Progress Since The 1960s

Politics
1. There's only been limited success in national politics.
2. Only 121 black Americans have been elected to Congress since 1880.
3. Shirley Chisholm: First black woman elected to congress in 1968.
4. In 1972 she lost the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party to George McGovern.
5. Carol Moseley: First black woman elected as US Senator in January 1993.
6. Colin Powell: First black American to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989 and held this position during the Golf War of 1990-91.
7. He was the first black Secretary of State from 2001-05.
Economics
1. By 1960, large numbers of black Americans continued to live under the poverty line.
2. Experienced greater deprivation than white Americans as they generally lived in poorer areas and went to poorer schools.
3. One University study showed that a middle class black American with a PhD had less chance of living in a white neighbourhood than a Spanish-American who left school after third grade.
4. Many banks still refused to grant black Americans mortgages even though they could afford expensive homes.
Education
1. There was still some opposition to integration in schools even after the Civil Rights Bill of 1964.
2. However some schools tried to ensure integration and ethnic mix by bussing students across racial divides.
3. President Nixon was against bussing and in 1973 the Supreme Court banned it.
4. Still hardly any racial mix in some cities by 1978.
5. From 1980-2007, the college enrolment rates for black Americans increased from 44% - 56%.
Sport
1. Black athletes always excelled in sports but in some fields they were either excluded or could only participate in segregated games.
2. Muhammad Ali emerged as world heavyweight champion in 1960. He won the title three times and dominated sport for more than twenty years. He is viewed as the best boxer ever by boxing experts.
3. Carl Lewis won nine gold Olympic medals, four of which were at the 1984 L.A. Olympics.
4. Michael Johnson holds the record for the most medals won by any athlete.
5. In the 1984 Olympics, only 6% of all American women participating were black and they won 75% of all track and field events.
Television
1. Produced many T.V. programmes which created black American stars.
2. A 1999 Screen Actors Guild study showed that sixteen per cent of characters on network television were black Americans.
3. This statistic is significant when compared that only thirteen percent of the American population was black at the time of the study.
4. Oprah Winfrey has her own T.V. chat show but is also an actress, producer and philanthropist, She is one of the most richest people in the country and a role model.
5. Despite all these successes, black Americans have found it difficult to break into the world of sports presentation. Only in the past few years sportscasters such as Greg Gumbel moved into prestigious network positions.
Literature
1. Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1973.
2. Writers such as Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are internationally renowned.
3. Robert Hayden became the first black American poet laureate 1976-78.
Cinema
1. Produced many black stars such as Eddie Murphy, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman and Whoopi Goldberg.
2. Denzel Washington became the 2nd black American to win an Oscar and has played iconic roles such as Malcolm X.
3. One of the most influential directors has been Spike Lee who has examined race relations, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty.
Music
1. Made enormous contributions to the world of popular music.
2. In the 1960s, the record label, Tamla Motown, produced starts such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5.
3. From the Jackson 5 emerged Michael Jackson who is still a worldwide pop music phenomenon.
4. His 1982 album, Thriller, topped music charts all over the world and will go down in history as the biggest selling album of all time.

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Progress Since The 1960s

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	Created by Rozlind Msfts almost 9 years ago