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Period: to
Era of Activism
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Publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson which was published on September 27, 1962. The book basically started the American enviornmental movement. Silent Spring talked about the pesticide DDT and how bad it is. DDT was eventually banned and this book is one of the causes of that. -
Publication of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan wrote a book called "The Feminine Mystique" it was credited for starting the feminist movement in the US. The book described housewives that were dissatisfied with their lives at home. It also made a lot of women rethink their home life. -
Publication of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed
Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book accusing car manufacturers of resistance to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety. This book opened peoples' eyes to how cars are affecting the enviornment. -
NOW is founded
In 1966, a group of 28 professional women estbalished the National Organization for Women(NOW). These women were frustrated that existing women's groups were unwilling to pressure the Equal Employment Oppurtunity Commission to take women's grievances more seriously. The goal of NOW was "to take action to bring American women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now." -
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place in August 1969. About 400,000 people gathered for several days in a large pasture in Bethel, New York, to listen to the major bands of the rock world. There was no violence at this event, and some people say that was because of the heavy drug use that took place there. -
First Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970. Gaylord Nelson created the idea for Earth Day. -
EPA is established
The efforts of enviornmental activists and the concern of the public at large helped spur the federal government to create a new agency that would set and enforce national pollution-control standards. In 1970, President Nixon established the EPA by combining existing federal agencies concerned with air and water pollution. -
Congress passes the Clean Air Act
One of the EPA's early responsibilities was to enforce the Clean Air Act. It was passed by Congres in 1970 in response to public concerns about air pollution, The Clean Air Act was designed to control the pollution caused by industries and car emissions. A Clean Water Act was later made and passed. -
Supreme Court rules to legalize abortion in the Roe v. Wade case
Roe vs. Wade was the case that made the United States make abortion legal. It was decided on January 22nd 1973. The justices who worked in the case based their decision on the constitutional right to personal privacy. The nation was divided over this issue. -
Protestors from the AIM take over the reservation at Wounded Knee
The Wounded Knee incident began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
