Civil Rights Movement, Social Change, and Vietnam War Notes

Civil Rights Movement - Section 1

• Goals of the Civil Rights Movement:
  • Eliminate segregation from American life.
• Brown v. Board of Education:
  • Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.
  • Demonstrators used nonviolent means to encourage equal rights.
• Plessy v. Ferguson:
  • Denied individuals social opportunities.
• Martin Luther King Jr.:
  • A key leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
• Popularity of the Civil Rights Movement on TV:
  • Images of peaceful protests and violent responses gained sympathy for the movement outside the South.
• Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer, March on Selma:
  • Nonviolent protesters were victims of violence and aggression.
• Freedom Rides & Summer:
  • Highlighted the lack of voting rights for African Americans.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964:
  • Ended discrimination based on race or sex.
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Section 2):
  • Banned the use of literacy tests to register voters by preventing states from changing voting practices.
• Black Power (Stokely Carmichael and Black Power):
  • Blacks must be truly free from white oppression.
  • Blacks must control their own economic, social, and political institutions.
• Black Panther Party vs. MLK Strategies:
  • Black Panthers advocated for a military approach and believed in using violence.

Social Change of the 1960s and 1970s - Section 2

• Malcolm X and W.E.B. Du Bois (Common Belief):
  • Both believed African Americans should empower themselves politically.
• Feminism:
  • The equality of men and women.
• Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique:
  • Energized the new women's rights movement.
• ERA (Equal Rights Amendment):
  • Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by the US or any state on the basis of sex.
  • The ERA failed because of backlash led by conservatives.
• Roe v. Wade:
  • Protects women's right to abortion based on privacy.
• Cesar Chavez:
  • Organized a union for farm workers.
• Native Americans and Assimilation:
  • The Dawes Act was reversed by 20th-century legislation.
  • Reversing the Dawes Act gave Native Americans more control over resources and education.
• Great Society:
  • Lyndon B. Johnson aimed to provide a higher standard of living for the poorest citizens.
• Great Deal, Great Society, & Progressive Movement Parallels:
  • Share the common belief that the U.S. government should increase its involvement in the economy to improve people's lives.
• Warren Court:
  • Supreme Court decisions defined the rights of criminals and expanded the rights of individuals.
• EPA:
  • Goals: protect the environment/earth.

Vietnam War - Section 3

• Domino Effect:
  • Stopping the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.
• Gulf of Tonkin:
  • Led to heightened U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
• Poor Man's Fight:
  • The draft was viewed as unfair because deferments were given to college students.
• Tet Offensive Importance:
  • Americans realized the war was not going as well as the government led them to believe.
  • Led to a shift in public opinion against the war.
• Richard Nixon:
  • Promised to withdraw all troops if elected.
• Vietnamization Goal:
  • Replace American troops with Vietnamese troops.
• Pentagon Papers:
  • Caused greater distrust because the papers confirmed that the government was misrepresenting what happened in Vietnam.
• Conclusion of the Vietnam War:
  • Foreign policy can be altered by public opinion.

1970s - Section 4

• Purpose of Richard Nixon's Policy of Détente:
  • To ease tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.