OLD RULES OF THE TRADITIONALISTS (BORN 1945 OR BEFORE)

Rule 1: Follow the Rules

Rule 2: Respect the Past

Rule 3: Maintain Loyalty

Rule 4: Work Hard

Historical Context

If Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive he'd be ninety years old in 2019. We imagine he would be a patriarch of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where he grew up. He'd be a lifetime member of the NAACP, and still be a drum major for justice. Though his deep voice would be dulled by age, his spirit would be strong as ever. Dr. King, like many of his generation, followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather who were pastors. He followed this vocational path out of respect and loyalty, but also out of a calling. King wrote, "Of course I was religious. I grew up in the church. My father is a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my great-grandfather was a preacher, my only brother is a preacher, my daddy's brother is a preacher. So I didn't have much choice."

Like Dr. King, the Traditionalist generation (born in 1945 or before) grew up during the 1940s, '50s and '60s and are now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. They lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Vietnam War. And, it was this generation of courageous people who birthed the American civil rights movement as young adults.

Dr. King wrote in his journal: "I was born in the late twenties on the verge of the Great Depression, which was to spread its disastrous arms into every corner of this nation for over a decade. I was much too young to remember the beginning of this depression, but I do recall, when I was about five years of age, how I questioned my parents about the numerous people standing in breadlines. I can see the effects of this early childhood experience on my present anti-capitalistic feelings." Like King, the people of this generation knew firsthand what it meant to be without food and to work hard for their very survival.

The United States entered World War II in 1941 and actively fought with allies until the war ended in 1945. Many who served in or lived through World War II have been forever impacted by fear, pride, and a sense of duty that comes from sacrificing for the common good. The values of loyalty, sacrifice, and pride of country are forever etched within the minds and hearts of many of this generation. Notably, Americans of all races made a significant contribution to the World War II despite the fact that the armed forces were segregated based on race. As documented in the National World War II Museum, "In 1941, fewer than 4,000 African Americans were serving in the military and only twelve African Americans had become officers. By 1945, more than 1.2 million African Americans would be serving in uniform on the Home Front, in Europe, and the Pacific (including thousands ofAfrican American women in the Women's auxiliaries)." African Americans who enlisted in the armed forces, often saw their service in the military as a road out of poverty and a path toward improved skills and greater opportunity after the war.

President Truman's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services was established by Executive Order 9981, on July 26, 1948, to recommend revisions in military regulations in order to implement the government's policy of desegregation of the armed services. This meant that there was to be equality of treatment and opportunity for all members of the armed forces, regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin.

While women of the Traditionalist generation often stayed home to care for children or aging parents, this trend shifted significantly during World War II when many women went to work. Some historians argue that World War II was the beginning of the modern women's rights movement. Before the war, 12 million women worked outside the home. During the war, 18 million women, or half of the women in the United States, worked outside the home. This number doesn't account for women working longer hours on farms or women of color whose number are likely unaccounted for.

The baby boom of the late 1940s and '50s represented a prosperous time in postwar America. Yet, not all Americans benefited from the booming economy, housing market, and educational opportunities. In particular, after World War II ended, many African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans were either jobless or only able to work in low-skill positions without room for advancement, such as janitors, dishwashers, or domestics often making only a fraction of what their white counterparts would make, despite their skill level.

The immediate hopes for peace, prosperity, and equality for women and people of color were often unrealized in post-war segregated America. One woman from York, Nebraska, recalled this story of a black veteran after the war. "The war broke up a lot of prejudice," she says. "You were there to do a job. And if you can do it, you're going to do it no matter what color you are. You work next to the next guy. Your life depended on him regardless of what color they are." Yet, after the war the segregation between races and classes persisted.

In 1960, King was thirty-one years old and he, like many young Americans, decided that the world in America needed to change. Racial equality was a right of every person and justice must be demanded. King along with young Americans, black and white, committed their lives to eliminate the racial injustices and culture of war that stubbornly persisted.

Half a million American soldiers served in the Vietnam War beginning in 1960, and after several years of war many began to speak out against the war. Young people in particular began to advocate for a society free of war and filled with more love. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, and Aretha Franklin were among the artists that created the sound track for an era of experimentation...