1960: The Age Of Embracement

Introduction

Hook: When thinking about the 1960s, you may think of this decade as being “groovy,” disco filled, psychedelic, and bright. But when you dig a little deeper down to the groundworks of the 1960s, you may find that it was also a troubling time where people struggled to be their true selves and had to fight for their freedom of being able to embrace their true colors. Thesis: The decade of the 1960s was the age of embracement because of the influence of The Beatles music in the US, the “Black is Beautiful” movement, and sexual freedom with the pill.

The Beatles Influence on the US

Topic Sentence: The Beatles coming to the US in 1964 hit the country by storm causing a new embracement of ideas, along with a change in music for the first time in a while. Paraphrase 1: After their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, fans were going wild over this new boy band with the psychedelic music that gave listeners a feel of upbeat vibes and happiness. Their music truly encouraged their fans to have fun with life and embrace their true colors through this newly introduced pop music culture behind all of this Beatlemania craze (History. com). Paraphrase 2: Within the first few months of being in the US, The Beatles had already taken over the music charts and been placed in the top 5 for BillBoard Pop Music across the country. Several of their songs made surrounding the idea of love embraced the positive feelings inside of people and brought some good to the country during a bad time of protests, segregation, wars, and assassinations (CultureSonar). Quote: “The ultimate pop phenomenon, they appear everywhere in the '60s: on TV, movie screens, magazine covers, lunch boxes, dolls, dishes and more. Beatlemania influences hairstyles and clothing, but most of all, the Beatles revolutionized music. ” (PBS). Paraphrase 3: This very popular boy band of 4 not only influenced and embraced a new way of music, but they also brought a new type of style to America. They wore black, floral shorts, bright colors, and collared shirts galore. And as expected, immediately fans all over began to dress like this to represent these superstars. This became a way of trying to embrace the US’s newly found pop culture, along with fans buying wigs to truly be like The Beatles (History. com).

“Black is Beautiful”

Topic Sentence: The “Black is Beautiful” movement was started to help black men and, specifically, women be able to freely embrace the true aspects of their selves that were hidden because of white supremacy. Quote: “The intersection of West 125th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem was, for decades, a center of black nationalism. Street orators — that’s what they were called — climbed onto stepladders and made impassioned calls for African liberation. ” (NYTimes). Paraphrase 1: For decades, black women have been told to dress a certain way, wear their hair a certain way, talk a certain way just because of the darker color of their skin. None of these women have ever been able to embrace their natural hair, lips, or body shape because of the degradingness of the 1900s from both the white supremacy and some members of their own race (NYTimes). Paraphrase 2: The Black is Beautiful movement was a huge stepping point towards where women could feel comfortable leaving their homes with their natural hair. The main goal of this movement was to prove that women could take control of who they truly are and that the white supremacy couldn’t stop them anymore. These empowered women took over runways and photoshoots with the new all-natural look of their culture that magazines fell in love with. All of this attention from publicists and photographers gave African American women more momentum to embrace their skin color in a world that did not accept that at the time (NYTimes). Paraphrase 3: In the mid to late 1960s women took control of their bodies and listened to women of their culture instead of those who were trying to hold African Americans back from expressing who they really were. This meant no more straightened hair, but more of the embracement of their natural hair in the form of an afro. The Black is Beautiful movement brought a new aspect of acceptance, pride, and power with African American women’s skin color in a way that many never found to be remotely possible (library. duke).

Sexual Freedom with the Pill

Topic Sentence: In 1960, chemist Frank Colton created an oral contraceptive pill that changed sexual freedom in women forever, allowing them to finally embrace themselves in the sexual world. Paraphrase 1: After long debates over social and medical issues, the first birth control pill, Enovid, was created giving women more choice in their sexual activities and with life in general. Even after the pill was first commercially released, the use of it was slightly frowned upon by the public and some medical specialists were even told to not prescribe the pill to anyone other than older women who were not even interested in sexual activities anymore. This meant that the sexual revolution was yet to start because of the lack of women on the pill within the first few years of its release (Home. bt). Paraphrase 2: By the mid-1960s, women all over the US were finding ways to get on the pill and this caused a huge rise in women embracing their sexuality that they were hiding for years. Enovid created a breakthrough of a split for women between their sex lives and unexpected conception that was more likely to happen without being on the pill. Many of the more conservative people chose to believe that the pill was what made women more likely to have premarital sex or even have affairs when married because without the pill they would be too worried about procreation (PBS). Paraphrase 3: The 1960s was a time of women lifting other women up and praising them for finally having some sexual freedom. Women were officially able to embrace themselves without having to worry about finding a less effective way of contraception that did not protect them from the risk of pregnancy as well. Although there were still some women in the US who did not quite approve of this rising level of premarital sex in the younger generations, that did not stop anyone from this newly found embracement of sexuality that was soon to turn into a “celebration of single life” (PBS). Quote: “In the midst of the civil rights and anti-war movements, the young generation of the 1960s questioned authority and rejected their parents' values. For many who came of age in this era, the traditional notion that a woman wouldn't be able to find a husband if she weren't a virgin was absurd. ” (PBS).