Our Progress as a Nation

In the United States, there have been several trends that transformed the progression of our nation. However, a more profound change occurred during the 1960’s as the countercultural movement, civil rights, and the Vietnam war. From 1946-1964, the “baby boomer” generation rejected the ambition, morals, politics, and social value of their parents.

Therefore, the traditional “baby boomers” and hippies were able to define the counterculture movement since they weren’t restricted to the culture and social standard of their era. Some of the attributes of counterculture adopted a distinctive style of appearance and clothing like long hair, bell-bottom jeans, peasant skirts etc… Student and young people were also drawn to abuse drug substances like marijuana and LSD which was identified mostly with minority race. Besides, they denied the monogamous relationship and adopted to favor of communal living like “free love”.

Similarly, the counterculture disregarded standard religions, so that individuals were attracted to become devoted to Hinduism, Buddhism and the Jesus Development. The types of imaginative articulation incorporated the mind browning art often found on concert posters for high-profile groups of the 1960s, like the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, and Grateful Dead as well as artists similar to Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

In the 1960’s, men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Led the Civil Rights movement that openly dismissed their marginalization, urged to stand up for themselves and demanded to be treated equally like white Americans. Even though it was not frequently with violence and bigotry. Instead, it gave white America a new perspective of how to deal with racial inequality. Additionally, several minority groups in the United States started to protest against their subordinates and proposed that they ought to be treated equally like other citizens. Consistently, women gay and lesbians used the same strategies so that they can be treated fairly in social, political and economic.

Although the civil right movement was a time of hardship, it also helped to raise the awareness of racism which led to success. In 1964, the U.S Congress passed the civil right act of 1964, the voting right of 1965, followed by the civil right act of 1968. These rights restricted the discrimination against minorities based on his or her race, ethnicity and gender. Later, the United States government implemented laws that uphold toward minority equality so that they can ensure that they acquire similar opportunities for privilege white Americans like employment and housing.

Overall, there have been countless events that happened in the 1960’s. However, there is probably none more significant than the “Vietnam war” in spite of the fact that the American military had been involved in conflict before. It came up with one of the most intensely debated issues in decades. Thus, this led the United States into the war in Vietnam so that they can stop the spread of communism in Asia. The U.S supported South Vietnam to defeat the Vietcong. Consequently, many young American was drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam, which led to the deaths of 58,000 American soldiers.