Unit 20: 1950s AmericaOHS US HISTORY TEAM

Learning Objectives• Analyze the impact of prosperity and consumerism in the 1950s

• Explain the impact of the baby boomer generation on the American economy and culture.

• Describe the domestic developments during President Eisenhower’s administration and advances in medicine and he creation of the interstate highway system.

• Describe the growing influence of the automobile on American society.

• Describe the emergence of a youth culture including the beatniks and popular music.

• Examine the decision and impact of Brown v. Board of Education on desegregation.

• Examine the roles and actions of civil rights advocates Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall and opponents Orval Faubus.

• Describe significant events in the struggle to secure civil rights for African Americans.

Big Concepts

The United States economy thrives following World War 2 as American allies are supplied with materials and military equipment.

The United States passes the GI Bill to help returning veterans go to college, start businesses, and buy homes.

Millions of Americans buy cars, move to the suburbs and start families.

A rise in child births leads to a new generation of Americans known as the baby boomers.

More automobiles and Cold War fears lead to the construction of the Interstate Highway System.

Many young Americans disillusioned with the new growing consumer culture of the 1950s turn their back on it through art, poetry, and literature known as the Beat Movement.

Rock ’ n Roll, African American blues music electrified and adopted by white artists, is spread via radio

Brown v. Board of Education the Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson by ruling that segregated schools are not equal.

In Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger on a public bus sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement.

Vocabulary

• Yellow = Must Copy

• Green = Copy if time permits

1950s Prosperity and Consumerism• White collar jobs – Suit and tie jobs - Suburban-living, college-

educated corporate workers

• “suburban ideal” – the concept that the American ideal of living was not in cities but in the growing suburbs.

• GI Bill of Rights – 1944 made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.

Levittown

Baby Boomer Generation

• Following World War 2 America experiences a rapid increase in babies being born. The prosperous peaceful times fueled this trend.

• These children became known as Baby Boomers.

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Administration• Advances in medicine – 1955 Jonas Salk develops a vaccine for Polio

• Interstate Highway System – The rapid growth of the automobile industry, suburbia, and Cold War needs for quick defense transportation led to the creation of the Interstate Highway System. One of the largest engineering projects in American history.

Impact of the Automobile• The automobile influences a dramatic change in American society.

• Suburbs – Suburban neighborhoods, pioneered by William Levitt, led to the mass production of affordable homes and communities outside of cities.

• Fast Food Chains – Cars give people quicker access to food. Fast food chains take advantage of this and sprout up in American suburbs and along the new interstate highways.

• Hotel Industry – As more Americans travel on the interstate highway system travelers need places to sleep, leading to a boom in motel and hotels across the country.

Beatniks• Urban writers who wrote and performed

in acts of spontaneous creativity, often accompanying the spoken word with music.

• They encouraged people to freely express individual beliefs and desires.

• Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are the most famous examples.

1950s Music• B.B. King - "King of the Blues" B.B. King began as a disc jockey in Memphis

before finding fame as a blues and R&B guitarist, with hits like "The Thrill Is Gone."

• Elvis Presley - Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll"

• Stax Records – American Record label in Memphis Tennessee - home to historic and influential artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the MG's

• Sun Studios “The Birthplace of Rock’n’roll” in Memphis. It is the discovery location of musical legends and genres of the 50’s from B.B. King and Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis

The Civil Rights Movement

For centuries racism had been deeply ingrained in American life. Especially in the South where racial segregation was prevalent.

The Civil Rights Movement was a major turning point in establishing equal rights and transforming our nation into a more diverse and pluralistic society.

The postwar years saw great strides forward in civil rights.

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Executive Order 9981

In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, desegregating the armed forces and ending all racial discrimination in hiring by the federal government.

Brown v. Board of Education

The Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896 upheld the constitutionality of state segregation laws, as long as the facilities offered to each race were of “equal standards”. This became known as the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Starting in the 1930’s, African-American lawyers at the NAACP began challenging this doctrine.

In the early 1950’s, the NAACP was ready to challenge “separate but equal” more directly.

Brown v. Board of Education

Linda Brown (Topeka, Kansas) had been forced to attend a “colored” school when a “white” school was closer to her home.

Her father sued the school board and in 1953 the NAACP appealed her case to the Supreme Court, along with a number of other similar cases.

Brown v. Board of Education

• The NAACP led by attorney Thurgood Marshall targeted schools to end segregation in the United States.

• landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional

School Integration

Clinton High School in Clinton, TN - a federal judge ordered Clinton High School to desegregate with “all deliberate speed” in the fall of 1956.

The Clinton 12, the first Black students to attend Clinton High School, registered and attended school for one day without incident in late August of 1956.

Led to rioting and disorder.

“Little Rock Nine”

In 1957 the school board of Little Rock, Arkansas admitted nine African-American students to its all-white high school.

In response the Arkansas Governor, Orval Faubus ordered the state National Guard to prevent the children from entering the school.

Under pressure from President Eisenhower, Governor Faubus removed the National Guard and allowed the students in but they faced relentless harassment.

Finally President Eisenhower sent 1,000 federal troops to Little Rock, and for the rest of the year the students were provided with military escorts.

Central High School in Little Rock, AR

• Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

• Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to prevent its federal court-ordered racial integration.

• After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.

Rosa Parks

• Refused to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery Alabama.

• Her defiant act sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the modern day Civil Rights Movement.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation.

• The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system

• One of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement.