the 60`s impact and social reform

The 60`s Impact and Social Reform

The 1960s was perhaps the most ground-breaking decade in American life in the past century . Within a few years , the nation challenged many basic foundations of its political , economic , and social structure Above all , America emerged after this century with a different spirit - the one that approached the issues of economic inequality , poverty education , interracial segregation and environmental protection in a different way . There were plenty of changes , and not all of them were positive . Although the nation to a great extent reinvented itself during

br the period strengthening democracy and public participation , these processes also opened the way for self-expression that proved ruinous to national unity

The most important legacy of the 1960s that influenced the national landscape in a positive way was the realization of racial tensions and the need to do something to remedy the oppressed position of minorities most importantly African Americans that had been oppressed for centuries . The country responded to the plea expressed by Martin Luther King Jr . in his Letter from Birmingham Jail who stated that in Birmingham , like almost everywhere else in America , racial injustice engulfs . community (King , 1963 . This realization had never hit the minds of many white Americans before the 1960s when well-meaning individuals continued to live in complacent donothingness , observing the struggle of their fellow citizens of a different race with indifference (King , 1963

The Civil Rights Movement and legislative changes it triggered opened the eyes of many Americans to what was going on . An understanding emerged that being a great nation meant being a land with equal opportunities to all , regardless of race and social status . The construction of the Great Society professed by Lyndon Johnson demanded abundance and liberty for all ' and an end to poverty and racial injustice (Johnson , 1964 . The non-violent techniques used by a talented leader like Martin Luther King Jr . that originated from Gandhian ideas used in the liberation of India helped Afro-Americans defend their cause effectively

In the past decades gone was segregation on buses , schools , and other public places . Interracial communication became more of a norm , and being a racist was less tolerated . Affirmative action was born to help African Americans and other minorities to jump the gap that resulted from centuries of unequal opportunities . One of the Black Nationalist leaders , Malcolm X , remembered that in his childhood , when he told the teacher he wanted to be a lawyer , he was told that it was not a realistic goal for a man of his race . Following the 60s , Afro-Americans began to see more and more goals as realistic . Broadening the scope of possibilities for minorities that constitute a large group in the US was undeniably an important positive legacy of the decade

However , the negative of the 1960s was the resurgence of Black Nationalism that called for more radical actions that would warrant the name of a revolution advocated by Malcolm X and other radical leaders This alternative created a split in the Afro-American movement for...