US History—Jacobsen Spring 2016
The New Left: Students for a Democratic Society
Preamble
Students for a Democratic Society is an association of young people on the left. It seeks to create a sustained community of educational and political concern: one bringing together liberals and radicals, activists and scholars, students and faculty.
It maintains a vision of a democratic society, where at all levels the people have control of the decisions which affect them and the resources on which they are dependent. It seeks a relevance through the continual focus on realities and on the programs necessary to effect change at the most basic levels of economic, political, and social organization. It feels the urgency to put forth a radical, democratic program counterposed to authoritarian movements both of Communism and the domestic Right. [From 1965, "program whose methods embody the democratic vision."]
Article I: Name
The name of the organization shall be Students for a Democratic Society.
Article III: Membership
Section 1. Membership is open to students, faculty and others who share the commitment of the organization to democracy as a means and as a social goal.
-- Students for a Democracy Society, Adopted by the National Convention, June 1962
US History—Jacobsen Spring 2016
The New Left: Second-Wave Feminism
Context: In 1968 a group of feminists went to Atlantic City to protest the Miss America pageant. They originally intended to burn symbols of oppression in a "Freedom Trashcan" but were unable to secure a fire permit. The objects were simply deposited in the trashcan instead. Several members of the group managed to display a large protest banner inside the pageant.
We Protest
1 The Degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol. The Pageant contestants epitomize the roles we are all forced to play as women. The parade down the runway blares the...