GOOD TIMES AND BAD, 1945-1976
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. --Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail |
Imagine what it was like to go from the consumer-oriented, free spirited “roaring twenties” to the depths of the Great Depression. Look carefully at FDR's inaugural and think how you might have viewed him. This is an era your grandparents and perhaps even parents may remember. If you're in touch, ask them about what it was like being alive during the Depression.
Now that the Cold War is over, Americans seem to be looking around for someone to be angry at. A couple of journalists have cited the “Pogo factor”: “We have met the enemy and he is us!” What about that? Were we more comfortable when we had somebody to be angry at? How well did we deal with civil rights issues in the 1950s and 1960s? What were those sixties really like? Where do we go from here?
How far have we really come in addressing Civil Rights? Discrimination has been de-institutionalized, but is that enough? Was the King nonviolent approach the right one? Where did this all begin and where will it end, if ever?
Domestic Issues: Resources:
Civil Rights Resources: