Chapter 9 Timeline

In Part 2 of this text, significant events of the last 40 years of U.S. social and educational history, from the 1970s through 2005, are listed in each chapter. As in Part 1, these events are illustrative; you might have chosen different ones if you were constructing such a timeline.
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
1962	Students for a Democratic Society formed at Port Huron, Michigan
1962	The Supreme Court orders the University of Mississippi to admit James H. Meredith; Ross Barnett, governor of Mississippi, tries unsuccessfully to block Meredith’s admission
1962	Supreme Court upholds ban on public school prayer
1963	Publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan revitalizes the feminist movement
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	Student Mario Savio leads Free Speech Movement at University of California at Berkeley
1964	Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed
1966	Former teacher Margaret C. McNamara founds Reading is FUNdamental (RIF)
1968	Bilingual Education Act passed
1969	Theodore Roszak publishes The Making of a Counter Culture 250,000 antiwar protestors (the largest antiwar demonstration ever) march on Washington D.C. calling for the United States to leave Vietnam 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
1972	Title IX Educational Amendment passed, outlawing sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal financial assistance
1973	Native Americans defy federal authority at Wounded Knee, South Dakota
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
1980s
1980	Ronald Reagan is elected president, promising to reverse the “liberal trends in government”
1980	Microcomputers begin to appear in U.S. classrooms
1983	A Nation at Risk, a report by the Presidential Commission on Excellence in Education, advocates a “back to basics” education; becomes the first major document in the current reform movement
1984	Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act continues federal aid for vocational education until 1989
1990s
1992	American with Disabilities Act, the most sweeping antidiscrimination legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, guarantees equal access for disabled people
1994	Number of prisoners in state and federal U.S. prisons tops 1 million, giving United States the highest incarceration rate in the world
1996	Clinton signs welfare reform legislation, ending more than 60 years of federal cash assistance to the poor and replacing it with block grants for states to administer
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
2000s
2000	Campaigning on a platform emphasizing ethical character, George W. Bush loses popular vote to Vice President Al Gore but wins the Presidency by a 5–4 Supreme Court ruling ending the recount of disputed votes in Florida
2001	Media giants AOL and Time Warner merge increasing concentration of media ownership
2001	September 11, 2001. Two highjacked commercial airliners destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City marking the worst-ever terrorist attack on American soil. A third highjacked airliner crashes into the Pentagon in Washington DC, while a fourth crashes into rural Pennsylvania. About 3,000 people are killed.
2001	The U.S. launches a retaliatory attack in Afghanistan against terrorist organization al-Qaeda and the Office of Homeland Security is created. Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security is created in November of the following year.
2001	Congress passes bipartisan USA Patriot Act intended to assist the war on terrorism by providing new powers to law enforcement agencies. American Civil Liberties Union and other critics claim the Act removes or weakens essential checks against invasion of privacy.
2002	The U.S. House (voting 296-133) and the U.S. Senate (77-232) gives President Bush support to use military force against Iraq which the White House had mistakenly claimed was developing a program of using weapons of mass destruction. By July 2003, the White House acknowledges inaccuracy of intelligence information.
2002	Republicans emerge from mid-term elections with a new majority in the U.S. Senate and an increased majority in the House of Representatives.
2003	U.S. and allies launch war against Iraq regime and declare victory on May 1. Resistance continues, however, and far more U.S. casualties are sustained after May 1 than before. Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is captured December 13.
2004	President Bush re-elected over Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Victory attributed to Bush campaign’s success in increasing participation among conservative voters impressed with Bush’s strong stand on terrorism and Iraqi War.