NOTEWORTHY EVENTS FROM THE "ERA OF ACTIVISM"

Publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

Sep 27, 1962

Silent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement.

Publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique

Mar 30, 1963

Published in 1963, it depicted the roles of women in industrial societies, especially the full-time homemaker role, which Friedan deemed stifling. Friedan speaks of her own 'terror' at being alone, and observes in her life never once seeing a positive female role-model who worked and also kept a family. She provides numerous accounts of housewives who feel similarly trapped.

Publication of Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed

Nov 30, 1965

Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety. It was a pioneering work, openly polemical but containing substantial references and material from industry insiders. It made Nader a household name.

NOW is Founded

Jun 30, 1966

NOW was founded on June 30, 1966, in Washington, D.C., by 28 women and men attending the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women, the successor to the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. It had been three years since the Commission reported findings of women being discriminated against.

UFW’s Nationwide Boycott of Grapes Picked on Nonunion Farms

Aug 22, 1966

The UFW's first target was the grape growers of California. Chávez, like Martin Luther King, Jr., believed in nonviolent action. In 1967, when growers refused to grant more pay, better working conditions, and union recognition, Chávez organized a successful nationwide consumer boycott of grapes picked on nonunion farms. Later boycotts of lettuce and other crops also won consumer support across the country.

Woodstock

Aug 15, 1969

Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969.

Congress passes the Clean Air Act

Jan 1, 1970

The Clean Air Act is the federal law designed to make sure that all Americans have air that is safe to breathe. Public health protection is the primary goal, though the law also seeks to protect our environment from damage caused by air pollution.

First Earth Day Celebration

Apr 22, 1970

Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.

The EPA is Established

Dec 2, 1970

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formed many years ago, America had just awakened to the seriousness of its environmental pollution problem. Creation of EPA was part of the response to growing public concern and a grass roots movement to "do something" about the deteriorating conditions of water, air, and land.

Supreme Court Rules to Legalize Abortion in the Roe vs. Wade Case

Jan 22, 1973

A landmark, controversial decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests for regulating abortions.

Protesters from the AIM take over the reservation at Wounded Knee

Feb 28, 1973

Just three months after AIM made national press in their takeover of the BIA headquarters in Washington they made the headlines once again when they seized the village for a seventy-one day takeover of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota. When AIM was originally asked to come out to the reservation AIM people claimed they wanted to stay out of local politics of the Sioux nation. But when the fight became the Sioux people versus the US Government, they were willing to help.