1970s UNITED STATES HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Although Fefu and her Friends was written to take place in 1935, Maria Irene Fornes worked on the play over a period of several years before she finished writing in 1977. Due to the historization of the time period, it is important to bear in mind what historical events happened as this play was written in order to give greater context for the work as a whole.
The 1970s were a turbulent time period and a turning point in United States history. A mere four months into the decade, The Beatles announced that Let It Be would be their final album as a band. People who believed this to be the most earth-shattering news they would receive during this time period would swiftly be proven wrong. In modern times, historians have increasingly referred to the 1970s as a “pivot of change” in American history. Before the decade was out, Americans would witness three different Presidents lead the country.
The United States entered the decade emerged in the Vietnam War, a conflict that many Americans opposed, believing the involvement of Americans to be wholly unnecessary. War rallies and public protests escalated into a broad social movement which called for the exit of United States military forces and an end to the war. The baby-boomer generation, which followed World War II, came of age and entered young adulthood with a strong sense of urgency to fulfill their personal ideals and question the values their parents had held onto: loyalty to institutions, frugality, self-sacrifice, and traditional religious faith.
In addition to violence abroad, Americans also dealt with violence at home. On May 4th, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire at a peaceful protest demonstration against the Vietnam War held by students at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine students. The outrage at the fatalities was immediate, and over four million students organized walk-outs in response to the tragedy. Calls for gun control reform were made, but Congress failed to pass legislation that would place stricter laws on gun control. Contrastingly, the women's movement popularized the idea of gun possession for women, lifting the idea that women had a right to defend themselves and their families. Publications such as The Woman' Gun Pamphlet and groups such as Women Armed for Self-Protection, both formed in 1975, served to reinforce the idea that women can and should own guns in order to protect themselves.
In 1970, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chester M. Pierce first coined the term “microaggression,” to describe the subtle, harmful, and often automatic or subconscious exchanges between offenders - white people - and black people, the results of which cause long-term cumulative damage. In June of 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, millions of people from the LGBTQ community participated in the country's first Gay Pride March. In 1973, Margaret Sloan-Hunter founded the National Black Feminist Organization to fight against the injustices unique to black women. In 1973, the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and gave pregnant women the liberty to choose to terminate pregnancy without excessive government restriction. This decade was defined by mass social upheaval and resistance from people all over the country who were frustrated by the systemic inequalities designed to prevent them from prospering and worse, actively endangering their lives and livelihoods. The 1970s were a time in which many marginalized groups spoke up, spoke out, and pushed the country forward in an attempt to build a more just and equitable society.
