happy+days+1950s



That's a great question, don't you think? We will answer it in class on Thursday in a (hopefully) fun activity, but to prepare, we should do a little background reading and watching. **Watch the videos below, read over the ABC-CLIO links posted below, and read "The Fifties" in __Creating America__ (28-3, pp. 800-803).** 
 * FOR HOMEWORK, CREATE A LIST (EITHER IN PRINT OR ONLINE) OF POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES CONCERNING LIFE IN THE FIFTIES FOR CLASS ON THURSDAY!**

[|The Cold War at Home]  / [|The Economy Booms] / [|The Sky is the Limit] / [|Boom-Time for Babies and Houses]

 - cities were full of poverty strucken americans, for the wealthy moved out to suburbs. therefore there were less people in cities to pay taxes for services like garbage or road repair. African Americans and Latinos were the most effected. - Illegal immigrants from Mexico worked below minimum and endured difficult work and living conditions. Employers took advantages of them +Eisenhower built interstate highways after seeing the German highway system =Baby boom- sharp increase in the American birthrate due to a booming economy. Baby boom also spurred growth of suburbs +Americans moved all over, including to the sunbelt which increased the population of the warmer states in the South and Southwest. -In suburban life, people were pressured to conform, or agree with the beliefs and ideas of the majority. - Women became known as "homemakers" in suburbia +Booming economy of goods for consumers. Americans bought dishwashers, washing machines, clothes dryesr, and vacuum cleaners, better record players, tape recorders, grills outside on patios, and the latest greatest cars. + Advertisement industry boomed as a result. TV helped stores through advertisements. -Movie attendance fell because people would stay at home and watch TV instead. +New form of music, //Rock and Roll//, started with singers like Bill Haley and His Comets. Black musicians like Little Richard and Chuck Berry were also very popular, just as popular as white rockers such as Jerry Lee Lewis. Elvis had the biggest fan base of anyone and became the king of rock 'n' roll. =Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac led group of poets and writers protesting the shallowness of society. Their followers became known as beatnecks and filled coffee houses to argue about the "square" society. = After WWII, science blossomed and created missiles and other breakthroughs.