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The Harlem Renaissance could be classified as a Civil Rights movement because it urged for integration and the
mixing of the races. A civil rights movement is a collaborative movement seeking to establish rights for a particular
group of people. This movement occurred during the early 1900s, in which educated blacks and reformist whites
allied to fight the pervasive racial segregation and discrimination of the era, in which blacks were often denied basic
human rights. For example, it was in the Harlem Renaissance that WEB DuBois and his colleagues founded the
NAACP, which was a critical part of the drive to integrate America. These efforts and works fall in line with the idea
of a civil rights movement, in which peaceful protest and work attempt to salvage and change societal harms.
Though it was not particularly successful, the foundation that the Harlem Renaissance created would prove integral
to the success of the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s.

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For the 3rd Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, there were several distinct origins. In terms of its legal causes,

In terms of the political origins of the 3rd American Civil Rights Movement,

In terms of its cultural origins, there was a widespread movement among private activists seeking greater civil rights.
Many were simply tired of the countless instances of unfairness and discriminations placed against blacks, and there
was resentment breeding amongst the minority to act in response. This culminated in the third civil rights
movement, which focused primarily on nonviolent protest, using the media attention gained from the harsh
segregationist response to attract attention to the cause of civil rights and reform.

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Though Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson each took increasingly progressive and far-reaching steps
towards civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s, their actions could have gone farther, had they not been distracted
by the instinct toward political calculation over principle. However, these three Presidents did more than they may
have been expected to do, created groundbreaking and lasting change, and ended generations of segregation. For
that, they should be commended.

President Eisenhower͛s accomplishments were understated but groundbreakingͶhe forced the integration of
Central High School, located in Deep South Little Rock. For the first time since Reconstruction nearly a century
earlier, the President sent federal soldiers into the South to force civil rights. Additionally, Eisenhower signed the
1957 Civil Rights bill into lawͶthough largely symbolic, this was the first step towards federal legislation overhauling
civil rights. Eisenhower͛s successes and accomplishments have not been greeted with the acclaim his successors
have been met with, but his work as President laid the foundation for permanent civil rights for minorities and
African Americans.
 Eisenhower͛s successor, President Kennedy, held a more mixed record. As a Senator, Kennedy had voted against the
1957 bill, but as a Democratic Presidential candidate, he promised strong and swift efforts to change the status quo
and force an end to the divisive segregation. However, for most of his Presidency, he did nothing. Though Kennedy
often made small and symbolic gestures, he did not take any large-scale action. It was only after radical and
controversial stories became part of the news cycle broadcast to all Americans that he took action. It was only after
African-American James Meredith sued to be admitted to Ole Miss that JFK took action, nationalizing the National
Guard and sending them to force Meredith͛s admission to Ole Miss. In 1963, with the scenes of Bull Connor and
͞Bombingham͟ widely played, Kennedy took action and forced integration of the Alabama area. Though Kennedy͛s
actions were rather helpful to the civil rights movement, they often appeared to be out of political calculation rather
than genuine desire for change. However, his death enabled his reputation and actions to be raised to a heroic
status.

Finally, President Johnson undertook the most important crucial role of the era. Having become President after JFK͛s
assassination, Johnson, a native Texan, envisioned a ͞Great Society͟ for all Americans. Through his smart and
passionate efforts to create change, Johnson was able to pass the Civil Rights Law of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act
of 1965. Finally, federal law mandated equal rights and voting rights to African-Americans, and a century of
inequality was ended. Through these efforts, Johnson was generally successful and determined in his efforts to
obtain true civil rights.

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In 1961, SNCC, the NAACP, and other civil rights groups allied to form the Albany Movement in Georgia. In this
movement, the groups opposed segregation in general and they participated in sit-ins, protests, and boycotts.
However, the calculating Police Chief, Laurie Pritchett, responded by utilizing massive arrests of the protestors while
avoiding the showy violence and publicity that Birmingham would later attract. Because of the lack of violent
response or media attention, the federal government had no reason to come to Georgia or respond to the protests.
The Albany movement was too general in its efforts, fighting segregation as an evil in general, rather than one
specific part of the societal evil. Martin Luther King, who had participated in the movement, concluded that to be
successful, the activists would need to hold more specific, concerted protests. Months later, as the Birmingham
offensive was planned, King would take lessons from the failures of the Albany Movement. The Birmingham
movement had specific goalsͶdesegregation of stores and schools and the reopening of previously closed public
environments. The 1963 campaign was much more focused, and it also benefited from the violent actions of the
segregationist Public Safety Commissioner, Bull Conner. Conner led a series of violent and brutal attacks against the
protestors, galvanizing public opinion in favor of civil rights leaders. Though outright public action was never taken,
the federal government privately prepared to send in troops. In the meantime, a horrified Kennedy privately urged
an end to the fighting and aid to the civil rights movement.

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Just as the mid twentieth century brought change and reform for civil rights, it brought change and reform for Indian
Rights as well. During the early 1960s, both Indian and African-American groups had formed to defend their
respective interests. The National Congress of American Indians called for reform on the federal level and to allow
Native Americans to determine whether they wanted to be Americans or not. Just as the civil rights leaders had
before them, Indian rights leaders took their case to the courts in an attempt to regain their rights. The Supreme
Court would finally rule in 1978 in favor of tribal interdependence and Indian rights. Like Civil Rights activists, Indian
rights activists also used political and educational advocacy to create greater awareness among the general
population of the Indian plight. Indian rights advocates also sought civil rights, trying to increase equality and
emphasizing partnership and group cohesiveness among differing factions.
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Several factors contributed to the social revolutions of the 1960s. First, the Vietnam War was a controversial foreign
entanglement on the part of the US that elicited significant foreign revolution. Many people in the boomer
generation received a baptism by fire into the world of politics and public policy through protests in the deadly and
embattled war. Millions became politically active and involved through their opposition to the unpopular war. This
kind of advocacy that united so many served as an entry point of sorts into the more underground social revolutions
brewing during the 1960s.

Another entry point was the women͛s rights movement, which focused on the worker and the modern woman at
the expense of the traditional homemaker. Feminists fighting for the liberation of women sought to gain equality
and freedom for women, seeking to break through the chains that had been tied around them for so long. This
introduction into feminism and women͛s liberation also introduced part of the sexual revolution, inspiring greater
freedom and desire to ͞find oneself.͟ This was in contradiction with the social mores of the previous generation,
which were more traditional and puritanical, as this kind of sexual freedom was highly unheard of and outrageous to
many others at the time.

Finally, counterculture was a feeder of young people into the world of social revolution. This underground
movement of rebellion was an outlet for the resentments of the young. For many, this outlet often spiraled into a
world of communes, drugs, or sexual revolution. All of these were part of the social revolutions of the 1960s, as
young people took advantages of items which they had never before had access to and which ran counter to the
absolute values of their parents and grandparents.

¦22 

The ŒŒŒ, or the Ku Klux Klan, is a white supremacist organization based mainly in the south. The KKK͛s dominance occurs
in distinct periods as a response to gains by African-Americans. The first Klan was led by Confederate veterans who
sought to end Republican dominance and the newfound rights of their former slaves. With the end of Reconstruction,
they were largely successful. The second Klan developed in the Deep South during the early 1900s, opposed to anything
that did not fall under it͛s WASP-ish ideals. However, by the 1940s, infighting had prompted its demise. The third KKK
occurred during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, in which it fought efforts at desegregation and
integration. The Klan was allied with numerous southern governments, most notably that of Birmingham. The Klan
relentlessly bombed black homes in reformist neighborhoods, leading the city to be named ͞Bombingham.͟ With
government support in many cities, the KKK fought desegregation violently, often kidnapping or murdering it͛s
opponents. Though the Klan still exists today, it͛s position is significantly weakened and it is no longer a true threat.

The

, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization that was
founded by WEB duBois and others during the Harlem Renaissance period. It fought segregation strenuously, finally
reaching success with the Brown v. Board of Education case. Here, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously to strike down
the ͞separate but equal͟ rule established in Plessy v. Ferguson and to order timely integration. Unlike other civil rights
groups, the NAACP͛s strategy was one of civil litigation and organized political lobbying. It was successful in many
respects, and still exists today to fight for civil rights and equality.

 
was a founder of the NAACPand a black leader during the Harlem Renaissance. A well-educated northerner,
DuBois had graduated from Harvard with honors. He was a writer who wrote of the disadvantages put upon blacks as
well as an activist seeking the reinstatement of those rights. As a leader of the movement, DuBois encouraged the
increase in black literature and became the editor of the NAACP͛s magazine, the Crisis. DuBois was more hardline than
Booker T. Washington, seeking a more equal society rather than accommodating the status quo.



was another black leader during the Harlem Renaissance who had support from both whites and
blacks. A relative moderate, the author Washington was a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute who sought to create
schools and universities for black students. Well-respected, he was even able to meet for dinner with the President at
the White House. However, he was often criticized by DuBois and other more strident leaders for his lack of
confrontation. Washington believed that blacks were outnumbered, and that the safest and best approach would be a
conciliatory one.

 was an extremist black leader during the Harlem Renaissance and a black nationalist who wanted to
develop a ͞homeland͟ for blacks in Africa. To this end, he sought to remake Liberia as a home for blacks. Unlike
Washington or DuBois, Garvey was a separatist who thought that the best option for blacks was to live an existence
completely separate from that of whites. He was considered very extremist, and the FBI had been investigating the
radical Jamaican Garvey, and he was found guilty of mail fraud. Though President Coolidge commuted his sentence,
Garvey was deported and later died abroad.

stands for the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights group that sought desegregation and equal rights. It was
instrumental in the Freedom Rides, in which it sent whites and blacks together onto trains riding throughout the south in
an attempt to force integration. It would also help organize the March on Washington, in which a quarter of a million
nonviolent protestors marched to demand equal rights, culminating in Martin Luther King͛s ͞I Have a Dream Speech.͟
The next year, 1964, was when CORE helped organize the Freedom Summer campaign. Volunteers sought equal voting
rights and created ͞Freedom Schools͟ which were often mob targets and Klan targets. Notably, three CORE volunteersͶ
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael SchwernerͶwere murdered by the KKK, generating public sympathy and
support for the Civil Rights movement. Since then, however, CORE has become a relatively conservative organization.

 stands for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a civil rights group that was led by college students. It
played a major role in the sit-ins and in the freedom rides. In the sit-ins, SNCC volunteers sat in areas reserved for
whites, refusing to move from the segregated areas, helping prompt integration. Later, it became involved in the
freedom rides, sending riders to travel the south on trains in an effort to desegregate the public transportation. Later,
however, it͛s leader began to abandon nonviolent resistance in favor of violence, and SNCC became a part of the black
power movement. Unsuccessful as a more extremist organization, it soon disbanded.

 stands for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights group allied with Dr. Martin Luther King. The
group led numerous marches, such as the Albany Movement, the Birmingham offensive, and the March on Washington.
A leader in the fight through nonviolent protest, the SCLC was a Christian group that traveled the nation leading
nonviolent efforts and marches in an attempt to force desegregation and integration. Though it encountered several
setbacks (such as the Albany Movement), it was successful in many of its efforts. Since then, it has continued to fight for
racial integration and equality.

The 

!"#is the major group of black Muslims in the United States. A radical Islamic and separatist group, it
supported the ideals in which the races were completely separate and taught that blacks were the original and true
humans. Widely ostracized by other black groups for its extremism, the Nation of Islam͛s philosophy defers at certain
points from traditional Islam and it has been accused of anti-Semitism and radicalism.

The " was a radical black group led by Malcom X that sought civil rights. However, its approach differed
strongly from other groups as it was becoming increasingly radical. By the late 1960s, the Black Panther Party had
adopted a philosophy of black nationalism, becoming increasingly violent and anti-White. By the 1970s and 1980s,
membership was declining steadily, and it soon disbanded.

The 
 
was a document declaring opposition to integration by almost all Southern legislators. Written
by South Carolina Democrat (later Republican ) Strom Thurmond and by Georgia Democrat Richard Russell, the 1956
document was a show of unity from the South in opposition to the end of segregation, signed by 99 Democrats and 2
Republicans. The document argued that the Supreme Court was violating its powers, abusing its reign and violating the
Constitution by declaring segregation, ͞separate but equal͟, unconstitutional.
$ 
was segregation outlined and practiced in law and in policy. This was espoused in the Jim Crow laws
and segregationist policies of the south up until the 1960s. However, % 

, is segregation through
practice that still occurs to some extent today. Because defacto segregation is what actually happens, it is much harder
to erase because of the inherent biases embedded in the brains of some peoples, which would logically cause some
form of discrimination that likely still persists to the present day.

The &'
was the name for President John F. Kennedy͛s policies that originated from his acceptance speech at
the 1960 Democratic National Convention. The New Frontier was an ambitious agenda that sought to end poverty,
expanded the role of government, and helped propel the US further and further in the space race. The idealistic goals
covered a wide range of domestic policy topics, many of which he was successful in implementing. After the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, his successor, Lyndon Johnson continued the implementation of many of Kennedy͛s
aims with Johnson͛s Great Society.

The 
was the name given to President Lyndon Johnson͛s domestic agenda. The idealist President created a
war on poverty and a fight for more universal civil rights. In relation to civil rights, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968,
respectively, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. The laws ended outright discrimination, expanded voting
rights, and were expansive in their protections. The War on Poverty, however, had more mixed results. Programs such as
Head Start and Medicare were created to assist poor families, but the problems persisted regardless. Johnson also
created scholarships and low-interest loans. The programs were entirely classically liberal, and they expanded the role of
the federal government more than ever before, to only limited success.

'%
#%were young civil rights reformers, both black and white, who rode interstate buses throughout the south
in an attempt to desegregate them, starting in 1961. At the time, whites rode at the front of the bus and blacks in the
black. However, the Freedom Riders reversed this, flouting the law in an attempt to exert reform. Though they
encountered only minor resistance in the ͞border͟ states, they were harassed and beaten in the Deep South. In
Alabama, the riders were bombed and then beaten with the support of police forces. Though the Klan attempted to stop
the rides, Attorney General Robert Kennedy helped them to ride safely. Though the riders were arrested, jailed, and
beaten, the rides continued. After several months, Kennedy arranged for desegregation of the buses in order to halt the
negative publicity the riders were gaining for the United States. This successful protest was the first large-scale protest
undertaken by the Freedom Riders.

'%
# ##was a term given to the summer of 1964, when civil rights activities descended into Mississippi to try
to register blacks to vote, which up until that point happened very rarely. The program also launched summer ͞freedom
schools͟ that taught subjects such as civil rights and black history, helping successfully educate students both young and
old, in contrast with the failing educational system of Mississippi. These efforts encountered widespread resistance from
the white majority, who resented the presence of these young outsiders. This provoked constant violence and
harassment, culminating in the deaths of three CORE activistsͶJames Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael
Schwerner. Though the Freedom Summer did not attract the number of voter registration on the scale which it had
sought, the movement was successful because of the media attention and focus it garnered. This set a foundation for
the current black influence in Mississippi government and for the successful prosecution of Klan members involved in
opposition to civil rights.


 was a member of the NAACP who sought to end segregation of city buses. At the time, the buses were
divided, with the front of the bus for whites and the back for blacks. When the front filled up, blacks were forced to
move back or stand. By repeatedly flouting the laws, she sought to bring attention to the policies and spark reform.
Finally, in 1955, she was arrested. This prompted the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which blacks refused to ride the
buses, which lasted for over a year. Some segregationists responded by bombing and inflicting violence on blacks, but
nevertheless, the boycotts were extremely damaging for the bus company, and after a year the segregation law was
struck.

(#% was the first African-American student to attend the University of Mississippi. After he was first denied
admission on the grounds of his race, the NAACP sued on his behalf for his admission, eventually winning the case.
Afterwards, the state͛s Governor attempted to block him from actually entering it. Finally, the Attorney General, Robert
Kennedy, forced a deal and Meredith became the first black student to attend Ole Miss. This caused riots, prompting
various federal policemen to be sent in to Mississippi and Meredith encountered extreme racism as a student. In the
later years of his life, Meredith became an increasingly conservative Republican who was opposed to organized civil
rights.

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&is a Georgia Democratic Congressman and a former leader of the Civil Rights Movement. During the heyday
of the 1960s, Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. In this role, he
espoused nonviolent responseͶorganizing protests, sit-ins, and boycotts. He was particularly involved as a participant in
the Freedom Rides, where he was badly beaten. Since 1986, he has been a Congressman from Georgia, and he continues
to espouse reformist ideals.

##""was an African-American fourteen year old who was murdered in 1955 for supposedly flirting with a white
woman. Though he lived with his grandmother in the less racist Chicago, Till went back to Mississippi to visit his mother.
While in the Deep South state, Till bragged about his white friends in Chicago and was dared to speak to one of the
white, female patrons of the store. He did, though what specifically occurred remains unclear. He was soon after
declared missing, and three days later, his mutilated body was found in a river. This helped to galvanize the Civil Rights
Movement, though his murderers were never convicted (though they later presented their side of the story and their
reasoning and choices in going through with the attack upon Till).

The "
  was a group of nine black students enrolled at the all-white Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. In 1954, the Supreme Court had ruled in Brown v. Board against segregation, and the Little Rock district
complied. However, when the NAACP actually registered students into an all-white school, segregationists were furious.
The state Governor, seeking to be reelected, took advantage of the situation to bolster his supporters by sending the
National Guard to prevent the students from attending. The standoff quickly aroused national headlines, and it was a
controversial story. The President, Dwight Eisenhower, sent Army soldiers to help the students and federalized the
Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Governor from using them to block the students from attending. For a year,
military soldiers protected the students, but they were still victims of peer abuse and condemnation. At the end of the
school year, Governor Faubus closed the entire school district for a year in an attempt to stop the tides of integration.

The 
were a series of 1965 riots in Los Angeles. After the brother of a drunk driver was not allowed to drive
the car home, onlookers grew exponentially, and the crowd became violent. The six days of rioting were chaotic and
damaging, one of the most deadly riots of the century. Finally, the state National Guard was brought in to halt the
rioting. The deadly riots were a response to police unfairness, poor living conditions, and discrimination faced by blacks.

 ""

was the racist and segregationist Police Commissioner of Birmingham during the time of the protests in
Birmingham. He led the city in using brutally violent tactics, jailing and beating thousands upon thousands. The situation
attracted national publicity, which backfired for the segregationists and only lent the civil rights movement support.
Connor was unsuccessful in his bid for higher offices, and the ironic legacy of the ardent segregationist was to have
helped enable the spread of integration and civil rights. By casting a harsh light on the city, civil rights leaders were
portrayed successfully, a catalyst in the movement for civil rights.

% was a civil rights leader and NAACP member who has assassinated by segregationist Byron de la Beckwith.
While younger, Evers had unsuccessfully sued seeking admission to Ole Miss Law School, and he was an ardent
supporter of young blacks such as Emmett Till. This attracted attention to him, and death threats and attempts on him
happened often. Finally, in 1963, just after President Kennedy had delivered a speech arguing in favor of civil rights,
Beckwith shot Evers as he returned home from an NAACP meeting. Evars was buried in Arlington National Cemetery,
and Beckwith was not convicted until thirty years later since two previous trials had ended in a hung jury.

"was the Governor of California and the most liberal Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of all time. The
Republican Warren had been universally popular as Governor and Eisenhower appointed him as Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. However, Warren was much more liberal than anticipated, and Eisenhower later called it the ͞biggest
damned-fool mistake I ever made.͟ A skilled negotiator, he was able to persuade his colleagues to rally around liberal
opinions, such as the notable Brown v. Board decision of 1954 that overturned racial segregation in the school system. In
the other cases he presided over, Warren almost always created expansionist and reformist precedentͶranging from
civil rights to criminal defendants to one man, one vote. In this position until the Nixon administration, Warren was able
to spearhead reforms that would end segregation and further the causes of equality.

^


was a landmark 5-4 Supreme Court decision that found that expanded the rights of criminal
suspects. The court ruled that defendants must be informed of their right to an attorney, their right to remain silent and
to avoid self-incrimination, and that the defendant would have to waive these rights for their statements during
interrogation to be used against them during the trial phase. This groundbreaking decision was made in response to the
case of a man sentenced to at least twenty years in prison on only circumstantial evidence and an involuntary
confession. Though the decision was controversial, it remained, and gave suspected criminals much greater rights than
ever before.

 
  
was a unanimous Supreme Court decision ordering states to provide legal counsel to defendants
who could not afford one, in alignment with the Sixth Amendment. The court decision came down after a criminal
defendant was forced to serve as his own counsel. Because the fourteenth amendment guaranteed the protections of
the constitution to state laws, Gideon sued. The Court unanimously ruled in his favor, and this created both a more
fairer and procedural court system and sparked the widespread development of public defender programsͶgroups of
attorneys paid by the state to defend socioeconomically disadvantaged defendants who could not pay for their own
attorneys.




 was an important 7-2 Supreme Court decision that established the modern ͞right͟ to privacy.
The decision originated with a group of cases challenging Connecticut͛s ban on the use of contraceptives that prevent
(or reduce) the change of pregnancy. The majority opinion cited the idea that the shadow of the right to privacy is found
through a piecemeal combination of the Constitution, which never actually refers to privacy. This new addition to
judicial thought and philosophy would be used in Roe v. Wade to declare the right of women to have an abortion.

