Miss America Protest Research Paper

September 7th 1968, a large protest was held at the Miss America Pageant. 150 women protested against the exploitation of women. This was one of the first protest of the Second Wave Feminism. The protesters mission was equality for women. This lead to future protest for equality for women of all

America has a long history of oppression, discrimination and injustices towards African Americans, however the 1960s has brought important political and social changes. People who have not lived through this decade of change can gather some information of this time through historical documents such as letters and films that portray true events. An example of a film that is based on a true story is “Mississipi Burning” and a powerful historical document is “A Letter from Burmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther king. Each of these materials describes/portrays some of the issues African-American faced during the 1960s, specifically in the south. After analyzing these materials, we are able to understand some of what African-Americans endured during the 1960s.

To this day the women’s suffrage movement ignites women in the present to keep those right burning. Alice Paul and her fellow women suffrages demonstrated through speeches, lobbying and petitioning Congressional Committees, with parades, picketing and demonstrations, and with arrest that lead to imprisonment. These women express courage that women still uphold for years after their legacy has passed on, such as the article “Women’s Strike for Equality,” by Linda Napikoski, in the demonstration that was held on August 26, 1970 on the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage. As well as an article “Women to Protest For Equality Today,” by United Press that talks about on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the women’s suffrage and “declared war on firms that Damage the Image,” of the fair sex. Alice Paul, set the stage for inspiring women to fight for their rights everywhere across the world.

Freeman, Jo: What in the Hell Is Women’s Liberation Anyway (1968) retrieved from: DuBois, Ellen Carol, and Lynn Dumenil. Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents: 4th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016.

This movement is extremely well documented when it comes to all kinds of sources, such as photographs, diaries, interviews, and videos. Many of these sources are housed in Wilson Library, some of which are very intriguing and carry messages that are still relevant to this day. One noteworthy photograph I discovered is one of a group of protestors on Franklin Street. The photograph was taken by an unknown photographer and it was taken in December of 1963. The group stands firmly in front of the post office; a landmark on Franklin Street, which is now known as Peace and Justice Plaza. It was named this because it is where protest marches would end and where a memorial plaque was placed for the

Women have often played an important role in advocating social justice. However, they have rarely been credited for their efforts and actions. Indeed, the research or narratives on social movements too often focus on male experiences. Yet, a gendered approach to social movements is crucial, because women’s experiences differ from men’s, as do their reasons for becoming involved with any type of activism, be it political or social. The movie Salt of the Earth by Michael Wilson (1954) illustrates those differences and emphasizes the importance of understanding the role played by individual and collective identity in political action. How does one’s social identity shape one’s involvement in political action? In this movie, women get involved in a strike; they become visible activists and no longer just the shadows of their husbands. Yet, their depiction in the movie presents them as essentially mothers and wives, inscribing their actions in the realm of domesticity. Thus, their actual agency remains in question.

The first wave of women’s movements in the United States took place from approximately 1840 to 1925. When looking at this wave from the Liberal Ideology, they fought for women to have the right to vote, access to high education, equal employment opportunities and property rights. During this wave the infamous, and ground breaking, Seneca Falls Convention took place in New York in 1898. Here, 32 men and 68 women gathered to catalogue these specific events that women were not allowed to participate in. It is also during this wave that the Golden Globe Winning film Iron Jawed Angels, takes place.

On August 28. 1983, a group of over 200,000 people supported and attended the March on Washington. (www.history.com). This statistic demonstrates the fact of how impactful the March on Washington was and how many people were on the same side. The speeches at this assembly are some of the most famous and well known speeches that are still remembered today. There are many events from the Civil Rights Movement that changed our daily lives, including speeches and court cases, and there are key people who were involved in them . Some of the major events included the Brown v. Board of Education (1954), he Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1957, the Greensboro Sit-ins (1961), March on Washington (1963), the 24th Amendment being passed (1964), and the

Seneca Falls, NY in 1848 marked the start of the women's suffrage movement. The movement, being led by many influential women, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was said to be one of the largest political movement of the 20th century. According to the National Women's History Museum, the movement was the “…single largest enfranchisement and extension of democratic rights in our nation’s history (“Rights for Women: The Suffrage”).”

My topic was a very unique one, for it has an important meaning to history. I chose this particular one, first, because it falls under the NHD theme, and second was the amount of empathy I felt with my topic. I had already knew who Thurgood Marshall was, but I didn’t know a lot about him. My curiosity to research more on him, pushed me to do this topic. This subject was important to select, for he was a civil rights activist, Supreme Court Justice, and he changed U.S. laws that discriminated against colored people.

The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Women’s Rights movement was celebrated in 1998, today women benefit from the tremendous positive changes brought about by this movement. These women empowered one another in promoting social change. The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) (1999) stated

The historic march on Washington was a call of humanity to the world. It was a turning point in the American history after the abolishing of slavery. African American women struggled for justice and equality to be given to all mankind but, unfortunately, women were forgotten. They were stripped of all their rights, when men got all the benefit. African American men, who supposed to be their nature supporters and protectors, also turned their back at them. Women found themselves all alone facing the society constraints that were hemmed upon them. Despite the significant contribution women made toward the struggle for equal right, they had no representation in most of the March activities and their issues were not addressed. They were concerned that they would not get their fair share benefits from the struggle.

The unity of women, who were completely different from each other, shows that they were serious in succeeding and they will try their hardest to succeed. Margaret Crocco said, “Women of all ages, classes, ethnicities, and races- often separated but sometimes together-developed a suffragist infrastructure rooted in local and state politics and coordinated effectively at the national level,’’(Crocco). This shows that even though the women had their differences, they were willing to work together to accomplish something they all wanted which is suffrage. This fact created a link between the women of America.

In her essay she relates the rise of feminist consciousness in the 1960s to numerous changes in American society, especially the rise of other protest movements. Echols said, “On September 7, 1968, the sixties came to that most apple-pie of American institutions, the Miss America Pageant” (Echols, 308). The reason she said this was because one hundred women’s liberation activists descended upon Atlantic City to protest the pageant’s promotion of physical attractiveness as the primary measure of women’s worth. From there, the protestors set up a “Freedom Trash Can” and filled it with high-heeled shoes, bras, girdles, hair curlers, false eyelashes, typing books, and representative copies of Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Ladies Home Journal. They wanted to burn the contents but couldn’t because of the laws for bonfires on the boardwalk. Also, word had been leaked to the press that there would be a symbolic bra-burning. However, there were no bras burnt that day. But the image of the bra-burning, militant feminists remains part of our popular mythology about the women’s liberation movement. The Miss America demonstration represents an important moment in the history of the sixties as well as the women’s movement (Echols, 309-310).

After women won the right to vote, the second wave of feminism began in the 1960s and continued on to the 90’s. This wave was highly associated with the anti-war and civil rights movement and the movement started growing conscious to a variety of minority groups all over the world. Out of three waves, the second wave’s voice was increasingly radical and theoretical as sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues. Protest began in Atlantic City in 1968 and 1969 against the Miss America Pageant. Many activists thought it to be a degrading “cattle parade” that reduced women to only objects produced by the patriarchy. Along with fighting against sexism in cartoons and politics, second wave feminists found their voice among other movements such as Civil Rights and the Anti-War movement. While the first wave was fought by middle class white women, the second wave invited and incorporated women of color and developing nations demonstrating that race, class, and gender oppression were all related and seeking sisterhood and solidarity (Rampton).