The Post War United States, 1945-1968
Overview
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every
aspect of American life. Millions of men and women entered military service and saw parts of
the world they would likely never have seen otherwise. The labor demands of war industries
caused millions more Americans to move--largely to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts where
most defense plants located. When World War II ended, the United States was in better
economic condition than any other country in the world. Even the 300,000 combat deaths
suffered by Americans paled in comparison to any other major belligerent.
Building on the economic base left after the war, American society became more affluent
in the postwar years than most Americans could have imagined in their wildest dreams before or
during the war. Public policy, like the so-called GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided
money for veterans to attend college, to purchase homes, and to buy farms. The overall impact of
such public policies was almost incalculable, but it certainly aided returning veterans to better
themselves and to begin forming families and having children in unprecedented numbers.
Not all Americans participated equally in these expanding life opportunities and in the
growing economic prosperity. The image and reality of overall economic prosperity--and the
upward mobility it provided for many white Americans--was not lost on those who had largely
been excluded from the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a
consequence, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American women became more
aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by the Declaration
of Independence and U.S. Constitution during the postwar era.
The postwar world also presented Americans with a number of problems and issues.
Flushed with their success against Germany and Japan in 1945, most Americans initially viewed
their place in the postwar world with optimism and confidence. But within two years of the end
of the war, new challenges and perceived threats had arisen to erode that confidence. By 1948, a
new form of international tension had emerged--Cold War--between the United States and its
allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. In the next 20 years, the Cold War spawned many
tensions between the two superpowers abroad and fears of Communist subversion gripped
domestic politics at home.
In the twenty years following 1945, there was a broad political consensus concerning the
Cold War and anti-Communism. Usually there was bipartisan support for most US foreign policy
initiatives. After the United States intervened militarily in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, however,
this political consensus began to break down. By 1968, strident debate among American about
the Vietnam War signified that the Cold War consensus had shattered, perhaps beyond repair.
Arts and Entertainment, 1945-1968
Arts and entertainment in the two decades following World War II showed both continuity
and change. Radio remained popular, but a new technology--television--also became vastly
successful. Indeed, television would make significant changes in many aspects of life in the
United States.
As professional athletes returned from serving in the armed forces, Americans went out in
record numbers to watch them perform. Yet professional sports would soon be changed forever
with the integration of African American and white athletes into the same competitions.
The musical theater continued to thrive, with several eminent classical musicians crossing
over into popular music to compose musicals. Other musicians were creating a new form of
music that became popular among young people--rock and roll. Despite the emergence of this
new form of music in the 1950s, many people viewed that decade as a relatively uncreative one.
As the 1960s progressed, changes in society were reflected in changes in art and
entertainment. Black authors wrote prolifically, often writing about the challenges of being
African American in a society dominated by white racism. Feminist writers called for equality
between the sexes. Other writers, musicians, and artists examined the effects of the
"establishment" on society and protested the war in Vietnam.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the middle of the 20th century, a nationwide movement for equal rights for African
Americans and for an end to racial segregation and exclusion arose across the United States. This
movement took many forms, and its participants used a wide range of means to make their
demands felt, including sit-ins, boycotts, protest marches, freedom rides, and lobbying
government officials for legislative action. They faced opposition on many fronts and fell victim
to bombings and beatings, arrest and assassination. By the end of the 1960s, the civil rights
movement had brought about dramatic changes in the law and in public practice, and had secured
legal protection of rights and freedoms for African Americans that would shape American life
for decades to come.
A few key moments include:
Brown v. Board of Education The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall,
spent decades fighting against racial segregation in education. This long campaign culminated
when the U.S. Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which gathered together five
separate cases related to school segregation with Marshall leading the arguments before the
Court. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and
overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
Rosa Parks arrested On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested
when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger.
The arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the U.S. Civil Rights
Movement, and was a defining moment in Parks' long career as an activist. The Montgomery
Bus Boycott also saw the rise to prominence of a young Montgomery minister, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Little Rock school integration crisis After the Brown v. Board, Supreme Court
decision, state and local officials in a number of states resisted school integration. In September
of 1957, nine African American students attempted to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The governor ordered the state’s National Guard to surround the high school, and the
Black students were harassed and kept from entering the building. President Dwight Eisenhower
nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent U.S. troops to protect the students and
enforce the desegregation order of the federal courts.
