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Period: to
1955-1975
Civil Rights activism took off and gained much momentum and eventually ended discrimination against black people in America, the Cold War continued in the form of the space race in an attempt between America and Russia to be the first country to land on the moon as well as the threat of nuclear war arising yet again, and welfare increased and was given to more people than ever, while a war in Vietnam arose and sprouted a generation of activists who protested it. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 1 1955, Rosa Parks, who was a black woman, refused to give up her seat to a white man while on a city bus in Montgomery Alabama. This started the civil rights movement that led to people boycotting buses in the city. The boycott lasted a year during which Parks lost her job, before the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation illegal. This was a big victory for black people who were sadly still discriminated against 90 years after slavery ended. -
NASA
As the Cold War continued, America and Russia started to compete for control of space exploration. In 1958, after Russia successfully sent the world's first orbiting satellite to space, America responded by creating NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for space exploration and study, led by German scientist Wernher Von Braun. NASA soon sent satellites of their own into orbit. -
The Bay of Pigs
When America tried to overthrow Fidel Castro, the new leader of Cuba, because of his communistic way of ruling in 1961, the soldiers were counting on Cuban citizens to help them in their fight. However, it turned out that many Cubans liked Castro’s rule, and wanted him to stay in power, and so actually fought against America alongside the Cuban army when Americans invaded Girón Beach at the Bay of Pigs. The Americans were taken prisoner, and tensions between the two countries escalated. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Fidel Castro soon gained a relationship with Russia and so the Soviets gave nuclear bombs to Cuba and set up a base from which the bombs could be launched. This led Americans to worry about the threat of nuclear weapons and it became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thankfully America and the Soviets eventually came to a nonviolent agreement. America would remove all of its missiles from Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba again if the Soviet Union would remove the nuclear bombs from Cuba. -
The March on Washington
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist preacher who fought for Civil Rights for black people following the Bus Boycott. King led a ‘March on Washington’ in 1963 to advocate for equal treatment of all people in America, and gave his iconic speech ‘I Have a Dream’. In his speech King spoke of how he dreamed that all peoples would come together, be equal and glorify God. King's speech was effective and helped bring the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964, and received a Nobel Peace Prize for it. -
The Vietnam War Begins
After there had been much unrest between northern Vietnam which was communist and southern Vietnam which was allied with America, there were reports in 1964 that northern Vietnamese ships had fired at American Navy ships, leading Lyndon Johnson to use that as an excuse to go to war that would last for a decade. This led to much unrest back in America as many activists were protesting the American troops being sent to Vietnam, while many of the soldiers were simply trying to serve their country. -
Johnson’s Great Society
President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” was intended to help people who were poor by passing multiple acts in an attempt to end poverty. Johnson’s “war on poverty” included training people and giving them better education so they could have higher level higher paying jobs. In 1965 Johnson established Medicare, a social security program that gave seniors medical and hospital insurance, as well as Medicaid, which gave healthcare to those who could not afford it. -
The Moon Landing
On July 20 1969, the goal NASA had been working towards for the last decade and counting had finally come. The Apollo 11 space shuttle had landed on the moon, carrying the first people to ever be there. Astronaut Neil Armstrong exited the shuttle shortly thereafter and was officially the first human being to walk on the moon. It was then that Armstrong said what would become one of the most memorable quotes in history. “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”