Tag Archives: rights

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Alfaro

In June 11, 1963, during a national television address about civil rights, John F. Kennedy stated: “We preach freedom around the world…, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is a land of the free except for Negroes?” (Foner 921) Kennedy was killed few months after this presentation without enacting his civil rights bill, in which, among other points, he proposes the right to vote to blacks. One hundred years before Kennedy’s speech about civil rights, Abraham Lincoln expressed in his last public address his support to black suffrage. Like Kennedy, Lincoln was assassinated few days later.  

 After many years of struggle and opposition to the idea of giving blacks the same rights that whites enjoyed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major conquest that black people needed in order to fortify their participation in political life. Therefore, from my point of view, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most important legislation of that time. Not only presidents or politicians like Robert Kennedy were assassinated, but also popular African American civil rights activists like Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King Jr. were killed.

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1969- Gay Liberation

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Kin

Before the formation of the gay rights organizations, gays and lesbians were viewed as having a mental disorder. In society, gays and lesbians were frowned upon and discriminated through harassment and laws prohibiting homosexual acts. With the formation of the first gay right organization in 1951, the Mattachine Society worked to convince that gays and lesbians were the same as the average Americans, except for their difference in sexual preferences.

In 1969, the “gay liberation” occurred, in which homosexuals resist and revolt against the police raiding a homosexual bar in Greenwich Village, New York City. The riot lasted for five days leading to the start of the movement, in which gays began to fight for their rights. Without the Mattachine Society, homosexuals might not have thought of themselves as normal/equal to everyone else, which in turn lead to their riot for their freedom. If the riot did not occur, we may still discriminate against homosexuals and impose unjust laws against them.

The video below displays the 2009 gay pride parade in New York City. The parade occurs every year and has become an international event. Through the actions of the organization and individuals fighting for what they believe in, it has changed our views on other and made understand/tolerate others differences.

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Women’s Suffrage Debate

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Johnny

This picture was taken in 1971 in front of the White House. Women are picketing for their rights to vote. Women finally started to have a movement for their rights to vote. It eventually led to the Nineteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution which prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen’s sex.

This event is very important because it let women vote. If this had not happened, women wouldn’t be able to vote even in now days. Also it happened not only in the United States but also in other parts of the world. It shows how women were treated unfairly and now that from these movements, they are slowly getting back their rights as a human being. Women are finally taking actions!!

This image is from : http://americancivilwar.com/women/Womens_Suffrage/picket_white_house.jpg

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