Birmingham campaign In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a large-scale campaign of sit-ins and
marches in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest the city’s brutal segregation policies. Many of the
protestors and leaders were jailed, and while behind bars, Dr. King wrote a long public letter that
explained his philosophy of non-violent protest. This document, which became known as “The
Letter from Birmingham Jail,” went on to be widely republished and regarded as a classic
defense of the principles of civil disobedience.
The March on Washington On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people
arrived in Washington, D.C., for the largest non-violent civil rights demonstration that the nation
had ever seen: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was organized in a
few months, coordinated by veteran strategist Bayard Rustin, and was meant to demonstrate an
urgent need for substantive change. The demands in the event program began with
“Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress” and included
the end of discrimination in education, housing, employment, and more. Leaders and organizers
met with members of Congress and with President John F. Kennedy, while the march ended at
the Lincoln Memorial with music and speeches, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have
a Dream” speech.
The Selma civil rights marches On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march in Selma,
Alabama, led by 25-year-old activist leader John Lewis, was attacked by state troopers and
sheriff’s deputies as the marchers attempted to cross the city’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Coverage
of the marchers being beaten, tear-gassed, and trampled by police horses prompted outrage
across the nation, and activists, religious leaders, and everyday citizens flooded into Selma to
lend their support. On March 9, a second group of marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
approached the bridge, prayed there, and returned to church. On March 21, thousands of
marchers crossed the bridge, this time protected by federalized National Guard troops, and
headed to Montgomery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 The two most significant
pieces of civil rights legislation since Reconstruction were passed within two years of each other.
Between the two, these Acts outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin. They banned discrimination in public accommodations, public education, and
employment, and prohibited race-based restrictions on voting. Such sweeping legislation had
been a longtime goal of the civil rights movement, and it brought many of the laws and practices
of the Jim Crow Era to an end.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, used
nonviolent resistance to overcome racial injustice and end segregation laws, and became the
most visible leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.
In 1955, as the young pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama church, King was elected the
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and asked to lead a bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott began when the civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to
surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, and the protest continued via nonviolent means,
including car pools and eventually legal action. The 381 day boycott ended about a year later,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate the bus system.
In 1957, King was elected president of the newly formed Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), which continues to advocate for nonviolent resistance to racial injustices.
In that role, he and the SCLC joined the local movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
to implement non-violent direct action protesting discriminatory laws. After he was arrested for
that work, he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” directed at local clergy questioning the
protests.
Later that year, on August 28, 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech to a crowd of 250,000.
Because of his work, in 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest
person ever to receive this high honor.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city’s sanitation
workers, he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his hotel.
LGBTQ Activism
The 20th century saw a wave of organized activism to secure civil rights and freedoms for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. LGBTQ individuals had long
been subject to public hostility and legal prosecution, and were widely denied protection against
discrimination in employment, housing, military service, and private and public services. In the
years after World War II, activists across the nation formed organizations, including the
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, to campaign for civil rights for gay men and
lesbians. Early movement leaders included Frank Kameny, who spent decades fighting against
the federal government’s anti-LGBTQ employment policies, and Lilli Vincenz, who published
newsletters and columns, picketed the White House, and made films that documented key
moments in the movement.
In June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. The bar’s patrons, including transgender and gender non-conforming people,
lesbians, and gay men, fought back, sparking several days of protests. A year later, to mark the
anniversary of the uprising, thousands of people took to the streets for the Christopher Street
Liberation Day Parade, which is widely regarded as the first Pride celebration.
In the ensuing decades, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people organized and
fought on many fronts for equality and civil rights, including rights to employment, military
service, and marriage. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s hit LGBTQ
communities hard, and LGBTQ people played central roles in shaping public-health advocacy
campaigns that accelerated research and access to new treatments. The tools that activists have
used in these struggles have changed over the decades as new technologies have emerged. Also,
organizations have changed as they have been challenged to recognize their past blind spots and
acknowledge individuals and communities who they themselves have excluded.
Documents
The Presidential Election of 1960
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president
in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote,
Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said, "Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." Kennedy also challenged Americans to
think of ways they could serve, saying "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country." This statement and Kennedy's enthusiasm appealed to many young
idealists. But Kennedy also had won the votes of many traditional Democratic voters-members
of labor unions, African Americans, and members of other ethnic groups.
Some analysts see the 1960 election as a turning point in American politics. Following the
election, some aspects of the political process seemed to have changed forever. As you examine
the documents listed to the right, look for factors that made the 1960 election different from
preceding elections. What helped account for John Kennedy's appeal? What set him apart from
Richard Nixon and from previous presidential candidates? In what ways was he like other
candidates?
