The Social Movement : The Homophile Movement

The Civil Rights Movement symbolized the challenge and opposition to the racial injustices and segregation that had been engrained in American society for hundreds of years. Events that took place in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, sit-ins, speeches and numerous protests define this momentous time in United States history. Speeches during this period served as a means to inspire and assemble a specific group of people, for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X it was the black community that needed to rise up in hopes of achieving equal rights and voting rights for the blacks.

Another one of the major things that happened in the 1950s was the Red Scare. What that means is that people were scared that communists would rise against them. Many of the people were very affected and according to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:“Hundreds of screenwriters, actors, and directors were blacklisted because of their alleged political beliefs, while teachers, steelworkers, sailors, lawyers, and social workers lost their jobs for similar reasons.More than thirty-nine states required teachers and other public employees to take loyalty oaths” (Anti-Communism).

The 1960’s comprised of many different movements that sought the same goal of achieving equality, equality in means of: political, economical, and social equality. Two similar movements emerged during this era that shared the same ideologies: the Chicano and the Black Power Movement. Both shared a similar ideology that outlined their movement, which was the call for self-determination. The similar experiences that they had undergone such as the maltreatment and the abuse of power that enacted was enacted by the dominant Anglo race helped to shape these ideologies. Despite their similar ideology, they differed in how they achieved this goal, by either obtaining political participation or going to the extreme as using force to achieve their

The civil rights movement was one of the main elements that were responsible for agitation and protest that greatly expanded in the 1960s. This social movement “originated among black Americans in the South who faced racial discrimination and segregation, or the separation of whites and blacks, in almost every aspect of their lives” (“Protests in the 1960s,” 3). There was constant racial

In the Late 1950’s, America was in the beginnings of an important Cultural revolution. The Civil Rights movement as a whole was still very new and the country had just recently been desegregated. As such,

The Red Scare of the fifties was a very controversial time in American history. The

The 1950's were viewed as a decade of prosperity for many Americans. For lesbians and gay men, it was both a time of great fear and immeasurable courage (“Coming Out in America”). During the fifties, being different in America was seen as a crime to many Americans especially to an individual named Senator McCarthy. Senator McCarthy was a Republican senator from Wisconsin during the late forties and fifties. He is known best for being the leader of what are called Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. The Red Scare was the fear of the emergence of Communism in America during the Cold War. Not only did Senator McCarthy accuse people of being communist throughout the decade, but also accused some of being homosexuals as well. The discrimination of homosexuals during the forties and fifties is referred to as the Lavender Scare. Because of the spread of Communism and the societal views on homosexuality during the fifties, many Americans thought of this as the era of great conflict and fear.

In the 1950’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy turned Americans against each other by installing fear in the people regarding toward Communism. During this time, in fact, people were getting blacklisted even if they weren't communist. In an incident at the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, McCarthy delivered a speech. The situation involving the Senator escalated when he stated that the State Department is infested with Communist. In this point in time, due to the false allegations, people went on a decade long period of witch hunts. Sam Roberts, the author of “A Decade of Fear” stated that in fact, “...thousands of alleged Communists in the U.S. were arrested and deported during what became known as the Red Scare.”

The civil rights movement of the sixties is one of the most controversial times of the last century. Many, if not all, who lived through that time, and the generations following were enormously impacted. At the time passions ran so high that violence at peaceful

The 1920’s was a decade of change, a change in economy, daily life, and a change in values. Traumatic economic decline and wars will lead to changes in the definition of freedom, limiting freedom for Americans as the government and society demands unity and fears disloyalty. While middle class white adults conformed, the growing youth rejected conformity and for African Americans this was a time for resistance of inequality. In the 1960’s black and some white activists will see results from pressuring politicians and using the media to bring attention to the fight for equality. Based on the idea that freedom could not exist in a society of extreme economic inequality, civil rights movements became about power, pride, and economic change. President LBJ’s support for an activist government leads to a significant political change to end poverty. But the way legislation was passed created backlash and war made applying this change difficult. Civil rights movement’s became successful and in doing so motivated other movements. These other movements attempted to end legal cultural and institutional discrimination that made the majority of Americans second class citizens because of their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The role of government and meaning of freedom change from the 1920’s into the new millennium. New deal society excluded various groups creating winners and losers. But working together and media attention will help them to achieve equality.

This thematic standpoint in return provides ground for a second major theme; the 1960s was home to the birth of civil rights movements and forever changed the American idea of the status quo. To a large extent, it is agreeable that that the 1960s serves as the era that led to activism in the US. Anderson is able to confirm and strengthen his standpoint by the fact that it was during one of the greatest milestones of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, that for the first time in the history of the US, the government was subjected to criticism and attacks against their “ways”. This can be evidenced by the fact that Americans, which were majority college students, took to the streets to protest government action. At the time, the policies and actions put forth by the government were seen to be very secretive and wrong. Citizens were hastily informed about the need to stop the spread of communism at the expense of capitalism. Not only were government policies seen as corrupt, the government had kept the American society in the dark concerning the actual situation in Vietnam. There seemed to be no cost that was worth retreating from Vietnam. Draft calls were constantly increasing and the war itself began to result in federal expenditures, deficits, and inflationary pressures ( Anderson 90). For some Americans, the war not only damaging, but unfair. Mexican Americans were the poorest and

Commencing in the late 19th century, state level governments approved segregation acts, identified as the Jim Crow laws, and assigned limitations on voting requirements that caused the African American population economically and diplomatically helpless (Davis, n.d.). The civil rights movement commenced, intensely and assertively, in the early 1940s when the societal composition of black America took an increasingly urban, popular appeal (Korstad & Lichtenstein, 1988). The 1950s and 1960s was well known for racial conflicts and civil rights protests. The civil rights movement in the United States during the late 1950s and 1960s was based on political and social strives to achieve

This seemingly harmless action, and the bombings around the country in connection with the Red Scare, led to the start of blaming the American Communist Party for domestic disturbances to the status quo. The fact that Communist Party members were heads and members of labor unions, allowed Big Business owners and special interest groups to direct blame for radical actions such as work strikes or demands for wage compensation on to the Communists, allowing them to ignore, or dismiss any grievance brought against them; while at the same time tarnishing the image and reputation of the Communist Party (Schrecker, 14). In addition, the exaggeration of radicalism at the time allowed organizations like the FBI and law enforcement to expand and improve their image among the general public, which eventually led to J. Edgar Hoover being one of the figureheads of anticommunism (Schrecker, 15).

The challenge to a variety of political and social issues distinctly characterizes the post World War II (WWII) era, from the mid 1940’s through the 1970’s, in the United States. These issues included African-American civil rights, women’s rights, the threat of Communism, and America’s continuous war effort by entering the Cold War immediately after the end to WWII. These debated issues led to the birth of multiple social movements, collectively referred to as the New Left, rooted in liberalism. In response to the New Left, a strong brand of conservatism, collectively referred to as the Right, arose to counteract these movements. Despite opposing ideology and convictions,

The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests,