Photo of author's mother(right) and her sister(left). Source: Boice, Pamela.
The 1970's are a very popular era for stereotyping in movies and media(Lerner). The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about that time is hippies in tie die shirts smoking marijuana driving around in a Volkswagen. As with most decades, it is branded with that one idea and few people care to look at the rest of life during that time. For this reason, I interviewed my mother, Pamela Boice, who was eighteen years old and just graduating highschool in 1970. This is a perfect age to get the full perspective of what the 70's were all about, and after the interview I learned an awful lot. While the 70's did consist of the stereotypes weve all heard, I plan to show one young ladies perspective, and how the time period affected our culture of today.
Background At the start of 1970 Pamela Minietti was a senior at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury Connecticut. At this time she started dating Jim Boice, whom she has since married and had four children. In high school Pamela was a cheerleader and Jim was the schools best track athlete. Pamela graduated from GHS and moved on to Eastearn Conn State University in Willimantic Connecticut. She commuted fourty five minutes every day for four years to school. In 1974 she graduated from college and in 1975 got married to Jim Boice. She was given a piece of land by her father and started building a house, the house that I grew up in and the house they still live in today.
High School Fun Pamela Minietti was a senior at Glastonbury High School in 1970. A typical day would be driving to school, then all the seniors going to C.I. which stood for Current Issues. It was a class that all seniors had to take together in the auditorium. That was a tough course for her. She really was not into news and events. One of the big projects for C.I. was the final project, where everyone is given a real life scenario. They told you how old you were, how much money you made, if you had any kids and your house mortgage or rent. You had to figure out all your expenses as if it was your real life. Pamela did not take it very seriously, but looking back on it today she said “it was a real wake up call” since today she is doing the very same thing(Boice, Personal).
The rest of the day would be spent going to classes, and socializing at lunch. Every Friday and or game day, the cheerleaders would wear their uniform to school. She said it was hard work, but one of the best parts of High School. They worked out everyday practicing their cheers, and then at the game they would perform the cheers, and excite the crowd. Pamela could not wait to tell me that one of the best parts of being a cheerleader was the pep rallies, and bon fires. The pep rallies would be before the start of every season for each sport. The school would meet outside at the end of the day. The cheerleaders would lead the school in chants, and get the school spirit excited for the games to come. One of Pamela’s favorite moments was when they had a bonfire. It took place outside on school grounds in a big open field in the evening. The students were outside around the pile of wood and it was lit by a teacher and of course the fire engine was there as a precaution. The students would be singing and the cheerleaders cheering, it really got the school spirit going. However, there was also a lot of drinking going on at these events and Pamela commented, ‘Too bad they did away with those events. A few people ruined it for everyone”(Boice, Personal).
Photo of author's mother circa 1970. Source: Boice, Pamela
Hippies Hippie (often spelled hippy) is a term originally used to describe some of the rebellious youth of the 1970s. Hippies were often associated with drug use and free spirits. This widespread view of hippies often made them outsiders in the community(Lerner). Pamela Minietti recals the popularity of experimental drug use in high school and college and said "Everyone was doing it, it was no secret"(Boice, Personal). However, she does not literally mean "everyone" because she claims to have never tried a single illegal drug in her life. I know it is my mother, but I believe her one hundred percent. This is a point that most people often over look; that if you grew up in the 70's, you automatically must have used or atleast tried a handful of drugs. This just shows that no matter how much the media tries to stereotype the decade, people still lived normal lives if they chose to, same as for any era.
The Dating Game Pamela Minietti and Jim Boice started dating in high school. The High School hosted several talent shows, and Pamela and Jim went out for their first date to one of the talent shows. A short time after that, Pamela got a rose left in her locker. Pamela and Jim would watch T.V at Pamela’s house and go to the movies. When they would get together with their friends they would play Trivial Pursuit. Mostly they would play the boys against the girls. Some popular movies they went to see were Airport, Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Towering Inferno, Grease and Jaws. Several of Pamela's friends, and her boyfriend Jims friends had cottages by the beach. As often as they could they would take day or weekend trips there to hang out and party. While in college Pamela continued to date Jim Boice. She visited Jim a few times at college. While visiting they would attend hockey games. Pamela did not like hockey very much, but would go just to spend time with Jim. She recalled that they were “Loud, rowdy, and cold”(Boice, Personal).
Photo of author's mother and husband on wedding day, circa 1975. Source: Boice, Pamela
Media Pamela Boice liked listening to the songs Y.M.C.A. from the Village People, Indian Reservation by The Raiders, Half Breed by Cher, and Grand Funk Railroad, and Billy Joel. One of her favorite songs of all was Piano Man by Billy Joel. Pamela’s favorite movie was Pretty Woman. When asked why, she stated “Richard Geer was very good looking”(Boice, Personal). It seems that she was not alone in her opinion. Music from this era was very much part of the culture, and not just the hippie culture, as is the traditonal thinking. Pamela Boice and her friends were not into the drug scene and still enjoyed music of this time just as much. Even today, I am a collegiate athlete and enjoy listening to Billy Joel; not something you would predict if you only looked at stereotyping.
Works Cited Boice, Pamela. Personal interview. 20 March. 2011.
Welcome to the 60's! I know when I first think of the 60’s my initial thought is that this decade was lived by hippies and it was an era where everyone did drugs. However, not every life was lived how many of the movies today illustrate it. Every story is different, and the story I am following is the story of Dalia, who said, "We were [in the 60's] very laid back, we weren't so concerned with the worries of the world" (Pucci). I am studying the 1960's, life was different for everyone, yet similar to many, I am researching to find the story of a typical life.
Fig. 1 Advertisment for
Woodstock
Stereotyping the 1960's
The peace sign is major symbol of the 1960's. This was the age of peace and love, where many people, referred to as hippies used the term "Make Love Not War". Because, at this time, the Vietnam War was taking place. "Unfortunately when you think of hippies you think of the drug era too, and not all people who were into ‘love, peace, and no war’ were druggies. I think I was that kind of a hippie yes but I wasn’t of the drug culture and not a lot of people were necessarily"(Pucci). In the sense of wanting peace, but no war, there were probably many more people in the 1960's to be considered one of them, however, they would not be considered as much of hippies because the typical hippie participated in taking "psychedelic drugs" such as; LSD, marijuana, heroin, and amphetamines ("Hippies in the 1960's"). Woodstock was a large event that many people think back to when they think of the 1960's. What was originally meant to only be a two day event, turned to a three day event of peace and music festival where nearly 500,000 people came together and celebrated to have three days of peace, three days where "the world stood still" (Woodstock). Dalia, at the time Woodstock took place, was too young to attend the event. Had she been older, like her older sister at the time, she would have liked to have gone, however, she says, "I was not about to go to a mud-field and get dirty" (Pucci).
Growing Up
Fig. 2 Dalia Pucci, age 8, 1960.
Born in 1952, Dalia Pucci was only eight years old when the 1960's came around (Fig 2 on left). She grew up and spent her some of her elementary and high school years during the 1960's. At a young age, she spent a lot of time at home and with her sisters. She described her first few years into the 60's as "very ordinary, nothing exciting, until 1963"(Pucci). Similar to the tragedy of 9/11, the assassination of President Kennedy was announced in schools. What was very similar between both Dalia and many of the children who had been in school during 9/11 was that not many understood what had happened, when it was told in schools. Many of them were not affected until they returned home and saw the twin towers burning and black smoke covering the skies of New York and many of their family members filled with fear, sorrow, and distraught at the sight presented to the on the television. When she returned home that day from school she remembers, for the entire weekend, watching the retakes of the assassination and the funeral proceedings o President Kennedy. "That was kind of a dark time. I think it sobered everyone up, even as a young child, just like 9/11 happening today" (Pucci).
Fig. 3 Dalia Pucci, 1974.
There was no diversity in her high school so the only way she was associated with any racial issues was from what she saw on television, with the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King. She did not see difference in skin colors. Though there had been no diversity in her schools or neighborhoods, there were at Beach Pond Summer Camp, in Exeter, Rhode Island, where she spent many summers working (Pucci). She worked along side with black and white camp councilors and also had a variety of children attend the camp. told the story of a time she went to visit one of her only black friends from a summer camp she worked at. Her friend, Debbie, lived in New York so Dalia went to a spend the weekend with her "she [Debbie] was very brave for having a white person come and stay with her" (Pucci). Dalia, not seeing nor even thinking anything different of the color of skin, did not see a problem. She could feel the racial tension as she entered the dorm. Later on that night they decided to go out, "and she [Debbie] said, 'well if we go down this street I can't go, and if we go down that street you can't go'" (Pucci). That very moment was when she was able to actually witness the racial issues that had been occurring, other than watching it on television. She was not use to that environment and it was a real eye opener to see that other people actually lived that way. She went further to say, "Debbie was pretty much ostracized after that" (Pucci).
Hairspray
Styles in the 1960's, obviously were different from what people today dress and look like. In the musical and film Hairspray it is able to see the similarities with the hairstyle at the time. In the figure below you see a capture photo from the movie.
Fig. 4 Scene from Hairspray, 2007.
The style from this movie can be seen throughout the 1960's. The big hair and the "hairspray" were important to the style. Below is a picture taken from Dalia's high school yearbook. You can see the same hairstyle being portrayed in the center girl (Figure 4) as well as the bottom center girl (Figure 5)
Fig. 5 Page from Cranston High School yearbook, 1969
Both of these women wearing the same hairstyle shows that this musical/film is very up-to-date and true in the style it shows throughout the story. In Dalia's high school, she said there were two groups of people, "we had what people would be calling ‘mondos’ where their hair was all slicked back. The girls had the big hair, tight clothing, and the guys wore the leather jackets. They were ‘mondos’, and then there were ‘colligents’, we were the preppy ones, but in between that or before that we were kind of hippy-ish" (Pucci). She also recalls watching American Bandstand, a show similar to the one portrayed in Hairspray, where live music would perform and the cast on the show would dance. Styles were definitely different back in the 1960's as can be seen to the left (Fig. 5), from Dalia's high school yearbook. A final interesting fact was that in her high school, at the time she attended, girls were required to wear either a skirt or dress, no pants.
Comparing and Concluding
Technology was a major difference and it really made a difference. What is a "can't live without", source in modern times, people in the 1960s were forced to live without. There were no cell phones, so there was no texting your friends. The lack of computers, which assists the current 'face generation', was not created so there was no email, social networking, etc. All of their communication was either done by writing a letter, in person, or by telephone from their own house. If Dalia needed to go somewhere she did not have the luxury of owning her own car in high school, "we walked everywhere, it's no lie. We walked to school, home from school, took a bus, or we bicycled" (Pucci). There were not as many cars on the roads back then, so walking everywhere was safer. With one television per house, many people in those years would do more active things, or actually read a book, where now every room in people's homes have a television in it and children sit in front if it and it is all they do.
In schools it was expected of the all of the students to be respectful in schools. If a student got in trouble, got detention, etc., the student would be more afraid of their parents then anything. "Today as I'm teaching in schools.. and they [students] are not respectful and their parents aren't respectful to teachers. It has very much flip-flopped, a complete one-eighty" (Pucci). College life was also different. Where today, a large majority of college students go to college and mainly focus on the party scene, going to huge parties, getting wasted, drugs, bad decisions, etc., college life, for Dalia, was different. The drinking age was 18, so when she first arrived to college, even prior to, she and her friends were able to drink. They would walk off campus, go to the bars, and have a great time. She mentioned how they would not abuse the drinking because it was not necessary, their goal was not to go out and get 'trashed', but to go out on the weekends with her friends and enjoy themselves. Schooling was very important and it was what came first, which is how it should be.
The 60's were a time of change and it was considered a turn around. With all the protesting, drug use, freedom, etc., it was not always seen as a good era by everyone. "There are limitations to freedom of speech which people don't recognize. Too much freedom, everyone has rights, but if everyone has rights there is no responsibility because not everyone can have the world revolving around them" (Pucci). Compared to the 70's, 80's, 90's, and now, Dalia believed that many negative things came out of the 60's (Pucci).
Works Cited Pucci, Dalia. Personal Interview. 24 April 2011
"Hippies in the 1960's | Socyberty." Socyberty | Society on the Web. N.p., 16 October 2008. Web. <http://socyberty.com/history/hippies-in-the-1960s/>
"Woodstock Music Festival 1969." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.squidoo.com/woodstock
My Great Grandfather Gil, Great Grandmother Isabel, Father Paul, Grandmother Aurelia, Grandfather Norbert after my Father's graduation from Bristol-Plymouth Voc. Tech. H.S. in 1976. Source: Soares, Paul
The 1960's and 1970's were a time of change in America. This is no surprise to anyone living in the country at the time. There was great achievements, a horrible war, and scandals like Watergate and the Chappaquiddick incident. But how does all of this look in the eyes of a family that had just made it to the United States in 1967. This is the story of my father's transition from his life in the Azores, 9 Portuguese islands in the mid-Atlantic, to his life here in Massachusetts.
On September 29th, 1967, Norbert, Aurelia, and Paulo Soares of a small island called Sao Miguel of the Azores arrived at Logan Airport in Boston, MA for the first time ever. My father Paulo (now Paul) being 8 years old at the time lived through a time of achievements, struggle, and most importantly, change. For this research paper, I have chosen to write about his life in the mid 1960’s and 70’s and how it could compare to mine. I have chosen to do this simply to intrigue my readers about how he “adapted” to life in the United States upon arriving here.
I believe the best place to start this story is at the end of it. Paul Soares is my father, a self-employed metal building contractor from Taunton, MA. I am his only child and approaching soon enough is his and my mother, Jacqueline’s 25th wedding anniversary. Now with a basic description of what he has gotten, how has he made it to this point? For this, I interviewed him about life in Taunton while he was growing up.
Coming to America
For my father and his family, that September of 1967 marked the first flight for them. When I asked about the reason for coming to the United States in the first place, my father said quote: “My father and my mother wanted to give me a better opportunity, so my mother had her brother that lived here and my father had his cousins that lived here, and they assured him that they would get them jobs when they came to the United States.” (Soares). He would go on to say “That was during a time where a lot of families were leaving the Azores, some of them would go to the United States, Fall River, New Bedford, and other families moving to Canada, especially Toronto because of the big Portuguese community in Toronto, Canada. The main thing was to give me a better opportunity in life.” (Soares).
Perhaps one of my favorite pictures of my father as a child in the old country, Sao Miguel, Azores. Not exactly sure what age he was at the time, but I believe he was just turning 1 at the time of the picture. Shown is my great grandmother Isabel, my grandmother Aurelia, and my father Paul. Source: Soares, Paul
At the time, he was eight years old, just finished with the first grade. Most of his friends lived on his street which he lived on. My grandfather had a decent job in an insurance firm while doing wedding photos on the side back in the Azores. My grandmother’s brother Carlos along with his family became their sponsors, people either being a US citizen or a green card holder that makes a guarantee to the government and to the family that the ‘party’ attempting for immigration are of good nature and will be able to get into the workforce and abide by state and federal regulations while working for citizenship. (US Consular Affairs). Their first place here in America was my aunt Analia’s mother’s house on Somerset Avenue in Taunton, MA. I asked what was the hardest thing about moving to the United States, he would describe mostly with the “fear of the unknown” (Soares) and that at the same time, his grandparents were still in the Azores. When my father came over, he new some basic english words like dog, chair, table, etc. This proved to be the stepping stone for my grandparents (his parents) learning English.
Settling In
Following up, a few weeks later they moved into their first apartment in the United States on Presbrey Avenue in Taunton. I asked more about their time on Presbrey Avenue and this reveled some information about his home life and what his parents did for jobs: “We went to buy furniture when we moved too, and that was the hardest thing for my parents because they had just started to get jobs and all of a sudden they got a $3000 bill for furniture, couch, TV. They were making you know, back then working in shoe factories making $1.50 to $3.00, really low wages to make $63 a week to pay back the bill and rent at $25.” (Soares). He would also go on to say that my grandfather Norbert held off on getting a car right away. He ended up buying one later in 1970, three years after coming to the United States. As for school, my father attended a transitional school called School Street School (no longer in operation) was a bilingual school where in the words of my father “It's where a lot of immigrant kids where they came from Puerto Rico, Portugal, Italy, wherever, where they were put into this school and learned how to speak English. So as they got better, they would be placed into a regular elementary school.” (Soares). In his case, he was transitioned to the Elizabeth Pole Elementary School (third grade) after only 3 to 6 months in the transitional school. He would also go on to say that he started to pick up stuff by watching TV. Apart from my interview, I had asked my grandfather Norbert about learning English and he would tell me that with my father in this transitional school, it gave him a way of testing my father’s English while learning English himself. Looking at that fact, I’d find it really strenuous to be my father at the time, being that the transitional school acted as his second grade.
Making Friends & Reuniting with Family
Most of my father’s friends would be made from the kids in his neighborhood. My father had said: “We had used to play pickup games like baseball, wiffleball, dodgeball. We lived behind this office building with a nice big parking lot so we had a nice area to play in.” (Soares). In 1969 (at age 10), his parents sent for his grandparents to come over. Since they were retired, they did not require to have a sponsor here in the United States. In the interview, he says: “When they were coming over, the weather there was terrible, and instead of their plane going to Logan, it ended up going to New York and they had to take a Greyhound bus to the bus station in Boston. It was me, Norbert, and Tony Goulart (a family friend my grandfather was acquainted with by working at Modern Plastics. They both shared the common interest in photography.) I still remembered how to get to Boston, so I was responsible really for directions there. I was ten years old and it was quite a job to give directions.” (Soares). Tony Goulart is someone who I knew since I was born.
My Great Grandparents (whom I never met, grandmother's parents) Isabel & Gil Puim Soares. Source: Soares, Aurelia
My grandparents would have him for dinner and he would stop by sometimes to help with cooking or any yard work. Moving onto his better friends, his good friend Louie Chaves was also an immigrant from the Azores. He came from the smaller island called Santa Maria than my father did, but they became really good friends throughout school and beyond then. This was all at a time where he lived on Hopewell Street in Taunton in 1969. “Well Bob was a US citizen and he was born here. He lived on Maple Street so he lived in the same neighborhood. It was all through side streets.” (Soares). Moving on to his family life, I asked about his interests and favorite things. He mentioned his 5-speed Shwinn bicycle which his father bought him brand new at the time so he was very fortunate about that mostly because other kids in the neighborhood rode less-expensive bikes or had used bikes.
My father on his shiny new orange Shwinn 5-speed Bicycle w/ banana seat. Source: Soares, Paul
Music, Movies & Television
My father has always been interested in a lot of different things. The first major thing that made everyone in the family start to watch TV was nothing less than unbelievable. "On July 20th, 1969, over 500 million people around the world tuned in to watch as Neil Armstrong and the crew of NASA's Apollo 11 make history by being the first men to set foot on the moon." (Chaikin). My father was one of them. He added to my question by saying: "I actually had signed up for a series through a school program which had all the NASA books, something Reader, Highlights, I think it was that. We used to fill out a form and order books. There were actually books on all the space vehicles, like the Gemini rocket, going to the moon, different space craft. I even had a plastic model that I built of the lunar lander." (Soares). I asked him right after about how he felt about it and all he could really say to describe it was how unbelievable it was to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Another event at this time, the Vietnam war, had a huge impact on his families' views since most of what hey would see on the news ended up being very sensitive information. He would describe the news by saying that they would show the number of dead soldiers on the news. In his time also, he described that mostly, the news were on twice a day really only on three news channels and that was all. As compared to today where we can barely stay away from it both on TV and the internet. Along with this, he and his parents watched the Ed Sullivan Show as well as the Red Skelton show. Along with this, they also enjoyed game shows and sketch comedies with special guests, similar to Saturday Night Live of today. When he came here, he wasn't into his home country's folk music like his parents were. He was always interested in the modern style of music and since he was closer to Europe, most of the popular songs from there were available. As he grew up, he would go on to say "my cousin over here, at the time, bought me a record player and I bought 45's an lp's for 69 cents. Mostly bought the top 40 hits and as for the Beatles, I heard them before and after I left the Azores. My parents would mostly listen to Bobby Vinton, BJ Thomas, you know, like Love Songs." (Soares). Later on, he would eventually receive a Sony recorder as a gift and he describes using it during family get togethers, mostly on Christmas. Christmas was mentioned to me as being the happiest times of the year for him because being the only child that he was, he loved it when his family was over or if he visited family. When he grew up, his favorite band became Boston and to this day, he's owned their music in basically all the formats (vynal, 8track, cassette, CD, iTunes MP3). Movies also had a very big impact on my father. His favorite movie was called Shane, a western about a gun-for-hire who becomes friends with a homestead family and through a conflict, forces him to act. (Internet Movie Database). Also, he enjoyed sporting events, especially the Boston Bruins because he always liked hockey and growing up, he played it with friends all the time.
Boston Bruins game circa 1969. Source: werqa123
Citizenship
My father said that "we could've applied after being here for 5 years, being issued a green card, not a citizen, but a permanent alien. I don't really know exactly why we waited so long, but it's just we never felt the need to become a citizen because we all paid taxes like everyone else. We had a dual citizenship, and I needed up applying for both a US passport and a Portuguese passport and also a European ID so I could move freely through European countries without the need of a passport. I along with my parents really became citizens 35 years after coming, and that was in 2002." (Soares). Since leaving his home country, he's visited three times. The most recent time was in 2008, a year before my grandfather's death at the end of 2009. He's always wanted me to come along one day, and this year or next year, it may just happen.
Final Reflection
My father's life in Taunton, MA compared to my life is completely different. "When I lived on Hopewell street, I went to Hopewell School on the corner was a candy store with 5 cent candy, penny candy. They had kind of like gummy bears back then. For curfew, we had to be back by supper." (Soares). In a way, these two points relate to how I grew up. On my grandfather's street, I played with the neighbor kids up throughout my life. I originally went to Raynham Public Schools (the next town over), so most of my friends growing up never went to the same schools. This changed when I got to high school and I went to Bristol Plymouth Voc. Tech. H.S. and some of them went there. Along with this, I too had a curfew and a local corner store. The only difference was that my curfew was when the street lights turned on (6:30 usually) and my corner store was a block away and was in the form of a bakery. Unfortunately, like most corner stores, the candy store my father grew up with closed down sometime in the 1980's, and the bakery I grew up near became the target of an disgruntled employee who torched the place a few years ago. (Lopes).
Life for my father in the United States was very different for someone who was born here at that time. He had a lot more responsibility and in some ways, was far better off than others in the mid-sized city at this time. My perspective of the decade was always set until I interviewed him, but now I finally understand how he and his family made their way to a successful time in America.
"Bruins vs Oakland game 1969-70. YouTube.com. 12 March 2008. werqa123. 07 Jan 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUNn7ZUFw1I.
Chaikin, Andrew. "Moon Landing Anniversary Renews Debate on Spaceflight." PBS.org. PBS, 20 Jul 2009. Web. 8 May 2011. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec09/apollo_07-20.html.
Lopes, Ashley. "City man charged with Art's Bakery fire." Taunton Daily Gazette 08 OCT 2008: Web. 12 May 2011. http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1776786118/City-man-charged-with-Art-s-Bakery-fire.
"Shane (1953) - IMDB." The Internet Movie Database. The Internet Movie Database, n.d. Web. 12 May 2011. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046303.
Soares, Aurelia. (1973). Personal photograph. Taunton, MA.
Soares, Paul. Personal interview. 7 May 2011.
Soares, Paul. "Re: More questions I had..." Message to the author. 8 May 2011. E-mail.
United States Consular Affairs. Family Immigration. Bureau of Consular Affairs, Web. 8 May 2011. http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1310.html.
I am studying the 1960's because I wanted learn more about the feminists movements, civil rights movements, and other major events of that time period in order to help my readers understand how life could be different now if these events never occurred. My primary resource was an interview with a person who was my age during the 1960's my grandmother, Elaine Verge. I also did research of my own and even though it was helpful in
learning about the 60's my interview with her added a much more
personal touch to the information.
Photo of author’s grandmother taken in Cleveland, Ohio
December 2010. Source: Felicia Weaver.
Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights movement was a non-violent movement to fight for the equal rights of African American people, an influential leader in this movement was Martin Luther King Jr., who was an African American minister.
The civil rights movements were not something that happened over night. African American people, students
A photo of Civil Rights leaders and President Kennedy. Source: JFK Library
especially, fought for their rights through sit-in protests, following justlaws and ignoring unjust laws,and trying to get the people who were discriminating against them, white people, to look at the laws the same way (Auerbac 9). Martin Luther King Jr. was not the only leader in the civil rights movements; Malcolm X was also a well-known advocate for civil rights of African Americans.
However, t
he way that Malcolm went about getting the civil rights was much different than Martin Luther's approach; he did not stress non-violence (Godwin, Susan, and Becky Bradley "American Cultural History"). Instead, Malcolm X is known for the "Any mean necessary approach (Auerbac 9)” When the civil rights movements are discussed the integration of schools is discussed, the freedom riders, and the march in Washington D.C. (JFK Library "Civil Rights Movement"). However, I intended to find out how the civil rights movements were affecting areas around here, "The civil rights were very important, I had a friend who was African American that fact that I lost her friendship was very upsetting to me, and I never knew exactly what happened but her and her family just left one day (Verge)." To this day my grandmother still agrees that the civil rights were a very important movement and she still wonders what happened to her friend. Imagine where we as a nation would be today if we had not had people standing up for the rights of African Americans in the 60's. Would we still be living segregated, would we still have people accepting this behavior, and who would we have running our nation?
