California is still growing and changing. Various industries—such as those that rely on cutting-edge technology, as well as the arts and entertainment, agriculture, traditional manufacturing, service, and transportation industries—all contribute to the state’s vast economy. Even as some people continue to fight for equal opportunities for all, others work to make certain that the needs of California’s students continue to be met.

What Primary Sources Can Tell Us about a Changing California 
Wherever one goes within the state of California, one can see signs of past changes and clues of future ones.

• Written forms – A variety of sources reveal different aspects of the state and the changes it has experienced. They include letters; newspaper and magazine interviews with Adam Fortunate Eagle, César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and other leaders of California protest movements; the California Constitution; and the state song (“I Love You, California”).
• Physical artifacts – Items from California’s early public schools, as well as those from more recent institutions of higher education make evident Californians’ commitment to all levels of learning. Protest buttons, picket signs, digital music players, and cell phones with built-in TV screens are reminders of the different protest movements and technological changes that have affected the state. Pottery made by Beatrice Wood; Isamu Noguchi’s sculptures, fountains, and gardens; and works by the state’s many artists testify to the talents of California residents.
• Images – Charts, graphs, and maps visually summarize information about California’s economy and population growth. Photographs and illustrations showing one place during different historical eras reflect ways that California has changed over time.

 Primary Sources 

Picket Signs, Posters, and Flyers

Suffragists picketing in front of the White House (January 26, 1917)

“Why Should We March?” flyer related to a threatened march on Washington (1941)

Berkeley Free Speech Movement photographs (1964-1965)

Poster encouraging boycott of non-UFW grapes (1960s)

Suffragists marching

After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the New Deal programs in the 1930s to counteract problems caused by the Great Depression, the federal government began to take a more active role in the development of civil rights for all Americans. During the Cold War of the 1950s, activists began to question how the United States could be critical of other country’s policies when there were problems at home to confront. Thus, during a time of relative economic prosperity, people began to look more closely at the social problems in our country. The growth of the television industry and electronic media made people more aware of economic and political inequities among members of different groups—women, African Americans, Native Americans, migrant farm workers, and young people. On college campuses around the country, post-World War II baby boomers took a leading role in the protest and social change movements that appeared by the 1960s.

Workers on strike

 

 Background Information 

The Berkeley Free Speech Movement

In the fall of 1964, students returned to the University of California’s Berkeley campus, just as they did to other schools of higher learning throughout our country. This was a time of great political activism among young people. Many had spent their summer taking part in protest marches and other events related to struggles against racism, poverty, and United States involvement in the Vietnam War. In an effort to keep students on campus focused on their studies rather than on activism, Berkeley Dean of Students Katherine A. Towle issued a memo stating that on-campus activities and literature related to off-campus political issues would not be allowed. The students fought back. In December of that year, more than 800 student demonstrators, led by student Mario Savio, were arrested after they held a sit-in at a campus administration building. It was the largest mass arrest of students in United States history up to that time. Before long, students around the country had formed similar “Free Speech Movement” protest organizations, demanding that students be allowed to speak freely at school.

 

 Classroom Activity 

Hold a Class “California March of Progress”

1. Display examples of picket signs, posters, and fliers from United States or California history, such as those shown at the above links. Ask students what all of these images have in common, even though they are from different periods of history.

2.  Ask students if they can think of any other protests that occurred in United States history. (Responses might include the fight by Native Americans, seniors, and disabled persons for equal rights and the fight by environmentalists for cleaner air and water.) Ask students if they think such protests can help a society to grow and, if so, in what ways they are useful. Be sure students are able to clearly explain and justify their responses.

3. Point out that in this unit students learned about many of the people who helped California grow and change. Write the names of some of these people on your classroom board. They include:

• Dorothea Lange (whose photographs of migrant workers led to revisions in government policy toward helping the poor)
• Robert Semple (who wanted children in California to have a free education)
• John Swett (first superintendent of public schools in California)
• Governor H. H. Haight (signed the charter for California’s first public university)
• Phoebe Hearst (a supporter of the University of California)
• William Byron Rumford (fought against discrimination by California property owners and businesses)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (fought to end discrimination against African Americans)
• César Chávez and Dolores Huerta (fought against poor working conditions on farms)
• Jesse Unruh (wrote the Unruh Civil Rights Act of 1959, making it illegal for restaurants, hotels, and other businesses to refuse service to minorities)
• Richard Oakes (wanted a Native American museum and education center established on Alcatraz Island)
• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (made the first affordable personal computers)
• David Filo and Jerry Yang (designed software that made information easier to find on the Internet)

In addition to these specific individuals, you might also want to add these groups to the list:

• Students who fought for the right to vote at age 18
• People who protested the war in Vietnam
• People who fought for equal rights for women
• Californians who fought for Proposition 13

4. Assign individuals or pairs of students to each of these people or groups. Then tell students that, playing the person or group they have been assigned, students are going to hold a “progress march” through the classroom. To prepare for the march, each student will need to find out more about his or her subject. They will then create a sign on which they will write a quote or phrase encapsulating the belief of the person or group she or he is representing. In addition, each student should prepare a short speech, written from that person or group’s perspective. The speech should begin with this phrase: “Here’s how I helped to make California a better place. . . .” Students should also make a name tag on which they write the name of their subject to tell others who she or he is representing. They may also wish to create a costume representative of their individual subjects.

5. Once students have completed their signs, speeches, name tags, and costumes, have them line up in chronological order, based on the dates associated with the achievements of their subjects. Then have students take turns reading their speeches aloud as they hold up their signs. You might also send invitations to other classes in the school to come and share your “California March of Progress.”