Category: Civil rights

Still I Rise was written by Maya Angelou, an American civil rights activist in 1978. The poem communicates the extent of the oppression that black women face in America and is a critique of American society’s treatment of African Americans. Similarly, A Story Of An Hour was published by Kate Chopin in 1894 and also expresses the repression that women face, however, it explores the protagonist, Louise Mallards, new freedom after learning of her husband’s apparent death.

Throughout the poem ‘Still, I Rise’, Angelou uses countless metaphors to describe the violent and oppressive nature of her oppressors, potentially making her a microcosm of the brutality and suffering that countless other black communities have also faced. She describes the continual repressive acts she has had to endure and confronts her oppressor referring to her with the pronoun ‘you’, the direct address making it more personal and familiar. The narrator could also be referring to the audience, accusing them of allowing black communities to be maltreated and therefore making them feel guilty and advocating for change to the treatment of African Americans. Angelou describes her oppressor as full of ‘bitter, twisted lies’ the assonance of the vowel ‘i’ being repeated which makes an emphasis on the verb ‘lies’ making it resonate with the reader. Furthermore, using the anaphora of ‘you may’ accentuates the repetitive nature of her persecutor trying to ‘shoot’, ‘cut’, or even ‘kill’ her with their hatefulness, again showing the audience the violent acts that she has had to experience. This could also be alluring to the violence that passive civil rights movements have faced throughout history. Despite all of the animosity and prejudice, Angelou remains defiant and continues to become successful, ‘ris[ing]’ above the hostility and bitterness.

In A Story Of An Hour, the protagonist Louise Mallard has been afflicted with heart disease in both a mental and physical sense. She is physically disabled due to it, which could emphasize how women were perceived as weak, however, her frailty also seems to be a result of the physiological repression and emotional suffering she has faced due to the nature of her marriage rather than a medical condition. This is exemplified by the metaphor and personification in the final line, stating that she died from ‘a joy that kills’, showing that Louise’s heart condition is a metaphor for her frail emotional state rather than a physical condition. Furthermore, when we are introduced to her, she is introduced to the audience as ‘Mrs. Mallard, reflecting her status as a wife which surpassed anything else about her. After her epiphany from the realization that she is now free from the obligation of being married, the audience is introduced to her as Louise. This reiterates the idea that she was being reborn due to her husband’s death, which is ironic, and that she is no longer a submissive wife who has to acquiesce to the ‘powerful will’ of her husband but she is now an independent woman.

The semantic field of nature throughout the poem, Still I Rise, creates a powerful atmosphere, and presents Angelou as an unassailable woman, a force of nature. Angelou describes herself as a ‘black ocean’, the adjective ‘black’ denotes her race and the symbolism attached to the ocean has connotations of power, which is reiterated through the defiant and authoritative tone. This is admirable to contemporary audiences as she is breaking down the traditional perceptions of women being feeble, just like Louise Mallard in A Story Of An Hour. Furthermore, by being illustrated as an unassailable woman, Angelou creates a sense of irony because her oppressors, who have ‘trod[den’ her in the ‘dirt’ and attempted to prevent her from moving forward have strengthened her defiant nature and encouraged her to ‘rise’ up again. The repetitive refrain ‘still I rise’ shows her continued resistance against her persecutors, this resonates with the reader and encourages them to be resilient even when facing maltreatment and injustice.

Most people nowadays do not listen to old Jazz, but back in the 1920’s it was incredibly popular it was the bee’s knees. After World War 1 it was hard for many people, but jazz was a bright light for many. Today there are so many different music genres, but in the Roaring Twenties, there was only one mainstream genre; Jazz. Jazz helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement and end segregation. It helped the world change for the better.

Jazz roots can be traced back to Africa but it officially started in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. (“What Is Jazz?”). Jazz represents individuals’ freedoms. Jazz music had a lot to do with fueling the civil rights movement. Jazz artists had the creative liberty to improvise. Despite jazz originating in New Orleans, it quickly spread to the rest of the United States. “The music, which appealed to whites and blacks alike, provided a culture in which the collective and the individual were inextricable. It was a space where a person was judged by their ability alone, and not by race or any other irrelevant factors.” (“How Jazzed Helped Fuel the Civil Rights Movement,” Verity, Micheal). Jazz was used as a voice for people suffering.

Jazz came to represent the Civil Rights Movement. “Jazz,” Stanley Crouch writes, “predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America.” Not only did Jazz help, but popular 1920s Jazz musicians also helped the cause themselves. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and so many more artists helped promote the Civil Rights Movement through their music.

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, the heart of jazz music. Growing up he only had a fifth-grade education. In the 1914s Armstrong decided he wanted to become a professional musician (“Biography”).

Works Cited

1. “Biography.” Louis Armstrong Home Museum, www.louisarmstronghouse.org/biography/.
2. History.com Editors. “Civil Rights Movement.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement.
3. “The Official Billie Holiday Website.” The Official Website of Billie Holiday is billieholiday.com/.
4. “The Official Licensing Website of Benny Goodman.” Benny Goodman, www.bennygoodman.com/.
5. Verity, Michael. “How Jazz Helped Fuel the Civil Rights Movement.” LiveAbout, LiveAbout, 15 July 2018, www.liveabout.com/jazz-and-the-civil-rights-movement-2039542.
6. “What Is Jazz?” Jazz in America, www.jazzinamerica.org/LessonPlan/5/1/249.
7. “What Is Jazz?” National Museum of American History, 9 Feb. 2016, americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz/education/what-jazz.
8. The Jazz Age: the 20s. Time-Life Books, 2000.

There is no denying Rock n Roll had some major impacts on Australian culture and society, without it society would not be the same today. Rock n Roll was first introduced into Australian society after World War II. Many soldiers had come across African American music during the war and brought it back to Australia. Rock’ n Roll is defined as a type of dance music originating in the 1950s, characterized by a heavy beat and simple melodies. A blend of black rhythm and blues with white country music. Rock n Roll engendered several significant changes in Australian culture and society.

With WWII ending and ending the great depression with it, an economic boom fast arising, mainly from the increase in European immigrants arriving in Australia. Middle-class families now had disposable income and more leisure time. Before and during WWII, the majority of teenagers were either working to support their family, studying, soldiers at war, or married and raising a family. The end of WWII signified a change in family values and roles. Parents tended to wait longer before married their daughters and the mean years of schooling were slowly increasing. This created an increase in leisure for young people, creating a new demographic, teenagers. Companies quickly took advantage of this and by the end of the 1950s, $10 billion were being spent on developing products aimed at teenagers. Producers quickly took advantage of this, creating music aimed at young people. Rock and Roll soon became known as young people’s music.

Rock n Roll became an important part of popular culture in the 1950s and 60s. The lyrics of the songs were relatable to teens, talking about love, parties, rebelling, etc. This created mass concern from parents. Soon Rock n Roll was banned from households, and the government and media set out on a war against it. Many people said it was the music of the devil. Parents were concerned with the sexuality of the songs and thought that it would discourage abstinence and encourage juvenile delinquency. For example this newspaper article by the Sydney Morning Herald on March 4th, 1964, there is an entire column devoted to complaining about the Beatles, calling them a cult. “The Beatle ritual is only another example of teenage stupidity in the least fortunate of their generation. Those whose sloppy speech, sloppy hair, untidy dress and beards, and bad manners are such harm to the youth of our day in general.” This shows the attitude of many adults in the community, feeling that the youth of that time were reckless and only causing trouble and that it was Rock and Roll that was causing it.

This only made teenagers want to listen to it more. They wanted to rebel and create their image. Previously parents had dressed their kids in the same way as they dressed. Boys wore collared shirts and ties, while girls wore long dresses with their hair done in curls. The economic boom in the 1950s gave young people much more economic power than the youth before them. This desire for a new image created new fashion. As young people idolized Rock n Roll stars, their fashion, and hair began to reflect that. For example, the famous mop fringes. The Beatles had one, so it became the fashion for young men to grow out their hair into this long fringe. Another icon to impact Australian fashion was Elvis Presley. Not only did his dance moves become the latest fashion, but so did his hair and clothes, young boys began to imitate his slicked-back hair and flashy colored shirts. While rock ‘n Roll was impacting fashion, it was also impacting the ideology of young people.

Rock’ n’ Roll used lyrics that were relatable to teens, but also considered scandalous by adults. The ideas coming through Rock and Roll spread into most aspects of life. Common lyrical themes include love, sex, drugs, and wild parties. Even though it was often subconscious, Rock and Roll were helping break the taboo around these topics. Around the time of Rock n Roll, the sexual revolution was fast developing. With the invention of birth control in May 1960 in the US, it was available in Australia just nine months later. Rock’ n Roll helped lead to the sexual revolution and further on the hippie movement by normalizing these topics, which had previously been thought of as vulgar to even mention.

Rock’ n’ Roll also subconsciously affected the civil rights movement in Australia. While it mainly affected the civil rights movement in America, it also greatly affected the movement in Australia. Previously black artists’ records would be sold in different stores to white artists’ ones, blues was seen as a predominantly black style of music. Rock’ n’ Roll was helping blur the color line by mixing previously thought African American blues and jazz music with white country music. Even the phrase “Rock ‘n Roll” was a step towards equality, as it was the first type of music to be used to describe both black and white music. It was first used by Alan Freed, a disc jockey, in Ohio, as he introduced the Rock and Roll session, used to describe a mix of blues and country music he made. As well as forcing people to think about racism, it also forced racist companies to sell black records as they were so profitable and popular. While this change was more evident in America, it still greatly impacted Australian society and challenged racial ideas.

Rock n Roll has greatly impacted Australian society and culture, not just in the 1950s and 60s but also today. It forced Australians to rethink many social normalities and boundaries, creating a more thoughtful and open country,

Source 6 is a portrait from 1957 of the Little Rock pupils being accompanied into the school building by armed military personnel. During this period, the Supreme Court held that the segregation of school legislatures was unconstitutional. Above all it was one of the early significant events of the time, this portrait may indeed be seen as an effective factor during the civil rights era. Moreover, this source shows the enrollment of nine black students to the all-white Little Rock High School. Notably, although there was a change in the law this did not shift the racial views prevalent in many American institutions and remained unchanged throughout the 1950s which caused some minor problems.

Additionally, this Portrait also highlights on the first day of school, Governor Orval Faubus sent guards to prevent the nine students from entering their classrooms which gained a lot of media attention, initially, this led Eisenhower to take over the situation and eventually, he intervened and sent troops to little rock 9 to support the black students to provide them with the equal opportunity of education as the white American pupils, also remained with them until they graduated. Although forced there was an awareness through the refusal of the governor and the worldwide media watching the event which did lead to many schools becoming desegregated over 20 years.

Likewise, this source would be valuable to a historian as it conveys how Eisenhower would have changed some public attitudes during this period. However, some limitations of this source are caused due to Eisenhower’s actions in the case as he did not move to stop troops in Little Rock 9 until it was necessary. From this, it highlights that President Eisenhower only wanted media coverage attention for his benefits to becoming a successful president in the civil rights movement as it seems he was only assisted more on his self-reputation. As a result, this source could be used by many historians such as traditionalists studying the history of the civil rights era, and from this, they would consider that without President Eisenhower and his aid of the troops that were sent to Little Rock 9, the students wouldn’t have been educated at the school and more schools after this case wouldn’t have become desegregated implying that without any key individuals in the civil rights movement, many progressions wouldn’t have took place as it did.

Besides, most importantly the influence of the Supreme Court and the law had given the right to equal education and without the succession of the Supreme Court, black students couldn’t have had the right to attend a school with white students which shows the crucial importance of all involvements in the civil rights movement. This portrait was a driving factor to the success of the civil rights movement, as it had gained an outpouring amount of support from the event.

Rousseau in his book The Contract Social argues that the individual finds his true being and freedom only in submission to the “general will” of the community. In this desired social contract, everyone will be free because they all forfeit the same number of rights and impose the same duties on all.

The fundamental purpose of the rule of law is to establish a socially acceptable and consistent bottom line of human behavior. It acts as a deterrent and a basis for criminal accountability and punishment, it lays out our civil rights and obligations, offers an equitable remedy for disputes, and installs social order and a sense of security.

The rule of law is necessary in society for the following main reasons:

• To avoid abuse of power by the authorities
• To defend the weakest groups from the more powerful
• To establish rules for all ways of interaction among the members of a community
• To avoid any person or any group claiming to be above the law
• To ensure the natural principles of equality, freedom, and fraternity

The best way to ensure the rule of law is through a democratic system where the citizen chooses their representatives to establish the rules of the community through the elaboration of a Constitution which includes the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee the rights to the people in it.

The most important principle to achieve the rule of law is the division of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. Where the Legislative makes the rules, the judiciary applies the rules and the Executive executes the rules. It is very difficult to achieve the rule of law without this basic principle.

Unfortunately, the concept rule of law isn’t or hasn’t been the same depending on the customs of each society or the historical context, we can enumerate many examples:

• In United States allowed slavery until its abolition in 1863 under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln
• Women earned the right to vote in Spain in 1933 as a result of legal changes made during the Second Spanish Republic
• The 14th Amendment, approved by Congress in 1866 and ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States,” including former slaves, and guaranteed “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens.
• Work-Life Balance and Child Labor In the 18th century, women had fewer rights, and most of their earnings by law had to be given to their fathers or husbands. Many factory owners preferred to hire women because they were cheaper employees. Children were a large part of the workforce during the 1700s as well.
• Unfortunately, the rule of law is different depending on the countries and the quality of its democracies and has been different

Those examples reflect the fact that the law is established by people, and obviously, they are influenced by the customs and beliefs of each specific time, therefore to we can never say that we have achieved the pure concept of the rule of the law; to get nearer that pure concept along the time, we will always special people with higher ethical and moral principles, at the same time with the necessary strength to fight for their Believes as the main character of the movie “To kill a Mockingbird” Atticus Finch.

Movies are not only entertainment, but also sometimes they are made with purpose, with a message to translate to society to push for changes that the participants in the movies, producers, directors, and actors… want to introduce based on their moral beliefs.

At the time of its release in 1962, won critical acclaim Gregory Peck won an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. Horton Foote who wrote the screenplay, also won an Oscar, The film was based on Harper’s Knee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Some film critics suggest that the movie was one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made… powerfully resonant, in present America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity, and loving responsible parenthood. Certainly, the film withstands the test of time, even in the twenty-first century.

In the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” the exponent of those beliefs is Atticus and his behavior

Atticus is a widower and a small-town Alabama lawyer practicing in the 1930s, that struggles to instill in his two children a sense of tolerance, integrity, and justice. Finch’s reputation as a highly moral lawyer stems from his representation of Tom Robison a black man accused of beating and raping a white woman.

Atticus by putting on an earnest defence in Tom Robinson’s case, was breaking the rules of his racially segregated society, He was a white man and a respected member of his community but he was courageous in the face of the community prejudice.

The film targeted a white audience at the dawn of the modern civil rights era. It conveys the message that moral and ethical lawyers follow the rule of law, even when they represent unpopular clients. This was an important message, especially for southern audiences. Massive resistance to desegregation was still the rule in most southern states. Thus, To Kill a Mockingbird was an appeal to decent, moral white Americans to accept racial integration.

They have been along the history of cinema many movies have tried to translate to society those ethical principles to show the importance of getting closer to the pure significance of the rule of law showing tremendous injustices to make people reflect on them, still today unfortunately the message has to be send:

• Hidden figures: How smart scientific women where not taken into account within a man’s scientific community because they were black and women.
• Green book: The relation between a rich and intelligent black man and an Italian medium-class mana

Nowadays unfortunately there are many cases in which we could say that there is no rule of law although we are talking about countries with a solid democracy, some examples would be as follows:

• The discrimination of homosexuals
• The way refugees are treated
• How migrants are treated
• Still we could say there is discrimination concerning women
• The discrimination by religion

We always need people like Atticus and the people involved in making the movie to push society in search of the fulfillment of the most important principles we mentioned at the beginning: Equability, Freedom, and Fraternity.

In 1865, the American Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery; however, they didn’t end discrimination against black Americans, thus leading to the Black Civil Rights Movement. In England, according to the PPT, the franchise had been extended from only rich men to almost all men from 1832 to 1884; therefore, women’s exclusion from the franchise seemed increasingly silly (Clohesy 2019). As a result, the Suffragist Movement began. These two movements are two significant movements for equal rights in human history. After comparing the Black Civil Rights Movement and the Suffragist Movement in terms of aim, method, leader, media, politician, and contemporary situation, generally we consider the Black Civil Rights Movement more effective.

First of all, the aim of the Suffragist Movement is more effective than the Black Civil Rights Movement. The Black Civil Rights Movement aims to gain equal rights as white people, while the Suffragist Movement asks for women’s equal rights represented by voting rights. Black people ask for a more general and abstract aim which seems to have no specific purpose. On the contrary, the Suffragist Movement demonstrates more clearly that voting is the first step to striving so that it can pave the path for them to fight for more rights, as Purvis argues, “their agitation was not just for the parliamentary vote but a Women’s Revolution that would transform gender roles in society and bring women equality” (Purvis 2013). Therefore, the Suffragist Movement works more effectively than the Black Civil Movement in deciding the aim.

Secondly, methods used by the violent and non-violent sides in the two movements are of different effectiveness. Both of these two movements used nonviolent methods at the beginning and then developed into violent methods. Similarly, they had two different sides in the two campaigns, and caused conflicts between the two sides. On behalf of the non-violent side of the Black Civil Rights Movement, King promoted delivering speeches and organizing the Montgomery bus boycott. As for the peaceful NUWSS, the leader Mrs. Millicent Fawcett admitted that the Suffragettes had done more during the last 12 months than the suffragists had been able to achieve in 12 years (1906). In terms of the violent side, Malcolm X chose to attack white Americans and only got support from 0.2% of the black population in the US in 1960. WSPU gained more public attention and assembled most of the females to participate in it. According to Goring, WSPU adopted a new way of three-color jewelry advertising, which evoked an immediate response (2002). Thus, the Black Civil Rights Movement is more effective on the non-violent side; the Suffragette movement is more influential on the violent side.

Thirdly, compared with the Suffragist Movement, the leader of the Black Civil Rights Movement was more effective. The most vocal leader of the Black Civil Rights Movement is Martin Luther King Jr. and the Suffragists Movement Emmeline Pankhurst. Martin Luther King Jr. is so influential that his speech “I Have a Dream” is regarded as one of the world’s most influential speeches, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. However, compared with Martin Luther King, Emmeline is not so impressive in history. Emmeline set up WSPU and organized militant movements, successfully arousing people’s attention, but she caused much annoyance and hatred for destroying public facilities. Even her daughter, Sylvia Pankhurst was also unsatisfactory with her mother, saying her mother was not concerned about her family and separated from WSPU, alleging with the present male government. (Purvis, 2013). As a result, as the leader of a campaign, King worked more successfully than Emmeline.

Fourthly, the media of the Black Civil Rights Movement is also more effective.TV was invented when the Black Civil Rights Movement happened, but the suffragists only had a newspaper to spread their ideas. Because of the different periods, the development of technology brought more ways to report and spread news in the Black Civil Rights Movement. Visual videos and images were able to portray more complete events, more appealing and impressive than newspapers. Instead, newspapers need to spend a relatively long time writing, editing, and printing out, so they cannot report the suffragists’ movement on time. Therefore, in terms of media, TV in the Black Civil Rights Movement is more effective.

Fifthly, the Black Civil Rights Movement works more effectively to get politician’s support. Although politicians were against Black at the very beginning, they supported the black people’s movement President Eisenhower sent federal troops to enable the 9 students to go to school against the governor in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, the Suffragist Movement had never won politician’s support. English politicians opposed suffragettes strongly through both public speeches and policies. For this aspect, the politicians of the Black Civil Rights Movement supported the blacks, but the English politicians only showed a negative attitude towards women activists.

Finally, the temporary situations and influences after these two movements differ in effectiveness. After about 150 years since the Black Civil Rights Movement and about 100 years since the Suffragists Movement, we can see that great progress has been made: the Black and the White now have legally the same rights; Barack Obama, a black senator, was elected president in 2008; women have voting rights as same as men. However, discrimination towards black people and women still exists, and the temporary situation is complicated. The Guardian illustrates that “In the US, black people are more likely to be arrested for drug offenses and have a higher chance of getting shot by the police than white or Hispanic people” (2019). At the workplace, it’s harder for women to get a promotion, especially at higher levels. So it’s hard to tell which one influences more effectively in the modern age.

In conclusion, the Black Civil Rights Movement is more effective in aspects of its leader, media, and politicians; the suffragist Movement chose a more effective aim. In general, the Black Civil Rights Movement is more effective than the Suffragist Movement. However, the contemporary situation and influence of the two movements are still complicated in modern times. All in all, although the two movements have both advantages and weaknesses in different aspects, they are still remarkable in history, which helps black people and women to fight for their rights. At the same time, for the racism and discrimination problems, we still have a long way to go.

Reference list

1. Fawcett M. (1906) in Anna’s resources
2. Goring E. (2002) The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850- the Present, No.26, Omnium Gatherum- A Collection of Papers (2002), pp. 84-99
3. Purvis J. (2013) Gendering the Historiography of the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Britain: some reflections, Women’s History Review, 22:4, 576-590, DOI: 10.1080/09612025.2012.751768
4. The Guardian (2019) Racism harms black people most. It’s time to recognise “anti-blackness” Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/09/black-people-racism-anti-blackness-discrimination-minorities (Accessed:1 February 2019)

Introduction

The 1960s in America were a turning point in world history. It’s marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, antiwar protests, and the “generation gap”. The sixties were also called “the swinging sixties” because of the emergence of a wide range of music such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon.

Kennedy vs. Nixon debates

In the early 1960s, there were a series of debates between John. F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. These were the first presidential debates that aired on TV and they attracted enormous publicity. Millions of Americans tuned in to watch and form an opinion about the candidates. Richard Nixon insisted on campaigning until just a few hours before the first debate which was on Monday, September 26th, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois. Unfortunately for him, he was very sick and was recovering from an illness. He looked very pale, tired, sweaty, and underweight. It was not a good look for him. In contrast, Kennedy was well-rested, and confident and was prepared thoroughly for the debate beforehand. Millions of viewers tuned in for the first debate, roughly 70 million. Although the first debate was successful for Kennedy it didn’t guarantee him the win.

Another milestone for television at the time was the third debate that broadcasted split screen the two candidates that were on two opposite sides of the country so they could converse in real-time. Nixon was in Los Angeles while Kennedy was in New York. Bill Shadel moderated the debate from a third location in Chicago. The main topic of this debate was whether military forces should be used to prevent two islands’ archipelagos off the Chinese coast from falling to communist control.

John F. Kennedy’s Administration

On the 20th of January 1961, John F. Kennedy was elected as president of the United States of America. His first mission was to create an elite army unit called the Special Forces or Green Berets to combat Soviet insurgencies around the world. He continued the nuclear arms race against the Russians. On another note, he created the Peace Corps, a government-funded program that sent out American missionaries across the world, mainly third-world countries, to spread American values. Some issues required quick and rational decision-making during his presidency such as the threat of the Cuban missile crisis, the erection of the Berlin wall, and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Brigade 2506 was a CIA-sponsored rebel group that was made up mostly of Cuban exiles and soldiers. They tried to invade and overthrow the communist government of Fidel Castro, who led a communist regime. They hoped that the people would rise against Castro and support the American troops. Unfortunately, the invasion Bay of Pigs lasted three days and it was a failure because it was defeated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. It was launched from Guatemala and Nicaragua. There were 118 killed, 360 wounded 1202 captured from the Brigade, and 176 killed and more than 500 wounded from the Cuban Armed forces. This invasion was a disaster and made JFK, who didn’t even send air support, look bad in the eyes of the Americans and the Soviets.

Another problem that required quick thinking and decision-making was the erection of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was a structure put between the eastern and western parts of Berlin to prevent eastern Germans from finding a haven in the more prosperous and safer western part. JFK visited Berlin in 1963 and gave the famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech that made the audience cheer. From this speech, Kennedy recovered his image as a president. During the speech, he gave western Germans hope and he promised that the US would help in the event of the eastern Germans deciding to invade.

Continuing the nuclear warheads race that started in the 1950s, Kennedy was ready to use those deadly weapons if necessary. In 1962 Kennedy was informed that the Soviets had created missile sites in Cuba. Those sites were allegedly going to be used to attack the US. JFK’s resolution to the threat was to place a blockade on the island so the Soviets couldn’t bring in more weapons. From this resolution a conflict arose between the US and the USSR and people were concerned that this might escalate quickly. Fortunately, there was a mutual agreement from both sides to resolve the conflict. The US promised not to invade Cuba and dismantle their sites in Turkey that targeted Russia. The Soviets agreed to dismantle their missile sites and not attack the US.

That didn’t stop the USSR and the US to continue developing their nuclear warheads but fortunately, they signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban in 1963 which prohibited the test and use of nuclear weapons underwater, in space, or the atmosphere. It allowed underground testing as long as it didn’t leave any radioactive debris. Both parties realized that the use of nuclear weaponry would eventually lead to severe and dire consequences.

Civil Rights Movement

Segregation was a big issue in the 1950s. While America was prosperous most of the opportunities and rights did not include African Americans. One of the big steps forward was the desegregation of schools. Another step key moment in the civil rights movement was when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to stand up from a seat that was to a white person in public transport in Montgomery, Alabama. Unfortunately, that rebellious act led to her arrest.

The pursuit for racial equality was on in the 1960s in the USA. African Americans were oppressed and most of them were in poverty. From these circumstances, the Civil Rights movement was created which was heavily influenced by Martin Luther King Junior.

In 1963 MLK Jr. led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at which he gave his famous “I Have a dream” speech. In his speech, he called for economic, racial, and civil rights among Americans. He delivered his speech in front of two hundred and fifty thousand supporters in front of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The speech began with the Emancipation Proclamation which freed millions of African American slaves in 1863 and he claimed that a hundred years later African Americans are still not free.

This famous speech had a positive effect on African Americans. It helped the poor, raised the minimum wage, and put an end to labor discrimination. It also incentivized JFK to support and enforce civil rights more actively and a call to action was carried for Congress to pass a law that made discrimination in public accommodations illegal. President Johnson, appointed after Kennedy’s assassination, built on the civil rights movement and pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It outlawed discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or national origin. It also protected colored people from being discriminated against in schools, hospitals, and other public institutions. In 1968, The Fair Housing Act discriminated against purchasing houses illegally, and that provided even more rights to people of color. Unfortunately, even though these laws and acts were passed there was still racism in the US.

