Race & Gender Roles for Women & Minorities in the 1980s

Presenter: Julia Meyers

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Michaela Grobbel

Department: Modern Languages & Literatures

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1FOmcdUyLAE-PN39AiFisX63Q3xYW-4oD

Abstract:
In the 1970s, America significantly grew as far as improving racial inequalities as far as gender disparities and racial injustices. Yet, in the 1980s, America regressed and reverted in some ways, and both racial and gender tensions were high for oppressed groups such as women and minorities (Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and so on). These collections of poems and posters deal with two major trends in American relations during the 1980s: racism and sexism. This project explores what it was like to be part of racial and gender minorities during these times, such as what it felt like to be oppressed and how the subjugated were seen in the public eye. This project also examines any advantages or improvements that these groups gained and how it affected America's social status. Putting these groups' feelings, thoughts, and emotions into poetry help express the hurt, sorrow, injustice, relief, and happiness these people faced, allowing the audience to understand how these people felt during this both repressive and renewed period. These poems enable the viewer to recognize racism and sexism's widespread harm and help take its eradication more seriously.