Movements, Movements, Movements: It's Time to Make A Change

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 just laws 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.

B.A. Robinson. ReligiousTolerance.org. n.p. 7 may 2008. web. 12 may 2011<http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_mar3.htm>

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.