Chapter 11 Timeline

 

For the purposes of studying Chapter 11, you might ask of each decade: Which events have the most direct significance for the issue of liberal education discussed in this chapter?

1960's

1960

Six years after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision against school segregation, the modern “sit‑in” movement begins when four black students from North Carolina A&T College sit at a “whites‑only” Woolworth’s lunch counter and refuse to leave when denied service

1961

Michael Harrington publishes The Other America, revealing widespread poverty in United States

1962

The All‑African Organization of Women is founded to discuss the right to vote, activity in local and national governments, women in education, and medical services for women

1963

More than 200,000 marchers from all over the United States stage the largest protest demonstration in the history of Washington, D.C.; the “March on Washington” procession moves from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial; Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King delivers “I Have a Dream” speech

1964

Economic Opportunity Act funds Job Corps and Head Start programs

1966

Former teacher Margaret C. McNamara founds Reading is FUNdamental (RIF)

1968

Large scale antiwar demonstrations (Columbia and other universities and Democratic Convention)

 

Rioting in poor urban neighborhoods

 

American Indian Movement (AIM) launched

 

Alicia Escalante forms East Los Angeles Welfare Rights Organization, the first Chicano welfare rights group

1969

The Stonewall rebellion in New York City marks the beginning of the gay rights movement

1970s

1970

A subcommittee of the House of Representatives holds hearings on sex discrimination in education, the first in U.S. history

1971

Sidney Marland calls for career education for all students at all grade levels

1973

Supreme court bars state restrictions on abortions (Roe v. Wade)

1975

Congress passes Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94‑142)

1978

For the first time in American history more women than men enter college

1979

The Moral Majority is founded, forming a new coalition of conservative and Christian fundamentalist voters in resistance to “liberal excesses” of 1960s and early 1970s

1979

U.S.‑supported dictator Shah of Iran flees revolution; Iranian militants seize 66 U.S. hostages, and nightly television coverage for next 444 days of captivity establishes news program, Nightline

1980s

1980

One million African‑American students enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States

1980

Ronald Reagan is elected president, promising to reverse the “liberal trends in government”

1981

IBM personal computer is marketed

1982

Unemployment exceeds 10 percent for first time since great depression of 1930s; federal budget deficit exceeds $100 million for first time

1984

Education for Economic Security Act (Public Law 98‑377) passed, adding new science and math programs at all levels of schooling

1984

Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act continues federal aid for vocational education until 1989

1989

L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes first African‑American to be elected a state governor.

1990s

1991

Congress passes $1.3 billion amendments to Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act

1991

Unemployment rate rises to highest level in a decade

1992

American with Disabilities Act, the most sweeping antidiscrimination legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guarantees equal access for disabled people

1992

With unemployment at 7.8 percent, Bill Clinton defeats George Bush and Ross Perot for presidency; Bush pardons six Reagan administration officials for involvement in scandal involving trading arms to Iran for money to be used in secret U.S. involvement in Nicaragua

1993

United States follows other industrialized nations with Family Leave Act that guarantees workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for medical emergencies

1996

Census Bureau reports that the gap between the richest 20 percent of Americans and everyone else has reached postwar high

1997

U.S. economy continues to grow, driving unemployment below 5 percent for first time in 24 years; Dow Jones industrial average tops 7,000 in February and 8,000 in July; mergers and acquisitions of major corporations reach all‑time high

1998

President Clinton announces budget surplus of over $70 billion, the first since 1969 and the largest ever

1999

Dow Jones hits record high above 11,000 shares

1999

Kansas Board of Education votes against testing any Kansas students on science curriculum related to theory and science of evolution (but it would be restored in 2001 by new School Board)

1999

Federal Communications Commission loosens restrictions on any one company controlling too much of the cable industry, allowing AT&T to win more than a third of the nation’s TV, phone, and high‑speed Internet franchises

1999

For fourth straight year, Senate Republicans kill legislation to reform nation’s campaign finance system by using filibuster to prevent cloture vote

2000’s

2000

A team of U.S. scientists and one British scientist announce they have determined the structure of the human genome

2001

Energy-trading company Enron becomes the largest firm ever to file for bankruptcy, leading to far-reaching financial and political scandal

2001

President Bush announces U.S. withdrawal from the 1972
Antiballistic Missile Treaty

2003

Californians vote to recall Governor Gray Davis, replacing him with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger

2003

U.S. unemployment rises to highest level in nine years, 6.4%.  White House projects $450 billion budget deficit for 2003, the largest in U.S. history.

2004

J.P. Morgan Chase acquires Bank One for $58 billion and stock, further concentrating wealth.