1960's generation - Research Paper Example

?Annotated Bibliography Bawer, Bruce. "The Other Sixties." Wilson Quarterly 28.2 (2004 64-84. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. Traces the history of the U.S. during the early 1960s period. Proliferation of the word new in periodicals; Key to the appeal of the period; Examples of its cultural figures; Range of influences in American popular culture during the period; Changes in the American diet; Status of the civil rights movement and even technological advancements. Berezin Mabel. Politics and Culture: A Less Fissured Terrain. Annual Review of Sociology. 23, 2004. 361-383. Print. Berezin talks about the area of politics and culture in the sixties, which has moved from the margins of the inquiry of culture to the center of focus. It also highlights various events that took place during this era, which have had an effect on or contributed to cultural and political aspects going on today. Klatch, Rebecca E. A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right and the 1960s. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Print. Klatch talks about the divided United States, in that there were two organizations that brought forth a new generation of people who had a great impact on the political scene during the 1960s and highlighted issues like gender, civil rights, reform of the welfare, racial discrimination, anticommunism and free enterprise. Each of the groups educated mostly the youths and empowered them to create social change. Knadler, Stephen P. " African-American Culture And The American Sixties." American Literature 76.1 (2004): 191-194. America: History & Life. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. The Journal talks about the way of life of the African Americans in the sixties generation. It highlights their plights, the civil rights movements, boycotts, culture and other social structures. Kutulas, Judy. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be": Baby Boomers, 1960S Singer-Songwriters, Movies And Romantic Relationships." Journal Of American History 97.3 (2010): 682-702. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. This article evaluates the social impact that the sixties generation has had on the attitudes of Americans towards life, love, relationships, family, literature, fashion and trends. Miller, Timothy. The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press, 2007. Print. Timothy talks about the literary movement of the sixties, who were termed as the Beat generation and how they responded to conformist materialism, issues on gender, racism and other cultural and social aspects during that period. It also notes how this generation has had an impact on the future generations of America. Riches, Williams T. M. The Civil Rights Movement: Struggle and Resistance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print. Riches talks about the many civil movements that occurred during this period and how the whites were forced to give the African Americans their freedoms and rights. It also talks about how major leaders were born, the transition of political power, assassinations and other major events. Ross, Dorothy. "American Modernities, Past And Present." American Historical Review 116.3 (2011): 702. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. It examines the concept of modernity is presented in America, with major focus in the sixties. It examines the process of modernization in the United States, suggesting that the U.S. was the first of the multiple modernities to exist. It argues that different historical contexts produce different forms of modernity based on a variety of characteristics specific to that location. (Name) (Instructors’ name) (Course) (Date) The Sixties Generation The 1960’s is a decade that had a profound impact on all human kind for generations to come. It gave rise to some of the most astounding and memorable events. The 1960s not only had the historical significance by assuring equality amongst individuals, it as well changed how we perceive some of life's events, which would be unheard of in the 1950’s. This is the generation that gave birth to political legends, music legends, art and not to mention fashion icons. As a brilliant philosopher once said, we all learn from our mistakes. A lot of these mistakes were made during the 1960s and from them; we learned to become the great united nation that we are nowadays. This paper will expound on how the 1960 has had immense significance on our historical and political aspects with reference to the United States. As John F. Kennedy stated that a man may pass on countries may rise or decline, but ideas stay on, so does the generation of the sixties tries to prove that no matter the hardships, it will still live on and have an effect the future. African American Rights In 1960, the Civil rights movement was the greatest and the most historically significant movement that has been thus far. Almost all African Americans had been slaves in the 1950s, but this had changed in the late 1950s, and early 1960 when African Americans were set free from slavery. According to Stephen Knadler in The African American culture and the Sixties (18), African Americans continued to fight in both World War 1 and World War 2. African Americans willingly defended a country where they had been enslaved, tortured, ignored and still dis-respected. They fought because they believed and dreamed in their new found country, but not because, they wanted. They believed that one day whites and blacks would become equals. This act was sparked by the words of Martin Luther King at the march in St.Louis, 19644, when he said that people should learn to live as one, as a family or die as foolish people (Knadler 19). According to historic documents from Williams Riches in The Civil Rights Movement (25), three acts had led to the Civil Right Act being implemented. In 