...Fighting for Equality SS310-12 April 29th, 2012 Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men (dictionary, 2012). The Feminist Movement that occurred in the 1960s was one of the most influential and life changing events that has happened throughout history. The last fight for equality that took place for females before this was during the early 1900s where women were fighting for the right to vote. It took 40 years for women to come together and fight for even more opportunities and rights that they deserved. This is one of the largest events that happened during this time and the event from the 1960s which has affected my life the most. The social and legal barriers before the Feminist movement of the 1960s suggested that women were second to men and were subordinate to men. A women’s place in life was to listen and obey. Women were discriminated against and exploited in the work place. They were denied the admittance to reproductive and sexual freedom (Goodwin, 1999). After a certain point, women had had enough. They began to join together and start fighting against the social norms and demanded equal rights because they will no longer be considered the “second sex”. Many laws were passed in the 1960s because of the fight these women went through. The first was The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (USA.GOV, 2012). The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same...
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...Equality Equality is something doesn’t come easy. It can have different meanings to different people. In “Harrison Bergeron” (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.), “I Have a Dream” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), and “If We Must Die” (Claude McKay) equality is the missing piece of the puzzle. These three writing pieces show different ways that equality can affect and change a person’s life. It shows that without equality big disasters in society may happen. To start off, in “I Have a Dream” Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a heartwarming speech that convinced many people across the United States to fight for equal rights. Some of the rights that African American people were fighting for where for example the right for freedom and justice. Although they were fighting for equal rights they were also fighting for a change in people’s hearts towards African American people. This is stated in speech when Martin Luther King Jr. states “…where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr. is trying to tell us that even...
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...American Struggle for Equality 1865 Black in America HIS204: American History Since 1865 (BUH1131B) African American Struggle for Equality 1865 Black in America Even though he African American from 1865 to today there will still be some out there that will say that there have been advances in a positive way for African Americans but there is still more to be done. Some will say that there are more African Americans in jail, poverty, and low wage jobs than any other American. Being an African American from 1865 to current date and time seems to have been a great sacrifice by many in American history for many living in this current time because today we have African Americans in important positions in all walks of life in Politics and Business. African Americans went from Slavery to fighting in wars from Civil war all the way up to the Afghanistan War and are now fighting side by side with people of all colors, ethnicity, gender and origin, and From Slavery to equality to the first Black President in American History. First, Being an African American from 1865 to current date and time seems to have been a great sacrifice by many in American history for many living in this current time because today we have African Americans in important positions in all walks of life in Politics and Business. Additionally, African Americans went from Slavery to fighting in wars from Civil war all the way up to the Afghanistan War and are now fighting side by side with...
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...months after the battle of Gettysburg, he spoke at the funeral of the soldiers who had passed away. He wanted to dedicate a cemetery to them for all of their fighting and to convince people that the government is corrupt and needs to be fixed. He ends up conveying this message through the simple structure of his speech, and by using very clear explicit exhortation to persuade them to help fix the government. Lincoln draws attention to how America’s government has changed over time through the structure of his speech. His first paragraph is the smallest paragraph. It talks about the past. The government based on the idea “that all men are created equal”....
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...Park, who fought for civil rights, or Francis Wright, who played an important role in women’s right movement, and many more. Now in our time, women have well paid jobs and successful lifestyles, with good careers because of these women, that helped shape are society and changed what were stereotypes to men, to equality of comprehension in women. Therefore, women should have the right to choose if they want to get an education and work, or become housewives. It is important for women to have the right to choose because it is a different era, they should be treated equally with men, and the rise of feminism has changed the social norms of society over the years. To begin with, the article of “Women’s Rights: Then and now,” talks about very important times, when women had no rights, or equality among men. Women were not allowed to vote, study, or work in the twentieth century because the only priorities given to women, were to giving birth and take care of the offerings. In addition, women were not allowed outside unless the husband gave them approval to step outside. As a result, women began to fight for their rights because of discrimination and unfairness of equality. As the years went by, and laws changed, women now have successful careers and equal rights as men do. Therefore, showing that it is a different era, where society is breaking away from social gender stereotypes and women should have the right to choose whether to work, or not. Secondly,...
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...Musonius Rufus Throughout history equality has served to be one of the most desired qualities of a nation. Whether dealing with race, class, or gender, equality has always sought to be obtained. However it is of upmost importance that whoever is fighting for this equality to have pure and equal intent for all. Musonius Rufus fights for equal education amongst men and women in the topic of philosophy but then turns around and expresses a list that exemplifies the ideal life of a woman. Including that she must be “a good housekeeper” as well as “content with her lot and to work with her own hands.” He is encouraging women to study philosophy so that they can become better housewives to please their husbands, not so that they can live a wholesome life of their own. Fighting for equality must be pure in intent or else the argument is hypocritical in itself (Rufus 2). Although Musonius did backlash on himself his argument did start strong and in the right direction. At first he looked at education alone, fighting for equal education amongst men and women. He touched on the topic of reasoning and how because men and women are both given the “gift of reason” and “natural inclination toward virtue” they are both equals and therefore should receive the same education in philosophy. By allowing them to have equal education Musonius believes that they are both now capable to achieve greatness because they have a better understanding of life. This understanding of life that Musonius...
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...Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued cases about women's rights in front of the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg advocated for gender equality, inspired others to fight for equal rights, was the second woman on the Supreme Court, and changed laws on gender equality. Advocating for gender equality made Ruth Bader Ginsburg eminent. She strongly advocated gender equality during her life (“Ruth Bader Ginsburg”, 2022). Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued cases about gender equality in front of courts. Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued more than 300 gender equality cases (Capstone, n. d.). She always voted in favor of equal rights for everyone. She was said to be liberal (“Ruth Bader Ginsburg”, 2022). In 1980, she became a member of the U. S. Court of Appeals (Capstone,...
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...for equality was everywhere. Women, African Americans, gays, lesbians, Native Americans and many more groups who considered themselves “singled out” fought a enormous battle that at the time,a battle that often seemed like it would never end. In fact, some will argue the fact that we are still fighting for equality and rights for all people, today. The “feminist movement” as it was often referred to as, began in the 1960s and drug into the early 1970s. As a woman during this time, you were expected to all lead the same life, get married in your early 20s, have a few babies right away, then take care of cleaning and caring for the children for the rest of eternity. That preceding sentence, I bet has already...
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...movement was only to created to end sexism. Author Bell Hooks states that anyone who supports feminist politics needs to comprehend the fact that the work does not end with the fight for gender equality (Hooks, 662). Many womanists would believe that feminism was only created by middle-class white women for middle-class white women, and they would be correct. Many feminists only believe in equal rights for middle-class...
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...The book Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers contains many themes and one of the important themes is equality. The theme is not one that could be easily picked up on but it is important. The theme of equality was demonstrated numerous times in the book. Equality can be shown different ways with each of the soldiers who were fighting against communism. Equality was shown between the men fighting against communism. The soldiers fighting against communism were mostly African American men, with little to no white men. They all had the same thing in the end. Most of them had the same mind set, to kill VC sympathizers, and to get out of Vietnam ad quick as possible. Each of them were given the same opportunity, to fight against communism, whether...
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...Diversity is what keeps society curious, without it, we’d be an empty glass of water slowly sinking in the deepest seas of the Mediterranean. In Melba Pattillo Beal’s memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba provides a picture of the rough times of the mid 1950s in the of racial prejudice. The life-long battle altered Melba’s mindset to being determined to help all African-Americans in every way she. Segregation used their strong discernment to bring down African-Americans. Melba’s initial objective was to accumulate a better education, which transformed into fighting for equal rights as she responded with resilience toward segregationists. Melba had entered Central High to gain the best education possible. She’d dreamed of attending Central...
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...Throughout the history of the world, there have been many cases of discrimination. People have been persecuted for religion, race, language, culture, gender and many more reasons besides. Though through recent years more and more people are fighting against this and towards a future of unity and equality. They, as well as I, believe that we can live as one human race. In the speech, “A Quilt of a Country,” by Anna Quindlen. She starts off with the statement, “A mongrel nation built of ever changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion that all men are created equal…” The United States of America is that mongrel nation. “[It] is a unique country that stands for something special in the world.” We have the beginnings...
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...and “The Gettysburg Address” share a common purpose of persuading people to come together and continue the fight towards equality through rhetorical strategies such as allusion and pathos. Throughout the texts, the authors use allusion, like in paragraph 1 of “The Gettysburg Address” and in paragraph 10 of “Letters from Birmingham”, and pathos, like in paragraph 2 of “The Gettysburg Address” and paragraph 8 of “Letters from Birmingham Jail”. Allusion is a rhetorical strategy that refers to something real or fictional, to someone, some event, etc. The authors use allusion in the text to advance their purpose. In the speech “The Gettysburg Address”, Abraham Lincoln alludes to Revolutionary War in the first few words “Four score and seven years ago”. Alluding to our Founding Fathers during the Revolutionary...
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...back which she refused to do, and she was physically dragged from the train as the white passengers applauded. Wells became a journalist after that incident and led an anti-lynching crusade, as well as forming groups fighting for African-American justice. Ida B. Wells affected America culturally by informing the public about racial and women rights, psychologically by changing how individual’s thought about...
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...African-Americans having equality. The fact of the matter was Whites were not ready to accept African-Americans as citizens with the same amount of equal rights. Unfortunately, African-Americans would face numerous trials and tribulations fighting for racial equalities. African-Americans’ social equalities progression increased with the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau. In March 1865, Congress established the Bureau “for the supervision and management of all abandoned lands… all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen.” The Bureau in education played a significant role in the development of transforming former slaves into regular citizens. However, African-Americans found it hard to believe that they attain an education due to “the doubts of the old folks about book-learning.” The older generation’s submissive thinking did not solely interrupt the Bureau’s progress but the African-Americans’ progress as well. Despite the negativity that loomed around the Freedmen’s Bureau, it still showed promising productivity that can establish educated and non-submissive African-Americans. Following the end of the Freedmen’s Bureau, African-Americans’ continued to face mental deprivation and social inequality. With the help of philosophers such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington they provided assistance for African-Americans that lacked guidance. These men shared ideas of African-Americans finding a role in America’s society by hard work. Regardless of both men fighting for the...
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