Many social changes that were addressed in the 196 Essay Example For Students

Many social changes that were addressed in the 196 Essay 0s are still theissues being confronted today. the 60s was a decade of social andpolitical upheaval. in spite of all the turmoil, there were some positiveresults: the civil rights revolution, john f. Kennedys bold vision of anew frontier, and the breathtaking advances in space, helped bring aboutprogress and prosperity. however, much was negative: student and anti-warprotest movements, political assassinations, and ghetto riots excitedamerican people and resulted in lack of respect for authority and the law. The decade began under the shadow of the cold war with the sovietunion, which was aggravated by the u-2 incident, the berlin wall, and thecuban missile crisis, along with the space race with the ussr. The decade ended under the shadow of the viet nam war, which deeplydivided americans and their allies and damaged the countrysself-confidence and sense of purpose. Even if you werent alive during the 60s, you know what they meantwhen they said, tune in, turn on, drop out. you know why the nationcelebrates Martin luther king, jr.s birthday. all of the social issuesare reflected in todays society: the civil rights movement, the studentmovement, space exploration, the sexual revolution, the environment,medicine and health, and fun and fashion. The Civil Rights MovementThe momentum of the previous decades civil rights gains led by rev. Martin luther king, jr. carried over into the 1960s. but for most blacks,the tangible results were minimal. only a minuscule percentage of blackchildren actually attended integrated schools, and in the south, jim crowpractices barred blacks from jobs and public places. New groups and goalswere formed, new tactics devised, to push forward for full equality. asoften as not, white resistance resulted in violence. this violence spilledacross tv screens nationwide. the average, neutral american, after seeinghis/her tv screen, turned into a civil rights supporter. Black unity and white support continued to grow. in 1962, with thefirst large-scale public protest against racial discrimination, rev. Martinluther king, jr. Gave a dramatic and inspirational speech in washington,d.c. After a long march of thousands to the capital. the possibility ofriot and bloodshed was always there, but the marchers took that chance sothat they could accept the responsibilities of first class citizens. thenegro, King said in this speech, lives on a lonely island of poverty inthe midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and finds himself an exilein his own land. King continued stolidly: it would be fatal for thenation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate thedetermination of the negro. this sweltering summer of the negroslegitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumnof freedom and equality. when King came to the end of his prepared text,he swept right on into an exhibition of impromptu oratory that wascatching, dr amatic, and inspirational. I have a dream, King cried out. the crowd began cheering, but king,never pausing, brought silence as he continued, i have a dream that oneday on the red hills of georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons offormer slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table ofbrotherhood.I have a dream, he went on, relentlessly shouting down thethunderous swell of applause, that even the state of mississippi, a statesweltering with peoples injustices, sweltering with the heat ofoppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. ihave dream, cried King for the last time, that my four little childrenwill one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color oftheir skin but by the content of their character.Everyone agreed the march was a success and they wanted action now!but, now! remained a long way off. president kennedy was never able tomobilize sufficient support to pass a civil rights bill with teeth over theopposition of segregationist souther n members of congress. but after hisassassination, president johnson, drawing on the kennedy legacy and on thepress coverage of civil rights marches and protests, succeeded wherekennedy had failed. However, by the summer of 1964, the black revolution had created itsown crisis of disappointed expectations. rioting by urban blacks was to bea feature of every long, hot, summer of the mid-1960s. In 1965, King and other black leaders wanted to push beyond socialintegration, now guaranteed under the previous years civil rights law, topolitical rights, mainly southern blacks rights to register and vote. king picked a tough alabama town to tackle: selma, where only 1% ofeligible black voters were registered to vote. the violence, the march,the excitement all contributed to the passage of the second landmark civilrights act of the decade. even though there was horrendous violence, rev. king announced that as a matter of conscience and in an attempt to arousethe deepest concern of the nation, he was compelled to lead anothermarch from selma to montgomery, alabama. Child abuse EssayMarijuana (pot, grass, mary jane, weed) was their favoritepreparation. however, some were smoking hash, taking mescaline, peyote,lsd, barbiturates and sedatives. The list goes on and on. and it was onlythe beginning. Drug use was everywhere. rock musicians used drugsfrequently and openly. their compositions were riddled with references todrugs, from the beatles i get high with a little help from my friends tothe jefferson airplanes white rabbit.Space ExplorationAt the end of 1968, americans became the first human beings to reachthe moon. seven months later, they were the first to actually walk on themoon. their telecast gave earthbound viewers an unforgettable view of themoon. Astronaut lovell reported, the moon is essentially grey, no color. we can see quite a bit of detail. the craters are all rounded off.On christmas eve, the astronauts of apollo 8 (borman, lovell, andanders) gave their best description of the moon in a most impressivetelecast. this is apollo 8 coming to you live from the moon, reportedborman, focusing his camera on the lunar surface. the moon is a differentthing to each of us, said borman. my impression is that its a vast,lonely, forbidding-type existenceit certainly would not be a veryinviting place to live or work.Lovell agreed, but added, the vast loneliness up here isawe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there onearth.In apollo 11, the astronauts landed on the moon on july 25, 1969. astronaut neil armstrong called out the word everyone was waitingfor.houston, he called. tranquility base here. the eagle haslanded. all of america was on the edge of their seats. it was a veryexciting time; cheers, tears and frantic applause went up around thenation. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, becamethe watchword when u.s. Astronaut armstrong said this as he placed his footfirmly on the fine-grained surface of the moon. after centuries of dreamsand prophecies, the moment had come. man broke his terrestrial shacklesand set foot on another world. the new view could help man place hisproblems, as well as his world, in a new perspective. The Sexual RevolutionThe medical introduction of the pill changed the interaction betweenthe sexes dramatically in 1964. Americans discovered that the freedom fromfear of unwanted pregnancy went hand in hand with other kinds of sexualfreedom. it became an era in which morals were held to be both private andrelative, in which pleasure was being considered almost like aconstitutional right rather than a privilege, in which self-denial becameincreasingly seen as foolish rather than virtuous. The pill is a tablet that contains as little as onethirty-thousandth of an ounce of chemical. it used to cost 1 1/4 cents tomanufacture and a months supply sold for $2.00, retail. yet, in a meresix years, it changed and liberated the sex and family life of a largesegment of the u.s. Population. did the convenient contraceptive promotepromiscuity? are americans paying the price today for the decline inmorals and values?The EnvironmentA book written by rachel carson, silent spring, earned her areputation not only as a competent marine biologist, but as a giftedwriter. the villains in silent spring are chemical pesticides, againstwhich miss carson took up her pen in alarm and anger. many readers werefirmly convinced that most of the u.s. Was already laced with poison thatwould soon start taking a dreadful toll. the only way to fix the situationwas to stop using chemical pesticides and let the balance of nature takecare of the insects. Another activist of the day was lady bird johnson, presidentjohnsons wife. she envisioned beautification all over america. she isgenerally credited with inspiring the highway beautification act of 1965. This is the decade when scientists were becoming more vocal about theozone layer, pollution, and smoking cigarettes. americans became aware ofthe dangers they encountered everyday and would perhaps hand down to theirchildren. the federal communications commission voted 6 to 1 to bancigarette advertising on radio and tv. eventually, with congressionalapproval, cigarette packages had a new warning on them: caution:cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.Medicine and HealthMistakes made in the past caused great social and health problems tochildren around the world when it was discovered that using a tranquilizercalled thalidomide caused severe birth defects. babies were born withhands and feet like flippers, attached close to the body with little or noarm or leg. as results of using thalidomide became apparent, everycompound drug containing thalidomide was taken off the market.