The Green Book

The Green Book is a movie that is set in the 1960s and shows the segregated and somewhat racist America at the time. It also portrayed issues such as inequality between social classes. The movie revolves around two characters, Tony Lip, and Don. Tony Lip is an Italian looking for a job after losing his job at a bar he used to work at. Don is an African American who is a virtuoso. He plays the piano and is among the elite most of the time. Don hires Tony as his chauffeur to take him from place to place so he plays the piano. There are differences between the characters. At numerous times in the movie Tony stereotypes Don as the typical African American but sees that he is nothing alike. Tony grew up in the streets and you could say that he is rather ignorant, but he learns to be more accepting of other people as he travels from gig to gig with his boss. Don on the other hand learns to loosen up a little from time to time and that the street culture is more dangerous than he thinks it is. They both overcome their differences at one point in the movie due to them both being unequal to the white middle- and upper-class person.

Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War

Johnson was appointed president right after Kennedy’s assassination and he was set on realizing some Kennedy initiatives that weren’t realized, particularly in the fields of economics policy and civil rights. LBJ was also set on the idea of winning the fight against the communist in Vietnam which is a war that Kennedy started. Throughout his presidency Congress enacted over 200 laws and programs that provided healthcare, public housing, expanded transportation, and defended civil rights. As mentioned above, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a huge stepping stone for equality among Americans. The war in Vietnam was a big government spending that was an issue for Johnson, but he was determined to win the war.

Although the Americans had the weaponry and technological advantage, the Vietnamese had the advantage of knowing the land and the local people. By the end of 1965, he had drafted over two hundred thousand troops. The war escalated and despite the bad circumstances President Johnson reassured Americans that the war was a sure victory and that everything was going according to plan. The only issue was that the press was showing the complete opposite which was the truth. Not everything was going according to plan. The media showed massacres of civilians and brutality and people’s approval of Johnson quickly dropped.

Anti-war protests

Anti-war protests were initiated by young people in America. They wanted to break down social norms, fight for the minorities’ civil rights, and protest the ongoing war in Vietnam. Their rebellion was expressed by the way they clothed themselves and their lifestyle. The young generation was more liberal, expressive, and sexual. They called themselves hippies.

It started as a political activism among university students and quickly grew into a movement. In the 1960s Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS for short was created at the University of Michigan which became their headquarters. They did a few protests and campaigns against Johnson. The Free Speech movement was carried out when Johnson tried to control the political activity at the University of California. In 1965 a nationwide campaign against the military draft in the US. One of the most famous demonstrations was the one in 1968 at Columbia University, where students protested government plans to relocate black housing to build a gymnasium.

The Graduate

The Graduate is a movie that shows how the new cinema wave called “The New Hollywood”, aimed to tackle new subject matters and criticize them which was not culturally appropriate before.

The movie has a western European style – some comedic situations and shots are unexpected which was typical for the French cinema at the time. The movie is about a recent college graduate, Ben, who has excelled in his studies and extracurriculars but is unsure what to do with his future. While his parents want him to pursue another degree he chooses to loosen up and have some fun with his summer. That’s how he engages in casual sex with Mrs. Robinson, who is his father’s friend’s wife. At first, he is unsure whether to do it, but he at least tries it once. Then they start doing it more frequently. Mrs. Robinson is portrayed as an alcoholic, a product of the typical 1950s housewife. Her daughter Elaine is a smart, beautiful, and bright young girl who inevitably Ben falls in love with. There’s a conflict of interest between Ben and Mrs. Robinson because she doesn’t want him to date her daughter, but he ends up doing it anyway. The movie ends with Ellaine and Ben eloping and creating a new future for themselves.

American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a movie about the positive side of the 1960s – before JFK’s assassination. It perfectly portrays the period when Kennedy was president and the “American Dream”. Moreover, it represents the carelessness and the freedom that the youth have. Cars are a big focus here, characters are connected with different types of cars and it could be analyzed what type of person they are according to the car paint, modifications, etc. The soundtrack is mostly rock and roll music which was typical for the time. It exemplified young rebelliousness through the character Millner, a soft-hearted rebel who never wants to grow up. On the other end of the spectrum is the other character, Curt, a boy from the middle class who will soon be off to college. Curt has doubts about his future and what the college can provide him. He pursues a blond woman throughout the movie and it only occurs to him that he will probably never see the girl that he’s been chasing all this time again. This existential realization disillusions him and him to reality. The so-called American Dream is shattered into pieces.

Apocalypse Now

Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a movie about the Vietnam War and it portrays the grotesque atmosphere, and what the soldiers have been or have gone through. It tells a story about a captain named Willard and his mission to kill Colonel Kurtz. The Vietnam War has taken a toll on soldier’s minds because it made them go mad from being subjected to the gruesome reality of war. Willard can’t sleep well and becomes an observer of other soldiers getting high on LSD or weed just to survive the nightmarish situation they’re put in. The boundaries of what’s moral and rational are blurred and this makes the perfect example of how people rely on their ego to survive. Events in the movie are nightmarish and others are ridiculous to the point where the viewer is left confused. The cinematography is executed perfectly to make an impact on the viewer’s psyche. Coppola portrays the loss of conscious morality to the extent where there is disassociation with normality.

Conclusion

To conclude, America in the 1960s went through a rough political change. It’s a double-edged sword – minorities gained rights and some of acts the that were passed by Congress helped people of color to have equal rights but on the flip side the impact of the Vietnam War undermined and shattered the illusion of the “American Dream”. This social change was not from a sudden revolution in culture and society but was laid out throughout the years and it peaked in the 1960s. Hippies laid out the foundation for liberal America – the freedom to do whatever and be whoever you want.

