Era. 1961, jfk had been elected president , young, charismatic, a number of promises, so this should give context for where the Womens Movement is coming into play as we work through these overview issues. Now the 1960s, as much promise as there was, we also know there were a lot of issues, particularly racial issues, but it was a period of great change. For those who did find promise in the 1960s, there were those who did not get access to that, individuals and groups fighting for that access. You have the 1967 detroit riots, a series of political assassinations. They have kate in 1963. 1968, the assassination of Martin Luther king jr. And bobby kennedy, so there is fear about with this change means and people are reacting to that. Focusing on jfk, because we will be talking mostly about women in the Civil Rights Movement today, focusing on other womens experiences on wednesday, but to give you an idea, jfk was initially hesitant. We have a legacy now of him as a major shaker in the C
She was pregnant. Approximate her husband had recently traveled to europe where he acquired a drug. It had not been approved yet for use in the United States of america but it was available many european countries. It was used to treat a number of Different Things. Women began taking it to aleave morning sickness and her husband had been in europe. He had acquired some of these pills and brought it back home for her and she takes about 40 of them early on in her pregnancy. They did not know that it causes birth defects. She read an article about the drug, she found out a little bit more and she called her doctor. She started to learn more about what the medicine can do. For children, it can cause brain damage, damage the eyes, nose, ears, face, damage the growth of limbs. And many cases, the children who had been affected by it did not survive at all. In england about half of the babies died within a few months. Somewhere around 10,000 of these children were born. Most in western europ
Hes young, hes charismatic. He had platformed on a number of promises. So this should give a little bit of context where the Womens Movement is coming into play as we work through some of these overview issues. Now, the 60s, as much promise as there was, we also know there are a lot of issues, particularly racial issues. But there was a period of great change, warfare, and for those who did find promise in the 1960s, there were those who didnt get access to that. And so there are a number of individuals and groups fighting for that access. If you look at the 1960s, we had the 1967 detroit riots, a series of political assassinations, jfk in 1963. In 1968, he also have the assassinations of Martin Luther king jr. And bobby kennedy. So there is also a lot of fear about what this change means and a lot of people are reacting to that. Focussing in on jfk because were going to be talking mostly about women in the Civil Rights Movement today. We will be focussing in on other womens experience
So, lets move on to employment discrimination. So, the 1964 Civil Rights Act when it was passed, to sabotage the act, a couple of legislators who were against the act decided to insert a gender clause, thinking that that would sort of cause a lot of people to basically not vote for the act. That backfired. The act got passed anyway. But also, in terms of what it did for race, which weve talked about in the class, it also made it illegal to discriminate based on sex, okay . And so, initially, a lot of womens organizations are pretty optimistic that this will be enforced, but when it is not, of course, a group of women in 1966 founded an Organization Called the National Organization for women. So, n. O. W. , now, is founded in june of 1966 at the third annual conference of commissions on the status of women in washington, d. C. , by its first major organizational meeting in 1966 it was still pretty small, just had about 300 members, but by the early 70s, it had grown to roughly 40,000 me
So, want to start with a little story. In 1963, this woman, sherry finkbein, which is a pseudonym, was featured in a life magazine article. The story was about a choice that her family was facing. She was pregnant. Her husband had recently traveled to europe where he acquired a drug called thalidamide. Thalidomide had not been approved for use in the United States of america but it was approved in european countries. It was used to treat a number of Different Things, anxiety, insomnia, nausea. Nausea is key. Women began taking it to relieve morning sickness. Sherrys husband had been in europe, he acquired these pills and brought them back home for her. Shes pregnant, she takes about 40 of them during early on in her pregnancy. She and her husband did not know that thalidomide causes birth defects. Then she read an article about the drug, found out more, and she called her doctor. She started to learn more about what thalidomide can do. For developing babies, children, thalidomide cause