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Yale Needs Women


How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
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If you are old enough to remember 1969, did you feel it was a pivotal year at the time? Are there other years in your life that have been flashpoints, either personally or for society as a whole?

Created: 06/24/21

Replies: 11

Posted Jun. 24, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

If you are old enough to remember 1969, did you feel it was a pivotal year at the time? Are there other years in your life that have been flashpoints, either personally or for society as a whole?

The author says 1969 was a flashpoint in history, a time when “the bright light of a sudden change illuminates all around it and everything, for a time, seems possible.” If you are old enough to remember 1969, did you feel it was a pivotal year at the time, or do you view it a key era only in hindsight? Are there other years in your life that have been flashpoints, either personally or for society as a whole?


Posted Jun. 25, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
betht

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 24

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I was a high school senior in Atlanta, GA in 1969. It was an incredible, pivotal year in almost every sector: The moon landing - Stonewall riots - Vietnam - Manson murders - the women’s movement -
So many shifts in thought. Kids were restless and wanting to be heard; parents were confused and trying to understand why things were changing. Lots of turmoil.


Posted Jun. 25, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I was only eight years old at the time, so I really wasn't aware of how pivotal the era was. I was aware of racial tension, mostly because my mom was very worried about the issue. We grew up in Cleveland and the 1966 Hough race riot was on her mind, and in 1968 her best friend's husband (a white police officer) was killed in the "Glenville shootout."

I tend to think/hope that we're in another pivotal time in history, particularly with regards to racial awakening. I personally didn't understand what the term "white privilege" meant until the last couple of years, and I hope others have been educating themselves. In my opinion, education = awareness = progress toward a more just society.


Posted Jun. 26, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
veronicaj

Join Date: 05/25/17

Posts: 21

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I had my first child, my mother died, and I was living on an Indian Reservation in Wy. No TV in our home, but neighbor had one and I did see the moon landing. For the most part I was disconnected with the outside world.I was becoming aware of the conflicting role of government and Indian issues. It wasn't until the early 70's and living in Topanga Canyon that I became engaged in the women's movement.


Posted Jun. 29, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Harley's Mom

Join Date: 02/21/19

Posts: 44

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I was twenty-four in 1969 and remember clearly how pivotal it was. In fact, the entire decade of the 1960's was pivotal in many ways. President Kennedy was assassinated, as was Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy shortly thereafter. The women's movement kept gaining strength, the birth control pill became available and, overshadowing much of the decade, the protests against the war in Viet Nam escalated and divided much of the country.
I think the year 2001 was a flashpoint for this country because of the 9/11attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. I don't think we've ever felt as safe again. It resulted in the U.S. invading Afghanistan and we have a military presence in that country until the present day. The 9/11 attacks changed the airline industry forever and certainly caused complications for airline travelers which are still ongoing.


Posted Jun. 30, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
RuthEh

Join Date: 07/31/17

Posts: 67

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I graduated high school in 1969. I wanted to go into nursing or teaching, my Father had different ideas. He said I will get a business degree, no other options. My Father said it would "toughen" me up. Little did he know, after his passing, I did go into nursing and also education to teach other women how to stand up for what they wanted!! And yes, I also got the business degree which took a total of 10 years to stop being a student! Ivy League schools were never a consideration for me, too costly!


Posted Jul. 01, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
smallino

Join Date: 06/06/21

Posts: 52

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I graduated high school in 1968. It was pivotal for me as it awakened me to the feminist movement, from which I've never left. Didn't change my name; worked through the births of all three of my children, rare at the time, active with women's groups. But while our ambition seemed so monumental and achievable, we failed in so many ways. Reading this book reminded me of our hopes and efforts in the civil rights movement. I insisted on my children going to public school, schools in which they were the white minority. I thought we would change the world. Friendships and success would not be defined by skin color. It didn't happen. And even after what we thought was the seminal change point with the election of Obama, we've regressed. What in the world happened? It was hard working full time, raising three children, insisting on being perfect at work and in volunteering at school -- so the nonworking mothers wouldn't grouse about our involvement -- we tired of the revolution and settled in.

But other change points? 9/11 of course, but even more destructive was the Bush decision to start a war in Iraq from which we are just now leaving. But not without blowing up the middle east, transforming the US culture through endless enlistments, veterans needing help. It has had a profound and damaging influence on our culture and drove us back into a more conservative, isolationist society.


Posted Jul. 17, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
scottishrose

Join Date: 07/24/11

Posts: 220

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I turned 10 in 1969, but I was old enough to follow politics to a certain point and I can remember the war and protest pictures on the evening news.


Posted Jul. 21, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jackieh

Join Date: 08/16/19

Posts: 14

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I entered my freshman year in the fall of 1960, before all the social upheaval began. I went to a school established in 1896 for women and admitted men in the mid-fifties. The rules for women remained much as they had for decades but the men had much more freedom both socially and academically. However, unlike Yale, women’s safety was a priority. As with Yale, economics was a factor and students wanted a coed experience.


Posted Jul. 22, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
smallino

Join Date: 06/06/21

Posts: 52

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

Jackieh's comment about men having more freedom reminded me of my college experience. There was just one dorm for women, lots for men, but we had a curfew, a strict one. And the penalty of missing that curfew was grounding you for a weekend. Locked in your room. We resented it terribly; leading to protests/suits and by my sophomore year, it went away. I'm sure the administration was thinking of our safety, but instead it led to women staying out all night rather than facing the penalty of being socially grounded. In hindsight, I guess they were trying to figure the best way to integrate women into all male cultures in a safe way. They moved too slowly, and we wanted change quickly.


Posted Jul. 23, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
scottishrose

Join Date: 07/24/11

Posts: 220

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

I was 10 years old in 1969. I would probably be inclined to think of 1968 as a more pivotal year, with the assassinations of both Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy, and the issues as the Democratic Convention that year.


Posted Jul. 29, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
marianned

Join Date: 07/02/15

Posts: 100

RE: If you are old enough to remember ...

That year will always be memorable. It was the year I graduated from college, but it was also the year Richard Nixon was ascended to the presidency. Robert Kennedy, who would have been a viable opponent, had been assassinated the year before. Who knows what path our country might have followed if that election alone had turned out differently? Other pivotal years since then were certainly 2001 (9/11). Twenty sixteen, with an upset election that put Donald Trump into the Oval Office, was another pivotal year. Anyone who has read even news headlines knows what our country and the world have been like in the wake of that election. Twenty-twenty, which will long be remembered as the COVID-19 year, was a worldwide pivotal year. Twenty twenty-one appears to be more of the same.


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