From several research and documents that I have read through on this facet of “process philosophy,” I discovered that there are a few points highlighted in the records however I focused on civil rights. Civil rights is a pivotal docket that touches every one of the American residents in one way or the other. It is urgent to first acknowledge what civil rights are. Civil rights as indicated by Findlaw are those privileges of people that they ought to get equally. The first impact that this philosophy has created on society is that it has made people realize that everyone is equal before the creator. Civil rights have been an incredible battle since the 60`s which was associated with black Americans. Civil rights should not be denied to anyone irrespective of race, origin, sex, nationality, or disability.

This philosophy has three generations of rights as stated by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The philosophy has empowered the government to likewise understand that every individual has the privilege to make the most of their civil rights. This has driven the government to incorporate this statement into the constitution. The philosophy has assumed an awesome part in affecting the need to keep away from segregation under any specific circumstance. This is the motivation behind why the government has allocated the slot of the disabled in the cabinet to avoid denying the disabled their civil rights. Process philosophy has also acted as a platform to teach the citizens about the civil rights that each human is entitled to enjoy without being denied.

Barrack Obama is one of the good examples that have demonstrated how this philosophy has affected the requirement for allowing every individual their rights. Not all like in the 60s when blacks would not stand an opportunity to endeavor in political fields in the states now prepared reasoning has empowered everybody to challenge for positions regardless of their race, sex, inability, or even their nationality. Slavery and the slave trade were one way that the civil rights of people especially the blacks were violated. This period presented injustice against humanity. Civil rights under the coverage of the process philosophy played a great role in ensuring that slavery and the slave trade were completely abolished.

A Civil right has battled an incredible battle in guaranteeing that the impeded and marginalized groups have been protected. The procedure permits these individuals to choose what is best for them. It permits them to have agents who can pass on their grievances. Minimized people groups are at times exploited by government officials however fortunately the Social Equality Act permits them to have the capacity to arraign a person who exploits them. Life is one urgent right that every single conceived human will undoubtedly appreciate. The importance of valuing life has become one of the greatest impacts of process philosophy. Life has to be protected at any cost. This has prompted the government to come up with a way to deal with those who take other people’s lives. Process philosophy indicates that life is one civil right that surpasses all other civil rights which should also be enjoyed by infants and those not yet born.

Free and equal citizenship has enabled all these impacts to be achieved. However, citizenship to be made free had to undergo a rough moment before being accepted. Many thought that this kind of citizenship would be acquired only by having additional claims. The claims were rights to food, medical care, and employment. Process philosophy has enabled this kind of citizenship to be possible. This is the reason why individuals from different nationality can become citizens in America as well as in other countries which is commonly known as dual citizenship. Citizenship has grown into being a pathway in which the civil rights of different individuals from different geographical locations can carry out trade harmoniously. Citizenship has dissolved the notion of discrimination in any aspect thus fulfilling the main objective of process philosophy on civil rights. Free and equal citizenship has also led to the creation of an international court that ensures that the civil rights of citizens of any nation have not been violated or denied in any way.

Process philosophy has also empowered the general public and the administration to perceive that every single individual has a common ideal to vote. In this way, the legislature dispenses a day and date for races to permit the residents to appreciate and work out their right to vote as a way to pass what they want or who they want since that is their decision.

I agree that great progress has been made regarding the status of racial/ethnic minorities and women from the 1950s through the Clinton administration. Throughout the years many steps have been made to improve the status of racial minorities and women. Many political figures have made astounding impacts on these statuses including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Betty Friedan, and Martha W. Griffiths. These were just some of the political figures that made an impact on the progress of equality.

For African Americans, one of the most influential people was Rosa Parks. Her efforts sparked the mass action against the Jim Crow laws. Rosa Parks was riding on a bus one night when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger after a full day of work. Due to the local laws in the South, she was arrested and sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. Following the boycott, the emergence of potentially the most influential figure in the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was influential in multiple different ways, including the creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the meeting with President Eisenhower and other civil rights leaders, as well as the multiple marches and speeches that he participated in and led (Foner, p.763). The efforts made by King and many other African American civil rights leaders led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the abolishment of the Jim Crow laws in 1964, the establishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Many strides were made in the 1950s and 1960s to improve the equality of African Americans.

Many strides were also made to improve the equality of women as well. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 improved the lives of many, including the safety of being able to buy or rent and not be discriminated against based on race color, or national origin, but it stretched even further in 1974 including sex within those parameters. Many women were influential in the feminist movement from the 1960s to the 1980s and made tremendous strides towards equality. One of these women is Betty Friedan who assisted in the founding and was the first president of the National Organization for Women or NOW. Betty Friedan was also a very talented writer writing many newspaper articles in the 1940s about pay discrimination. “Betty Friedan also wrote and published The Feminine Mystique in 1963…Her opening chapter, painted a devastating picture of talented, educated women trapped in a world that viewed marriage and motherhood as their primary goals” (Foner, p. 799). This book received overwhelming support from many female readers who said “the suburban dream had become a nightmare” (Foner, p.799). Another extremely influential woman was Martha Griffiths. She was a lawyer who served as a U.S. Representative and had a significant role in including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which prohibited sex discrimination. The United States has come a long way in the equality of women as well as minorities passing not only the Fair Housing Act of 1968 but also the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act that bans discrimination against pregnant women (Foner, p.814).

I believe that the United States has made several positive strides toward equality for both racial minorities and women. I also believe that there is still a long way to go for minorities and women to be considered equals in our society. I believe that it takes everyone to make people equal, but I feel that equality can be achieved.