Feminist Movement
There was a feminist m
ovement in the 1920's that many people know about, at that ti
me women wanted the right to vote. However, the 1920’s were not the only time women were fighting for their rights. Women once again fought for their rights throughout the 1960's. However, the things they were fighting for this time around were different, "women came to want more from men,marriage, education, and themselves" (MacLean 19). The feminist movement was not just for educational and personal reasons it was also a move
for political and sexual freedom in women, there were movements for pro choice when it came to abortion and also
birth control pills were becoming more widely available(Goodwin "et al."). Politically there were organizations formed to exploit the unequally treatment and fight for a change.Through my research I found out that Kennedy was involved a lot in the feminist movement, I was curious this was a well known
fact to women at the time. The response that I received was very surprising, "I remember
A photo of women protesting. Source:MacLean
hearing the presidents commission on the status of women briefly but that was about it (Verge)." The president was not the only person whom was an influence in the movement for womens rights, Julia Child's, Betty Friedan, and Katharine Graham were leading by example and having exciting influential careers. My Grandmother said that she was glad that they were doing great things b
ut it did not have a effect on her personal career. Even though this part of the movement did not affect my grandmother it certainly affected many women. During this time period things such as the end of pregnancy discrimination, the end of sexual harassment, and the beginning of more job opportunities began (Goodwin "et al.").
Even today we still hear stories about women being in abusive relationships, feeling
unappreciated at their jobs, and feeling like they are always the ones needing to take care of the children. There have already been two feminist movements and these things are still happening, would things be even worse than they are now? Are woman going to get fed up once again and start up yet another feminist movement?
Kennedy Assassination
John F. Kennedy was the presidents of the United States of America, he was elected in 1961. Kennedy did not have a very long presidency because of his assassination in November of 1963 (Sheatsley and Feldman 189). As anyone would image this event had a large impact on people, "Kennedy's assassination was very traumatic (verge)." This happened forty-eight years ago and it still resonates with those whom where alive as if it were just
A photo of John F. Kennedy from an old Saturday Evening Post. Source: Whal
en
yesterday, "I will never forget that day, it was announced at school over the intercom. The upset emotional reaction of all the students led to the immediate dismissal of school, everyone gathered outside sitting, standing, hugging and crying. We were devastated and lost (Verge)."
This perspective she shared with me was certainly an opinion that was shared by many of Americans. In fact, after the Kennedy's assassination there was a nationwide survey done just to see how people were grieving and reacting. The results showed that over half of the people did not continue their normal activities after hearing the news, those who did continue their normal activities said it was hard, the initial reaction was mixed however some people wanted to be with others, while other people wanted to be by themselves, and other such emotions as these (Sheatsley and Feldman 192-194). There were a lot of strong emotions about the death of Kennedy, "I knew it was a great loss of a great man and the world would be different if he lived and continued as our president (Verge)." No one can ever really no for sure whether or not our world would really be different but he certainly did great things in the short time he was our president.
Daily Life (Marriage, Career, Children)
Life in the 1960's is not like life is now a days, "People today cannot understand what it was like by then because we are always relying on computers, live in bigger cities, and have easier access to transportation. It's also hard for you to understand things like the civil rights movement because people are now more culturally accepting. Also, your parents and teachers are not as strict (Verge)." Another thing that was mention during our interview was that they did not have to worry as much about crime, so can we fully understand the 1960's probably not but asking
those who were there and doing research certainly will help us understand more and see how different our lives would be if all these events never occurred.
