Sociology

The 1960s saw the rise of the New Left Movement in America. This movement was a radical step that involved mainly the youth and college students.  The New Left was primarily concerned with the civil rights, antinuclear, and antiwar movements.  Some events during this time are very important parts of American History as they contribute to todays realities.

1960
On February 1, 1960, a group of black college students from North Carolina AT University refused to leave a Woolworths lunch counter in North Carolina where they had been denied service.   This was the first cause of all the other forms of protest against the segregation practices separating the blacks from the whites in America. Activism against oppression and discrimination began, and they were soon supported by other whites from different states. This led to the establishment of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on April of the same year. The SNCC was the  most radical and important youth civil rights organization  and  picketing of Woolworths and other nation chain stores in support of black peoples rights was the first political activity for many northern students and young people.  This was followed by other sit-in incidences in other states.

On November 8, 1960 John F. Kennedy won the Presidential Election. One of his biggest advocacies was the promotion of equality and granting of civil rights.

The Students Democratic Society (SDS) was also formally organized in 1960. It was given new life and direction by two students of the University of Michigan, Al Haber and Tom Hayden. During this year,  Haber organized a Conference on Human Rights at the University of Michigan which attracted hundreds of students from mostly mid-western universities  and in this conference, the agenda on how to stop racial discrimination was the main topic.

1961
During this year, the New Left movement became more intense. On May 4, 1961,  An interracial group of protesters board buses and travel to the South to test President Kennedys commitment to civil rights.  This group were known in history as the Freedom Riders, a group of combined whites and blacks intent on fighting for equal treatment in the society. On July of the same year, the New Left movement also took upon their concern the possibility of nuclear war and helped  coordinate worldwide protests against nuclear weapons .

1962
Two years after SDS was established, youth activists still continued with their advocacies. From June 11 to 15  of 1962,  approximately fifty students met in Port Huron, Michigan and adopted a guiding document which was to become known as the Port Huron Statement  which contained the agenda for generation. In this convention,  SDS students reached a consensus that their upbringing and education had poorly prepared them for the real world.  The Port Huron statement contained the beliefs and values that the youth and students fight for and committed the member of SDS to radical activism.

1964
America became more and more concerned with the Vietnam War during Lyndon Johnsons administration. It was also in this year when the Free Speech Movement was launched on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. It was a  first decisive development that occurred outside the framework of the southern civil rights movement  and  it laid down the terms for many others.

On June 22, SNCC organized the Freedom Summer  to increase voter registration and build grassroots political party in Mississippi  but because the activists had many enemies, it led to the murder of three young members of the organization.

1965
The April of 1965   marked the beginning of the anti-war movement on a national scale and the expansion of the student movement into a mass movement . Because of Americas growing participation in the wars outside the country, more protests were occurring inside.

1966
Stokely Carmichael took over the SNCC and launched a more violent  Black Power  movement.

1968
In Atlanta,  students conducted a three-day sit-in at the American Building to protest the unequal treatment of female students  in April. Student movements were becoming more powerful and widespread, and they tackled a lot of different social issues happening during this time.

1969
Up until the end of the 1960s, campus uprisings continued to become more prevalent in the country.  Opposed to U.S. Political leadership and dissatisfied with American culture, student activists held demonstrations across the state and experimented with lifestyle changes in the hope of effecting fundamental change in American life  and the movements for social change continued to prevail in the coming of the 1970s.