7020 - Modern Challenges (Lesson)

Modern Challenges

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Environmentalism

Published in 1962, Silent Spring was a book that exposed the dangers of synthetic pesticides use in the United States. The book’s author, Rachel Carson, was one of the nation’s first environmentalists calling on an understanding of the role humans played in damaging the environment. Silent Spring became a sensation in the 1970s and prompted reforms at the dangers of chemicals, pollution, and other environmental hazards. In extension of Carson’s work, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin launched the world’s first Earth Day in 1970. Mirroring the anti-war protest of the era, Earth Day centered around rallies for conservation and protection of the Earth and its resources. Today, Earth Day is a global celebration and movement of awareness held on April 22nd.

Combined, these efforts would help lead to government intervention and reform. At the end of 1970, the United States government founded the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The EPA is tasked with monitoring environmental conditions and hazards, promoting legislation to protect our environment, and enforcement of violations.

Women's Movement

Photograph of Betty Friedan

Minorities, especially African Americans, rejoiced with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination based on a number of factors including race and ethnicity. Within the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was Title VII which forbade the discrimination of women. While women had gained suffrage under the 19th Amendment in 1920, their access to equality still lagged behind. Women did not have equal opportunity to social and economic advancement and equality.

As with the Civil Rights movement, women organized a women’s rights movement to protest the inequality. Led by Betty Friedan, whose book The Feminine Mystique had reignited women’s rights arguments, women organized marches and rallies to push for more protections. Friedan would join with Dr. Pauli Murray to form the National Organization of Women (NOW) in 1966. The goal of NOW was to promote equality among women and men and promote participation of women in political reform.

 

 

Silent Spring

RACHEL CARSON, PUBLIC DOMAIN

BETTY FRIEDAN BY FRED PALUMBO, WORLD TELEGRAM STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. RESTORED BY ADAM CUERDEN - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. NEW YORK WORLD-TELEGRAM & SUN COLLECTION, PUBLIC DOMAIN