African Americans
African Americans continued their fight for equality with a bevy of significant events spanning from 1940 to the late 1980s. Literature went from pages to podiums to dominating airwaves and television screens. In the 1950s, the Beat Generation was becoming a pandemic for white, middle cla** Americans in the North and Pacific Northwest, however the unethical enforcement of Jim Crow laws limited the freedom of coloured folks in the North and strongly in the South; the unlawful and tight restrictions lead individuals to rally together and challenge the System. By the late 1960s, change had occurred, but at a substantial loss to the African American community. The climate of America shifted in the 1970s as veterans returned from war to a gradually unifying land with many cultural shifts, and women made their presence known.
1940-African Americans begin to soar to new heights
1952-Ralph Ellison published "Invisible Man"
“Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-a**uring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.”
1954-Brown v. Board of Education
1955-Speak softly, but...-- The Civil Rights Movement Began
1963-The hatred of whites towards blacks became paramount even while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was at his peak.
1964-The Civil Rights Act is implemented
1965-As African Americans gained more rights, they loss more leaders.
1966-...Carry a big stick-- The Black Panther Party was Founded
From The Black Panther Party 10-Point Platform:
# 6 "We want all Black men to be exempt from military service. We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and k** other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the white racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary."
1968-The a**a**ination of Robert F. Kennedy; the a**a**ination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have Been to the Mountain Top"
1969- Ted Joans publishes "Black Powwow"
1970-Toni Morrison publishes "The Bluest Eye"
1973-Dinnuendo of the Movement. By the mid 1970s, African Americans had achieved a great deal of rights, causing a decline in the ardent presence of civil/social organizations.
1978-Enter the Sopranos and Altos-- African American Women make their presence known as members of society as well as literary figures.
1988-Explicit Content: The presence of "gangster rap" was controversial not only because of it's violent and p**nographic nature, but because of it's brutally honest portrayal of a new Jim Crow.