1954, in the Brown Vs. Board of Education, the blacks had won the case declaring that separate educational facilities was racist and should not be implemented. The next case had been of Rosa Parks in 1955 when she had been forcefully arrested for being on the white section of the bus and not moving to the ‘Black’ (or as they were termed then negro) side of the bus. The third incident had involved a Marquette Frye, his brother Ronald and their mother. Marquette had been pulled over for suspected driving while drunk. The officer questioned him, and when their mother showed up, a struggle broke, and all 3 members of the Frye family were arrested. This incident had resulted in more than 34 people dead, one thousand wounded and an estimated $50- $100 million costs in damages (Riches 44). It was then reported after these incidents, "Martin Luther King has organized the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)” (Newton) and in the five years that followed later on, he ended up accomplishing a terrific deal throughout the United States of America in the form of riots, protests and boycotts (Riches 52). At the beginning of the decade, Sam Smith was the only African American elected official in the states. By 1970, he was the Seattle City council. Another African American, Arthur Fletcher emerged in 1968 running for Lieutenant governor of the state but sadly lost by just 1percent of the vote. After the Civil Right Movement, more young blacks graduated from state colleges and universities and had the opportunity to work with the government and the corporate sectors. For the first time, Washington developed a black middle class (52). A more vaguely discussed right that African Americans gained from the Watts Rights in 1965 was that African Americans seized to being termed as Negros and ‘Blacks’ became the socially acceptable term. ‘Black’ later on went to ‘African American’ as they are known today. These events sparked a series of events in the future, such that even today, blacks are not as free as they would wish to be, therefore, they are motivated by this generation to continue fighting for their rights. Even with Barrack Obama as president, the African Americans still go through discrimination and cannot exercise their freedoms and rights to the maximum. Education With the ongoing protests and riots in the streets of USA, Campuses became the centers for debates and, unfortunately, scenes of protests. This is from Rebecca Klatch in a Generation Divided (22). She states that during these times, blacks were not allowed to mingle with the whites (Klatch 24). African Americans having their own separate classrooms, or even their own separate queues in the cafeteria were nothing that were frowned upon. The act addressing the imbalance of race emerged from a report filed in April 1965 (Riches 56). This was tabled by a committee that had been appointed by (CoE) Commissioner of Education and (SBE) the State Board of Education. Their aim was to revise the racial discrimination in public schools (Klatch 28). The final report stated that imbalance of race was harmful to the education system and needed to be eradicated. The statute, however, did not touch on the issue of imbalance of race in the administrative and faculty of these schools. The first woman to be allowed to teach while pregnant was from Clear Creek School district in 1968. Some schools even today, especially private schools, still discriminate against black students, however, the number of black children and school staff has tremendously grown, thanks to the act that was revised and passed. Technology The Two world wars not only had a positive impact on Right Activists but the World wars vastly enhanced the technological aspects. Mabel Berezin in Politics and Culture (362) Advanced technology was being used in the creation of weapons. This is evidence from what Gen. Henry Arnold stated that the following war would commence with missiles attacking the capital city of the country, and not action of the navy or aircrafts carrying soldiers (Berezin 365). After the World War 2, the United States and the Soviet Union started building long-range weapons targeting their enemies that could be flown along the globe. This from Bruce Bawer in The Other Sixties (66) He claimed that this started a period of turbulent change and icons of rebellion still visible today. There is a new style of warfare that has since then been modified to suit modern technology. With technology advancing at an increasing rate, United States of America did not stop there. Alan Shepard, an American man, set a historically monumental moment by being the first man ever to travel through space (68). The Space Race had being introduced by the Soviets in the 1957. By 1963, John Glenn was and will always be the first man to orbit the face of the earth. For this reason, the then president, John F. Kennedy stated that America should commit itself to going to greater lengths in the technological sector, and these endeavors would neither be impossible or expensive to achieve (70). Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Apollo XI were the first of mankind ever to set foot on the face of the moon. This opened up the urgency for investing in technology, and it is evident today, from all the technologies that emerge from the country. Music Timothy Miller in the 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (122), states that the roots of Rock and Roll can be traced back to the 1960. Legends such as Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin amongst others were the kings of Rock n Roll. By the early 1960’s, the rockabilly stars of the previous decade had to give way to young and the substantial rise in demand for Pop music. It is said that many Rock n Roll singers leaned towards drugs as lesser, and lesser songs from their albums were being played on the radio (Miller 128). For this reason, more bands were being turned down by music producers, because they were not pleased with how they sounded. This was a sentiment by Decca, after he turned down the Beatles. Robert Moog and Donald Buchla were and still are true 1960 music producer’s icon as they marked a significant change in the music industry. They developed the Modular Synthesizer which gave birth to Electro- Acoustic music ( Bawer 72). This genre had a positive impact on the music industry. As the decade came to an end, the pop genre had also incorporated other electronic devices and synthesizers, derived from the technology had considerably inspired the nation. This technology is still being used today even though various advancements have been made to them. Most musicians get inspiration from this decade, as it was when, they could freely express themselves. Media According to Judy Kutulas in That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should be (683), with music on the rise, the production of Broadway expenses heightened, producers turned to musicals. The 1960’s was an exceptional year for musicals (Kutulas 684). Most musicals were eventually turned to movies, and this gave rise to iconic stars such Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. The rapid rise for demand of musicals created a wide opening for movies. Hunger from movie fans demanded for the producers to be more creative than before. Laws on sex, prohibited language, and violence were implemented. Amongst others, the worldly known James Bond movies were introduced (Bawer 73). Radio, however, was not left behind. The most drastic change was from analogue modulation (AM) to frequency modulation (FM) radio (Bawer 73). This allowed youths from the whole nation to watch their favorite songs and get to know how to dance. In 1961, the twist was introduced. Every young adult had mastered the dance steps to the song. Rapidly, more music with new dance styles was introduced and finally, the youths started mixing the dance moves. A monumental mistake allowing the introduction of dance moves to the oncoming generation’s without realization. In the late 1950s, television introduced cartoons which could appeal to children, young adults and adults themselves. These, however, became paramount hits in the early 1960s. The Flintstones, the Jetsons and Alvin & the Chipmunks were among some of the shows that seeped their way through generations to come (Miller 112). Sports. As John Wooden would put it, sports do not create character it unveils it. With all the commotions, protests and boycotts going on, individuals seemed to turn to sports for relief. During the 1960, aspiring icons like ‘Mohammed Ali- Light Heavy Weight champion, David Jenkins-Figure Skating’ amongst others were the outstanding athletes (Kutulas 687). Sports gave the nation something that unified them as one and gave our generation a challenge. United States went ahead to win the women’s 400M relay, the men’s basketball and the world records for 100m, Olympic records for 200m,10,000m, shot put, and discus throw. Fashion. This was the ideal time to be youthful, as the sixties did not end until the year 1976. People believed in falling in love but war and were idealistic innocents. These were sentiments from Margot Kidder ( Kutulas 689). This era started with big hairstyles for women and crew cuts for men ( Kutulas 689). With the introduction, of television shows, most women and men became aware of the trends in fashion. By late 1960s, women had evolved from Granny Dresses to Mini-skirts, from bouffant hairstyles to long, flowing hair or neatly short cut hair; men had evolved from short hair to long hair, from ordinary, dull clothes to bright colors, double-breasted sports jackets and turtle necks ( Miller 115). African Americans wore their hair in Afro’s for both men and women. Most of these trends gave way to new trends in the coming generation, but as of now, fashion is evolving backwards, with major references to this era. The New York fashion week in 2011, highlighted some of ideas borrowed from this era and could be seen in the collection of Marc Jacobs and others. Trends. The baby boom of after the second world war resulted to an estimate of 76 million baby boomers in 1960 and thus the youth dominated the culture. It is said that, by 1963, the California surfers had taken on Skateboarding as a fitness measure and by summer had spread across the country (Berezin 384). Mattel-1959 had introduced the Barbie Dolls and with the increased demand from the increasing toddlers had become a key success that his competitor Hasbro came up with a 12inch tall and the first ever action figure for boys G.I. Joe. The Barbie doll and G.I franchise are now a multi million franchise, given that it was being passed down from generation to generation, hence their success. Literature. The use of literature was one of the many ways to express the political events and social issues of the country. Literature soon became a way for the nation to voice out their opinions on matters they would have considered controversial. Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, and Margaret Walker Alexander were among some of the women of color who helped give more insight about race and feminism as it was unfolding in the United States (Kutlas 670). Some white women like Sylvia Plath and Mary McCarthy voiced out their opinions about how it was to be in an unhappy marriage and how difficult it had been to be a mother in the fifties (Kutulas 670). Many started to input illustrations in the books. One man named Sendak went ahead to win the Caldecott Medal in 1964 with his illustrated books and later became a classic in children’s literature. Marshall McLuhan believed that mass communication was a key issue that required lots of consideration in the development of modern society (Miller 122). Art The nation was fixated on just how far they had come and how far ahead they could go. Artists stopped focusing on details and started focusing on what a painting can mean. How different people can view the same painting and have different opinions about it. Their main focus became interpretation. This is according to Dorothy Ross in the American Modernities, Past and Present (702). Their aim was to inspire the observer, to get out of their shell and understand the work deeply and in their own way. Works from Alexander Calder and Helen Frankenthaler were the main attraction. Other forms evolving during this time were environmental art, pop art, assemblage art, op art (or optical art) and kinetic abstraction (Ross 702). Architecture With the whole nation craving to be more modernized, architecture became a contest of who could outdo whom in building a structure with the most modern and more contemporary look. Architectures concentrated more on the events that would be taking place in the buildings and designed them to their purpose. In 1966,, Robert Venturi claimed that there should be a change in the simplicity of modernism, which started a protest later in the decade (Ross 702). Skyscrapers had dominated the United States skylines. These tall buildings were constructed for office space and one to identify the business cities easily. Architecture Philip Johnson and John Burgee were some of the first architectures to design skyscrapers for larger cities. Designers like Herman Miller left their trademarks in furnishing.1960 Architecture gave rise to architecture’s trying to come up with never seen before building marks and I believe the saying the sky is the limit (Ross 702). While the technology advancements that had being enforced were mainly for the introductions for better equipped warheads, it had led to some of the groundbreaking architectural diversification. Man is evaluated in terms of where he stands in periods of controversy and challenges but, not in times of convenience and comfort. This words by Martin Luther King could be used to evaluate this generation during its hard and happy times. Many legends and icons were created due to the drastic changes that 1960 brought on with it. Choices that the prominent leaders gave lives for, to believe that political heads were assassinated for concluded to1960 having a significant impact in all aspects of life as we now know it globally (Riches 176). Space race emerged from the cold war between the Soviet Union and America, whereby at the end, they agreed to join hands and venture into other opportunities together. What had started as a contest due to enmity, became a partnership. 1960 was not a significant mile stone for just the United States of America; a lot of positive and tremendous historical and political moments were undergone globally. Kenya gained its independence the same year as the rally for Chicago seven trial took place. History is something that is made daily but for it have a significant meaning, it has to be great, it has to have an impact (Riches 172). In 1964, the Act of Civil Rights was revised to include the issue of gender, abortion was legalized in Colorado in 1967, and birth control pills became widely available. Icon Marilyn Monroe died in the same decade, but with her, a talented actress was born, Audrey Hepburn, the winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird that is read as a literature cover worldwide was published and the first successful, artificial heart implant was made (Kutulas 674). Great leaders were made and broken in the United States. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, his brother who was vying for the same seat was also murdered, there was the assassination of Malcom X in 1965 and Martin Luther King in 1968. Starting from the equality of all mankind, to renowned singers and actresses being born, to the evolution of technology as we know it today, 1960 has led to significant changes in each and every person worldwide . The 1960 decade has seeped its way into every historic literature there is out there. Every African child studies about how Martin Luther King fought for us, to how United States landed the first man on the moon. These monumental and radically defining moments are something that children and adults from generations to come will learn about and will always be grateful for. History is an aspect of what we are and where we emerged. To ignore it, would be like ignoring yourself as a human. There is a lot to be learned learn from the 1960. From the civil rights movement, to women’s rights, to the assassination of the United States president, to the introduction of dance music and many other significant topics, the 1960 decade will not be forgotten soon. Works Cited Berezin Mabel. Politics and Culture: A Less Fissured Terrain. Annual Review of Sociology. 23, 2004. Print. Bawer, Bruce. "The Other Sixties." Wilson Quarterly 28.2 (2004): 64-84. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. Klatch, Rebecca E. A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right and the 1960s. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Print. Knadler, Stephen P. " African-American Culture And The American Sixties." American Literature 76.1 (2004): 191-194. America: History & Life. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. Kutulas, Judy. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be": Baby Boomers, 1960S Singer-Songwriters, Movies And Romantic Relationships." Journal Of American History 97.3 (2010): 682-702. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. Miller, Timothy. The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press, 2007. Print. Riches, Williams T. M. The Civil Rights Movement: Struggle and Resistance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print. Ross, Dorothy. "American Modernities, Past And Present." American Historical Review 116.3 (2011): 702. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. Read More