things: protest of poorly maintained campuses, lack of college prep courses, and teachers who were poorly trained, or racist. By the time the “blowouts” peaked a week later, 22,000 students had stormed out of class, delivered impassioned speeches sharing their frustration, and clashed with police. This was the first act of mass power by Mexican Americans in California history. This massive movement set the tone for activism across America. -
Purpose and Impact of the Stonewall “riots” - These riots were violent, simultaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community.
It was against a police raid that happened early in the morning on January 28, 1969. The raid was at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Although the police were authorized to carry out the raid, the gay community immediately grew angry because they thought that the cops were targeting the gay community. This uproar set into motion more activism from the LGBTQ community for permanent and much-needed change. -
Occupation of Alcatraz ---- This was a protest led by Richard Oakes, LaNada Means. The protest was a fourteen-month-long protest, the spokesman for the movement was John Trudell. 89 American Indians occupied the Alcatraz island.
The Indians were forcefully removed by the federal government. The Native Americans wanted to reclaim the land known as the Alcatraz Islands because of their right of discovery. They believed the land resemble those of Indian Reservations because it was isolated from modern facilities, it had no fresh running water, no oil or mineral rights, and the fact there was no industry on the island. The Native American group felt that the island itself would be greatly ruled by the honorable Indians. -
Formation and goals of La Raza Unida ------ This new party chose to focus on improving the economic, social and political aspects of the Chicano community throughout Texas.
La Raza Unida's goals were to encourage more involvement in politics of Chicanos and Mexican Americans. They wanted more Mexican-Americans in government and more voting.They advocated for a bilingual education and the rights of women and laborers. José Ángel Gutiérrez and Mario Compean helped lead and founded the organization. "La Raza" mainstreamed as "the race", the term acted as a way to exclude people. -
Phyllis Schlafly and the defeat of the ERA ---- The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed in Congress by the National Women's Party in 1923.
Feminist during this time believed that the ratification of the amendment as the only way to eliminate gender bias discrimination in the US. Phyllis Schlafly was an American constitutional lawyer, movement conservative, and conservative advict. Schlafly used her conservative social and political views to fight against abortion and campaigned against the ratification of the ERA. Phyllis argued that the ERA would take away gender-specific privileges. -
Start and goals of the Trail of Broken Treaties
The Trail of Broken Treaties was a protest event of the Red Power activist period. The organization was lead by members of the American Indian Movement to bring national attention to native injustice. The goal was to protect the rights of the Indians, therefore the Native Americans marched for their rights. The protest ended in Washington D.C, where protestors occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building. -
Roe v. Wade decision --- The Roe v. Wade was a milestone decision that established a women's legal right to an abortion.
“Jane Roe” was a fictional name to represent the identity of the plaintiff. Henry Wade, was the district attorney of Dallas, Texas, where Roe resided. The Supreme Court disagreed with Roe’s belief of an absolute right to terminate pregnancy in any way, therefore they attempted to balance a woman's right of privacy. The court ruled that a woman's right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights given from the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S Constitution. -
Goals and events of the Siege at Wounded Knee
200 American Indian Movement leaders and supporters occupied the South Dakota reservation own of Wounded Knee. Which was a site of the massacre of 300 Sioux by the US Seventh Cavalry in 1890. The Wounded Knee occupation lasted for a total of 71 days, to protest the conditions of the reserve itself. The protestors called to attention Indian rights and demanded the government honor the treaty obligations. -
Murder of Harvey Milk and Impact ---- Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official. He was elected onto the San Francisco board of supervisors in 1977 after two failed attempts.
The following year, On November 27, 1978, Milk and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, were both shot and killed in City Hall. They were murdered by a conservative former city supervisor, Dan White. Many books and films were made about Milk. One movie won an academy award. In 2009, Milk was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He left a great impact on the LGBTQ community to this day. -
Murder of Matthew Shepard and Impact ---- Matthew Shepard was an openly gay student from the University of Wyoming who was tortured, beaten and left for dead after attending an LGBT student group meeting.
Shepard's murder shined a light on the scope of federal hate crime laws, which at the time did not include sexual orientation or gender identity. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act added crimes motivated by the victim's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the federal hate crime law. The murder also led to the creation of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the mission was to replace hate with compassion and acceptance. -
Purpose and impact of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ----
This allows an Indian tribe to engage in gaming only if the state in which the tribe is located "permits such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization or entity.” It requires tribal gaming net revenues to be used in certain areas. It is used to fund government programs, donated to charitable organizations, provide general welfare of the tribe and its members. This has had a transformative effect on American Indian reservations and their economies. -
Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ---- The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was the official policy on the military service regarding gay, bisexuals, and lesbians. For 17 years, the law prohibited qualified gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the armed forces.
The discriminative Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy has since been repealed and is no longer apart of the military service policy. The repeal took place after the president, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff adapted new policies and certified that the DADT would not affect any military readiness. Under the current policy, homosexuals and bisexuals can serve openly in the U.S. military and will not be barred from recruitment or promotions. -
Obergefell v. Hodges ---- Obergefell v. Hodges was a landmark U.S Supreme Court case, which ruled all state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
Thus, making gay marriage legal throughout the whole United States. The plaintiffs in each case argued that the states violated the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and one group of plaintiffs brought claims under the Civil Rights Act. The ruling of the case made decades of struggles and setbacks along the run become filled, as gay marriage gained full equality in the US.
