Our Times: From Hippies to Yuppies in the 1970s
Sesame Street, with Big Bird and friends Matt, Susan and Maria, Muppets Bert, Ernie and Oscar the Grouch, and storekeeper Mr. Hooper. Copyright 1969 Sesame Workshop.
1970
Nobel Peace Prize goes to agronomist and inventor Norman Borlaug, whose novel combination of innovative seed hybrids, irrigation, and fertilizer use led to surprising gains in food production and started the Green Revolution. He's known as the man who countered staggering population growth with a successful war on hunger.
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire publishes Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the foundation stone for popular education in Latin America.
Earth Day, April 22, brings awareness of environmental abuse and launches a movement for environmental citizenship worldwide.
1971
Greenpeace is founded by a group of activists who sail from Vancouver, Canada, to "bear witness" to underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, an island off the coast of Alaska, drawing attention to the dangers it posed to 3,000 endangered sea otters.
Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer working with the company hired to help the Department of Defense build the first Internet system, sends the first e-mail message.
1972
Title IX Education Amendments prohibit discrimination "on the basis of sex in educational pursuits, including sports, which receive federal funding."
1973
"The Paper Chase" stars John Houseman as a stern law professor whose first-year student is courting his daughter, and gives insights into the pressures and fear of failure in the nation's top laws schools.
1975
Elderhostels, promoting lifelong learning and travel for adults 55 and over, is founded by former educator Marty Knowlton, who had spent four years on a walking tour of Europe with a backpack, and David Bianco, a highly organized university administrator.
1976
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computer to market their invention, the personal computer. Eight years later, Apple introduces the first widely released graphical use interface computer, the Macintosh, marking the beginning of desktop publishing.
1977
An identifiable group of ambitious and educated "young urban professionals" (yuppies) — male and female alike — postpone marriage and parenthood in favor of graduate school and careers.
About the Authors
Mark Ciabattari is a novelist and cultural historian, and author of the forthcoming book Social History of the United States: The 1940s. Jane Ciabattari is a widely-published journalist and frequent contributor to NRTA Live & Learn.
This article originally appeared in NRTA Live & Learn, Summer 2007, as a 60th Anniversary Extra.
