-
Period: to
The Era of Activism
-
Rachel Carson Publishes Her Book Silent Spring
Silent Spring was published by Houghton Mifflin on September 27, 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the contemporary American environmental movement. The book documented detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. It made the New York Times best-seller list & inspired widespread public concerns with pesticides & pollution of the environment. Silent Spring facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT, for agricultural use in 1972 in the U.S. -
Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique is a 1963 book by Betty Friedan which is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. It discusses the lives of several housewives from around the United States who were unhappy despite living in material comfort and being married with children. She originally intended to publish an article on the topic, not a book, but no magazine would publish her article. -
The Nationwide Boycott
The Delano Grape Strike was a boycott and led by the United Farm Workers against growers of table grapes in California. The strike began on September 8, 1965 and lasted more than five years and was significant victory for the UFW, leading to a first contract with these growers. The strike began when mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California walked off the farms demanding wages equal to the federal minimum wage. -
Ralph Nadar's Book Publication
Unsafe at Any Speed is a book accusing car manufacturers of ignoring safety features like seat belts &their refusal to spend money on improving safety. Ralph wrote an article on hopes of changing things for the better but it was ignored. In the spring of 1965, a Senate committee led by Abraham Ribicoff began investigating highway safety. Nader, who was an advisor to the committee, testified about a Cornell University study that showed a relationship between the design of a car fatal & accidents. -
National Oraganiztion For Woman
NOW was founded in Washington, D.C., by 28 people attending the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women. The founders include Betty Friedan which is also NOW’s president, Pauli Murray, first African American female priest, & Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president of the U.S. The main goal was to bring women into full participation of American society now, making all privileges & responsibilities as equal as men have it. -
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair
Woodstock was a music festival viewed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”. It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the town of Bethel, NY from Aug. 15-18 in 1969. 32 acts performed outdoors for an audience of 400,000 people. It showed how a generation could be heard & today it lives on. The original producers continue to carry Woodstock by identifying social, environmental &political causes, organizing communities around them &encouraging creative expression. -
The First Ever Earth Day Celebration
Earth Day is an annual event which was celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring. -
The U.S. Enviormental Protection Agency
The EPA is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health & the environment by writing & enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. It was proposed by President Richard Nixon after he signed an executive order. The order was ratified by committee hearings in the House & Senate. The agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by Congress. The current administrator is Gina McCarthy. -
The Clean AIr Act
The Clean Air Act is a U.S. federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level and requires the EPA to develop and enforce regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. This was the first major environmental law in the United States to include a provision for citizen suits. Congress ended up passing four different Clean Air Acts to improve the nation as time went on. -
The Legalization of Abortion
Roe v. Wade is the historic Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas interpretation of abortion law and making abortion legal in the United States. This decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. -
Occupation of Wounded Knee
About 200 Oglala Lakota activists & members of the American Indian Movement seized control of the tiny town, Wounded Knee (South Dakota). They arrived at night in a caravan of cars & trucks, took the town's residents hostage, & demanded that the U.S. gov. make good on treaties from the 19th &early 20th centuries. Within hours, police had surrounded the town, forming a cordon to stop protesters from exiting & sympathizers from entering. This marked the beginning of a 71-day siege &armed conflict.