The "

)*+,was a piece of legislation advocated by civil rights reformers and many members of Congress
to end de jure discrimination against African-Americans. The bill outlawed discrimination in public locations, a
groundbreaking accomplishment in the quest for equality and an end to discrimination. By extension, many of these
protections also applied to women, but activists in both sectors felt the bill did not go far enough in dealing with topics
such as police brutality. Nevertheless, the legislation was an important step in the process and passed Congress by large
majorities, despite numerous filibuster attempts, with the strong backing of President Lyndon Johnson, who invoked
JFK͛s memory in his advocacy of it.

The -


)*+.was a reformist piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination and unfair practices
restricting voting rights and establishing federal regulation of many aspects of the elections, particularly in districts with
a history of misconduct. Strangely, the federal step-by-step regulation of districts continues forty-five years later,
despite the progress made by all areas of the nation. Nevertheless, this legislation was essential in securing the end of
restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests with a blatant grandfather clause that had been pervasive in the old
south.

& represents the leftist, liberal movements of the 1960s and 1970s. These rising reformists were generally radical
college students who sought civil rights and equality and an end to the Vietnam War. Thus, the New Left became a loose
organization seeking reform against the evils of the ͞establishment.͟ Combining an anarchist, libertarian, and liberal
philosophy, the New Left was an individualist movement that sought increased freedom and equality and peace. Many
of its members were radicals, and the students came to be considered somewhat synonymous with the counterculture
movement of the time period.


 "  is a term to describe the underground subculture that differs drastically from the status quo of the
mainstream. This occurred most famously between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, in which the boomer generation
found themselves in a completely different lifestyle from that of their parents and grandparents. The young people were
anti-war protestors, opposed gender or race-based discrimination, desired increased sexual freedom, and often
experimented with drugs. The community-based ͞hippy͟ lifestyle created a liberal and tolerating culture of sexuality,
drugs, and protests in conflict with the beliefs and values of their elders.


stands for the Equal Rights Amendment, which never obtained enough votes to be ratified. The proposed
constitutional amendment was introduced repeatedly, but never gained enough support for passage. The proposed
amendment would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender and given Congress the right of enforcement. In
1972, the amendment gained enough votes to pass in both the US House and Senate, but fell short when it came time
for states to ratify. Despite the deadline extensions, not only did not enough states ratify it, five states changed their
͞yes͟ to a ͞no.͟ The political tides were changing, and Republicans were moving from a supportive position to an
opposing one. Proponents of the amendment still reintroduce it, and some argue that it would only need three more
states to approve it, as thirty five out of a necessary thirty eight had originally approved it.

stands for the National Organization for Women, a feminist organization that sought to obtain equality for women
in all forms. Founded in 1966, the group ͞bring women͟ into a ͞truly equal partnership with men.͟ At the time, and still
today, women face problems of discrimination in the workplace, and NOW opposes all forms of discrimination. During
the 1970s and still today, NOW was and is the major driving force behind the Equal Rights Amendment that sought a
constitutional guarantee of equality regardless of gender. Though the amendment fell short, the fight continues, and
NOW continues to support measures that aid in ͞women͛s rights.͟

'%was a women͛s right activist and strident feminist who was the President of the National Organization for
Women, or NOW. As an author, she advocated for the woman worker over the ͞stifling͟ role of a housewife and
homemaker, and she led strikes for equality in the workplace. By 1973, she had decided to found an abortion-rights
group that would be renamed NARAL. Friedan strongly supported the woman͛s right to ͞choose͟ and to an end to
discrimination. As one of the most influential feminists of the century, she was a calculating leader who focused on
issues she considered important at the expense of other priorities, to some success for the feminist movement.


!, or the American Indian Movement, was an activist organization seeking better treatment of Native Americans. AIM
engaged in protests, culminating in a standoff with the FBI. AIM sought to increase in traditional Native American
culture, support for Native American rights, and the positive development of Native American reservations. Similar to
the Civil Rights organizations led by African-American leaders, AIM focused generally on nonviolent protest in its efforts
to obtain progress, which it did with some success before infighting caused it to disband decades later.