Harassment at the workplace has been a condition that has continued to turmoil in many countries leaving victims vulnerable and defenseless. There are many forms of harassment at the workplace currently. Apart from discrimination basing on different aspects such as skin color, nationality gender, and age, workers continue to suffer other injustices such as underpayment and overworking. From different parts of the country, discrimination at the workplace is cancer that has eaten deep into America’s integrity and morality at the workplace. The government has come up with various laws that should assist in reducing workplace discrimination. The following paper aims at defining discrimination, types of discrimination, and the laws that were enacted to prevent discrimination at the workplace. The essay also gives solutions to what organizations can implement to end discrimination in the workplace.

Harassment in the Workplace

For any organization to achieve its organizational goals and objective, it should ensure that its employees are taken care of. Workers are important aspects of an organization. This is the main reason why most if not all organizations have a human resource department. This essential department formulates policies that protect all workers. Recently, most organizations are focusing on providing a conducive working environment for their employees. Research done by most organizations finds out that the productivity of workers is highly dependent on the working environment. At the workplace, many factors determine the effectiveness and efficiency of workers. Many organizations are coming up with policies and regulations that promote harmony at the workplace to increase workers’ productivity. A conducive environment includes a working condition that does not tolerate harassment, promotes employee growth, and encourages inclusivity and peace. Harassment in the workplace is not a new concept to many employees and organizations. This essay aims to investigate and analyze harassment laws in America.

Harassment is any offensive behavior and characteristic that are meant to humiliate, demean, and embarrass an individual. Most of these incidents are aligned to a lack of proper social and moral accountability. On the other hand, harassment at the workplace is a practice of prejudice that defiles the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the national code of practice comprising the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the People with Disabilities Act of 1990. Consequently, the commission of equal employment elucidates workplace harassment as undesirable oral or physical characteristics that tend to discriminate against individuals basing on their skin color, gender, background, country of origin, age, religion, and physical or cognitive incapacities(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2020).. Although there are numerous laws of workplace harassment, this paper will only focus on three. The Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963. Before the 20th century, women comprised 24 percent of the US labor market. The second war was associated with bringing more women to the labor market, as men were busy fighting. However, there was a difference in terms of wage rate between men and women (Bornstein, 2017). Signed in 1963 by President F. Kennedy, the law aimed to reverse the injustice done to women of discrimination wage rates. Before this law was enacted, women used to receive a lower wage rate compared to men even though they were at the same level of the workplace (Ross and McDermott, 1974). The law abolished male dominance at the workplace and gave both genders equal opportunities. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for an organization to compensate varied wages rates to male or female workers if they belong to the same work level. More so, the law recognized both genders as equal hence no one is superior to the other one. Through this law, equity was developed at the workplace, women started to receive equal pay as their colleges at the same level of work.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Before the signing of this law, most African Americans and other people of color were being discriminated against at the workplace because of their skin color. This law required the employer to employ people basin on their merits and job requirements rather than skin color. Signed in 1964, the law made it illegal to classify workers basing on their nationality, skin color, gender, or race. Most employers used to consider surnames of individuals to determine their nationality, origin, or religion (Blumrosen, 1978). Furthermore, the law also protected the victims and people who reported such cases. It gave individuals the right and freedom to be employed by any organization as long as they qualify and have the required merits or credibility. Further amendments were done in 1978, allowing organizations and other employees to treat pregnant women as other employees that are disabled. It granted pregnant women the privileges of maternal leave and other health benefits during the pregnancy period (Kugele et al., 2017). Penalty for failing to comply with this law may result in imprisonments and other fines.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Before this bill was signed into law, individuals over the age of 40 years used to be discriminated against. Most organizations and employees considered them ineffective hence prefer the young individual (Stypińska and Nikander, 2018). It raised a lot of concern, which lead to the formation of this act. The law prohibits any employer or organization from discriminating against individuals basing on age. The Act required every employer to consider every employee as equal in the employment process (Levien, 1974). The law required all individuals to receive equal treatment in hiring, promoting, compensating, and giving special privileges. Through this law, people of different ages were able to co-exist peacefully without discrimination. Discriminations tend to lower employees’ morale resulting in low productivity. These laws ensured that every individual is seen as equal before the eyes of their employers’ hence promoting equity.

Different organizations have different solutions towards harassment at the workplace, but the common ones are as follows. Updating, revising, and implementing the company policies will help fight harassment at the workplace. On the other hand, the company may train its employees to equip them with the required knowledge about harassment at the workplace. Furthermore, the complaint systems of the different organizations should be reviewed to ensure that victims get their justice. The above measure aims at reducing and eliminating any kind of harassment at the workplace.

To sum up the above, workers are the essential factor of production. Their efficiency and effectiveness lead to an increase in total output. The organization should ensure that it is its responsibility to take care of its workers. This condition can be achieved by providing a good working environment that does not promote harassment. Harassments do not only lower the morale of workers, but also their productivity. It does not matter what kind of harassment the impacts are the same. Harassment can be reduced by enacting rules and regulations to protect workers. It is high time humanitarian organizations and other legal organizations come to the aid of workers who are constantly harassed at work. A conducive working environment, free from any form of harassment should be the ultimate goal of any organization. Workers should co-exist harmoniously irrespective of their gender, skin color, or background. Those found guilty of harassing others should face the law to reduce harassment at workplaces. The laws named above have helped a lot in reducing harassment at the workplace. Further amendments should be done to ensure the best in the workplace.

Reference list

1. Blumrosen, R. G. (1978). Wage discrimination, job segregation, and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U. Mich. JL Reform, 12, 397.
2. Bornstein, S. (2017). Equal Work. Md. L. Rev., 77, 581.
3. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2020)