The life of my grandmother was a little different from other people in the 1960's while women were fighting for the right of education, respect in the career world, and trying to become equal to men my grandmother dropped out of high school and got married young. I admire her choice to not follow the crowd and do what she felt was right and I wanted to know if she felt the same way, her reply was " I don't regret my choice I had a serious problem with school. There were two levels of classes, business and college. My Junior year i took college level classes and half way through my year my guidance counselor told me I would not get into college due to my average grades. So my senior year college was out so the college courses I had taken were useless and taking business courses for one year would leave me with nothing so I quit as soon as I turned 18 (Verge)." After hearing this I was curious if these types of things happen to other women because they were still fighting for the right of higher education but it was hard to find. After leaving school my grandmother's life went down the path of marriage and children, something she was very happy about but also something she certainly had to fight for.
Marriage
She had to fight for her marriage for many reasons, "In those days it was considered a sin for catholics, which your grandfather was, to attend a protestant church so his mom was upset that I was not catholic (Verge)." However, my great grandmother was not the only person standing in their way, "His faith required him to be married in the catholic church and I loved him so we went to the church to meet the priest. The priest said that
Raymond (my grandfather) would be excommunicated and could no longer
A photo of authors grandmother and grandfather circa 1967. Source: Elaine Verge
participate in church activities unless I became catholic and our children were raised catholic. I did not agree with that, I believed my children should have the right to choose so we got married by a family friend, who was a priest(Verge)." The wedding that they had was very small because there were so many people that were against it and sure it would fail, "My parents also did not
want us to get married because in the 60s it was expected that you waited until you were at
least 21 to get married (Verge)." My research had showed that it was hard for couples of different religion to get married and that inf act, many women were waiting to get married, most women even until after they were 21 years of age. During the 1960s interracial couples were also prohibited to get married (Robinson).
Career
In the 1960's Lyndon B. Johnson was in his opinion, fighting the "War on Poverty (Digital History). During the 1960's, like today, people were struggling with income, housing, employment and health (Digital History).It was not any easier to find a job in the 1960's, " I lucked out because my first job, which was a soda shop I guess you could compare it to todays
A photo of the place my grandmother worked at circa 1965 Source: Elaine Verge.
Friendly's, I was friends with the owners and they asked my sister if they wanted the job she didn't
so I asked if I could have the job, he interviewed me then I got hired. Then later I got my second job because I had such great reputation from this job (Verge)." Could today's job situation be any different if we had recognized that they went through the same thing in the 60s, could we have seen
their solution and just avoided it all together. This is yet another situation that shows we should learn more about our past because it certainly effects our future.
Pictures of the 1960's
The first T.V. my grandmother had in her house. Source:Elaine Verge
A photo of one of my grandfathers holding my uncle. Source:Elaine Verge
Works Cited
Auerbach, Jerold S. "MEANS AND ENDS IN THE 1960s." Society 42.6 (2005): 9-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 8 May 2011.
Goodwin, Susan and Becky Bradley. "1960-1969." American Cultural History. Lone Star College-Kingwood Library, 1999. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.
Civil Rights Movement - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum.John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. Web. 16 May 2011. .
MacLean, Nancy. "Gender is Powerful: The Long Reach of Feminism." OAH Magazine of History20.5 (2006): 19-23. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 8 May 2011.
Sheatsley, Paul B., and Jacob J. Feldman. "THAT ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY: A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PUBLIC REACTIONS AND BEHAVIOR." Public Opinion Quarterly 28.2 (1964): 189-215. America: History & Life. EBSCO. Web. 16 May 2011.
Verge, Elaine. Personal interview. 6 May 2011.
Whalen, Richard J. "THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION." Saturday Evening Post 240.1 (1967): 19-69.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 May 2011.
Photo of author's mother(right) and her sister(left). Source: Boice, Pamela.
come. One of Pamela’s favorite moments was when they had a bonfire. It took place outside on school grounds in a big open field in the evening. The students were outside around the pile of wood and it was lit by a teacher and of course the fire engine was there as a precaution. The students would be singing and the cheerleaders cheering, it really got the school spirit going. However, there was also a lot of drinking going on at these events and Pamela commented, ‘Too bad they did away with those events. A few people ruined it for everyone”(Boice, Personal).
r Part II, The Towering Inferno, Grease and Jaws. Several of Pamela's friends, and her boyfriend Jims friends had cottages by the beach. As often as they could they would take day or weekend trips there to hang out and party. While in college Pamela continued to date Jim Boice. She visited Jim a few times at college. While visiting they would attend hockey games. Pamela did not like hockey very much, but would go just to spend time with Jim. She recalled that they were “Loud, rowdy, and cold”(Boice, Personal). 
Career
