CULTURAL CHANGE: 1950-1980

The crest of the counterculture wave in the United States: the three-day 1969 outdoor rock concert and gathering known as Woodstock. (Culver)

President Lyndon B. Johnson engineered the most ambitious domestic legislative agenda through Congress since Roosevelt's New Deal. (© AP Images)

Most Americans felt confident with their role in the world in the 1950s. They accepted the need for a strong stance against global Communism and supported efforts to share the benefits of democracy as widely as possible. At home, they were experiencing phenomenal economic gains and a shift to a service economy. A boom in births fueled the growth of suburban areas around cities. Yet not all Americans participated in this good life, and gradually, challenges to the status quo began to mount.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier against black professional baseball players when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became one of the stars of the game. (© AP Images)

America's first star of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, performing on television's "Ed Sullivan Show," September 9, 1956. (© AP Images)

Martin Luther King Jr. escorts children to a previously all-white public school in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1966. (© AP Images)

African Americans launched a movement to guarantee fair treatment everywhere. They won a major victory in 1954 when the Supreme Court ruled that separate educational facilities for black children were not equal to those for white children. The decision started the process of desegregating the nation's public schools. In the 1960s — led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and with the support of President Lyndon Johnson — African Americans won passage of civil rights and voting rights legislation. Some black leaders, such as Malcolm X, argued against interracial cooperation, and some militant calls for reform led to violence. However, many African Americans made quiet, steady progress into the ranks of the middle class, leading to a profound demographic change in American society.

During the 1960s-70s, many American women expressed frustration that they did not have the same opportunities as men. Led by writer Betty Friedan and journalist Gloria Steinem, they organized a movement that helped change laws and traditions to give women the chance to compete equally with men in business and education. However, their efforts to adopt a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women fell short when only 35 of the necessary 38 states ratified it.

A new generation of Native-American leaders organized to defend the rights the government had promised in various treaties with tribal groups. They used the court system to regain control of tribal lands and water rights. They used the legislative process to get the assistance they needed to house and educate their people. The first Native American to be elected to the Senate was Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 1992.

Hispanic Americans, especially those whose families came from Mexico, Central America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, became more politically active, too. They were elected to local, state, and national offices, and they organized to fight discrimination. César Chávez, for example, led a nationwide consumer boycott of California grapes that forced growers to negotiate with his United Farm Workers union for higher wages and improved working conditions.

Many students became politically active to protest the war in Vietnam, which they believed was immoral. They organized large protests that eventually put pressure on President Johnson to begin peace negotiations. Young people also began to reject their parents' cultural values. The most visible signs of the so-called counterculture were long hair, rock-and-roll music, and the use of illegal drugs.

Americans concerned about the environment organized efforts to reduce air and water pollution. The year 1970 saw the first "Earth Day" celebration and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental legislation reflected the need to reduce pollutants without imposing burdensome costs on industries.

The great social changes of the 1950s-1980s grew out of an open, fluid, and diverse society. Demands for change were sometimes peaceful, sometimes deadly. Compromises were necessary. Surely, if sometimes slowly, the United States changed to better reflect its multicultural foundation.