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I don't believe that life was harder at all for black people back in the 1950s.
"Arrh Negras was mo happy back befo da guvment went a intefeering wit the social orda...."
Aaah, a walk down memory lane... old times there I've tried to to have forgotten look away, look away...Dixie land.
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they hand intact families and the opportunity for work and education.
"Boy if you wanna work, I gots a job work down at my cotton gin. Youse don't need to know nuttin I'll teacha how ta lift them bales myself."
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Again, people who did not live then do not understand that the whole "civil rights" movement has done very, very little to actually benefit the "average" black man or woman.
"I, Barak Husein Obama, solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
This refers to a period before the 1950s but I think this attitude was still around in the 1950s
The importance and discipline
Revd T.W.Davidson's letter in the News Letter of 7 May 1912 - was the belief that it would fill the vacum in young mens lives between late adolescence and settling down to the responsibilties of marriage and children. The Boys Brigade (founded in Glasgow by William Alexander Smith)) was formed to fill this gap. It was followed by The Church Lad's Brigade (an Anglian organisation founded in 1891) and the more recently formed Boy Scout movement (founded in 1908 by Robert Baden-Powell).
F.T.Geddes claimed that sociologists regarded 'the period between 18 and 25' as 'the most critical in a young man's life'. Adults at the beginning of the twentith century would have been strongly of the opinion that these young men needed order and discipline in their lives.
A teenager who became pregnant simply vanished until after she had her baby, things like that.
I wasn't around in the 1950's either, but teenage pregnancy, at least among whites, was very, very rare in the 1950's. In fact it's still very rare among the middle and upper-middle, which now thankfully include other races, but it was even more rare back in the day.
I wasn't around in the 1950's either, but teenage pregnancy, at least among whites, was very, very rare in the 1950's. In fact it's still very rare among the middle and upper-middle, which now thankfully include other races, but it was even more rare back in the day.
Yeah. In the 1960s the social engineers came out with the idea that if there was child sex education there would be less teenage pregancies,and so we had sex education. For the last number of years since the 1960s teenage pregancies have soared and the UK leads the rest of Europe in that respect.
Its wonderful how these people come out with their ideas but are never held to account when they have been proved to be talking rubbish.
This very topic has come up before. Some may even recognize some of the comments I'm going to make here from the last time we discussed the 1950's. The decade had a lot of positive things about it. However, it was not nearly as perfect or as quiet as many believe it was.
The best book I've ever read about the 1950's was "The Fifties" by David Halberstam. Halberstam wrote some great books. Sadly, he died a few years earlier than I would have hoped because he was involved in a car accident.
I'm 53 and was born in the last part of 1959. So, everything I say is either based on what I've read or upon conversations with others who lived through the period.
If you were white and male, the 1950's was probably the best time ever to be an American. The world was open to you in every possible way. Jobs were abundant and because labor unions were relatively powerful at the time, salaries and benefits were quite reasonable. College was cheap and all kinds of opportunities were opening. California adopted a system of state universities and community colleges that provided education at extraordinarily low rates. There was no glut of college graduates. The economy grew at average rate of 3% to 4% per year. There is a saying that "a rising tide lifts all boats" and even the poorest levels of society saw some modest improvement in their position.
Medical advances were legendary. Antibiotics at that time, held out the promise of curing almost all infectious disease. A glittering array of new "wonder drugs" were introduced constantly. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine and a disease which had been a frightening reality for many families could now be prevented with a simple vaccination.
By the end of the Fifties, virtually every home had a television. The misery of the Depression of the 1930's and the agony of World War II, had given way to unprecedented prosperity. Many families acquired two automobiles. This decade, for better or worse, was the beginning of the American obsession with the automobile. In 1956, Congress passed the "Interstate Highway Act". Thus, began a program to construct superhighways all over the country. Gasoline was cheap and abundant and no one saw any need to worry about things like energy conservation or "fuel efficient vehicles". The standard car was a V8 produced by Ford, GM, or Chrysler that averaged about 15 miles per gallon.
Many people don't know that this decade saw the establishment of institutions we now take for granted. It was the beginning of fast food. Ray Kroc built the first McDonald's franchise drive-in in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1956. Karl Kartchner created Karl's Junior and began franchising in the same period. Holiday Inn was created and franchised by a builder named Kemmons Wilson. The original Holiday Inn was a hotel chain that catered to motorists looking for a place to stay. It has morphed somewhat today and is more a luxury hotel chain catering to high end travelers instead. The Fifties saw the beginning of the large scale discount store which replaced many small "Mom and Pop" stores.
What I've said above is what is either good or neutral about the Fifties. Now, the negative parts.
The Cold War probably reached its height in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, it was always a threat during the 1950's. The USSR acquired an atomic bomb in 1948. The fear of atomic war was ever-present in the minds of most adults in the fifties. Many homes came with a bomb shelter. Many people built their own bomb shelter. People stocked up on electrical generators, dried food, distilled water, and emergency supplies. Children were taught something called "duck and cover" in school in case of an atomic attack from the Soviet Union.
As others have mentioned, this fear of atomic war gave rise to a paranoia about communists and communism. Senator Joe McCarthy engaged in a which hunt in which he demonized or libeled people who had no affiliation with the communist party at all. McCarthy got away with it for years, until even people in the middle of the political spectrum became disgusted with the out-and-out lies he told. There was something called the "John Birch Society" which was created by Robert Welch. The John Birch Society claimed that the country was controlled by communists and that even President Eisenhower was a "knowing tool" of the communists. This was not an opinion held by the majority. However, a surprising number of people did profess a belief in what the Birch Society taught.
Black people were truly second class citizens at this time and anyone claiming their condition in the 50's was better than it is today, truly doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. Segregated schools were completely legal until 1954. Even after a Supreme Court decision held it was unconstitutional, the practice persisted well into the 1960's. In Little Rock, Arkansas, when eight black students were allowed to desegregate Central High School, it touched off a riot. President Eisenhower had to send soldier to Little Rock from the 101st Airborne Division to see that the black children were allowed to attend school safely. Housing discrimination was totally legal. No law prevented this until 1968. Employment discrimination was totally legal. No law prevented this until 1964. Many black people were prevented from voting through a combination of poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence. Voting rights were not effectively guaranteed until 1965. Martin Luther King began his leadership of the Civil Rights movement in about 1955. The first direct action was the boycott of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person. King and others organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (the SCLC).
Women fared better than minorities. However, the idea of a woman working outside her home was not well accepted at the time. Women had a distinct role in society and men did too. The birth control pill was not available until 1960 and the birth rate was quite high. These years are considered the "baby boom years". Divorce was rare. However, its very rarity undoubtedly lead to a great deal of spousal abuse and depression. Most advertising at the time reinforced the notion that the happiest woman was one in her home, surrounded by lots of modern appliances and the latest in cleaning supplies. Some women actually liked this and probably thrived on it. Others like, Betty Friedan, who would later write the "Feminine Mystique" couldn't stand it and lead lives of quiet desperation.
The US fought North Korea and Communist China in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. This war lasted only three years, but claimed the lives of about 50,000 Americans. The foundation for the Vietnam War was effectively laid in the 1950's. President Eisenhower allowed South Vietnam to ignore the Geneva Accords of 1957 which called for elections to establish one government for all of Vietnam. Eisenhower knew that Ho Chi Minh and the communists would win and was unwilling to tolerate that result. In any event, this decision had immense negative repercussions for the USA.
Many people were less than happy in the Fifties and were starting to question the world in which they lived. There's a book called "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" which questions the dynamic by which many middle class men went to work for a company and assumed a very drab, stereotypical identity that prized loyalty over individuality. Actors like James Dean, captured some of the frustration of the period. Later, poets like Allan Ginsberg would write poems like "Howl" which captured the anger that many felt at the constraints imposed on them by the conservatism and conventionality of this period. Even President Eisenhower amazed many when he left office by talking about America's need to control a "Military Industrial Complex" that we had inadvertently created in the Fifties.
Ultimately, what is probably most telling about the Fifties, is that when it ended, America went through the Sixties, which may have been the most tumultuous decade ever. I think what occurred is that conventional forces in the Fifties so sharply limited and constrained people that when they finally erupted it was like an enormous pressure cooker exploding. People don't do much when they are unable too. However, once the possibility of "change" surfaces it can result in a literal revolution.
No historical period should be idolized. They all have good points, neutral points, and bad points. They all contain the seeds of their own destruction. Its how one period becomes another period.
In this publication from the CDC you get all sorts of fun data and graphs that show the historical trend ... in fact you can clearly see a noticeable spike starting in the 1950s
Nostalgia and feelings aside, with facts presented - how can this wonderful decade in all of it's family goodness have higher birthrates than today with the very real factors of new immigrant families, single family homes, poverty, etc
Yes, African Americans have a higher income today then they did in the 1950s. But the point still stands that the quality of life of many blacks is not improved. More Blacks in the middle class today, is kind of meaningless. Todays middle class is the working class of the 1950s.
I'm also not convinced that life for African Americans in the 1950s was as much gloom and doom as some here might think. Segregation except for housing did not exist in most of the country outside of the south. The civil rights movement was well under way in most parts of the country in the 1950s. African Americans could vote in most places. More and more job opportunities were opening up to African Americans. The quality of life was probably improving faster for African Americans in the 1950s, then for other Americans.
As for housing discrimination, I'm not sure how really important that was. If African Americans could get a reasonable decent job and buy a house (in a Black community), they were probably somewhat satisfied. Yes, I'm sure that none of them were happy that they couldn't choose to buy where they wanted. But the fact that they could at least participate in the American dream, have a job, and afford to buy a house, was probably good enough for most.
The catch was, African Americans returning from serving our country in WWII were not given the same benefits of the GI bill as white veterans were. They served in a segregated Army they ofttimes returned to the segregated South where they were forced to ride in the back of buses. not permitted to use rest rooms or to sit in the movies with whites or at the same lunch counter.
Yes they had the GI bill, but the could not completely avail themselves of it. Not even in the North. Some of the most famous housing developments built specifically for returning GIs were closed to AA veterans. A famous example of this are the planned communities of Levittown NY and Levittown PA.
Both specifically excluded the sale of homes to non whites by the use of restrictive covenants..
AA WWII vets were relegated to inferior subdivisions in less desirable areas with under performing school districts. These regions did not increase in value as the subdivisions offered to whites did, but instead remained at the same price.
There is so much more that was unequal for blacks in the 1950s that is would take a dissertation to explore every facet. AA musicians were routinely denied airplay on "white" radio stations. Their music was written by them but labeled "race music". Frequently it was stolen by bland white performers of dubious talent such as Pat Boone and re marketed and homogenized so that it was "nonthreatening"to white parents.
I do not remember very much of the 50s but I will share what I do on another post. This information is factual and true. It is part of American History. An unsavory part that we can and should not sugar coat or deny.
In this publication from the CDC you get all sorts of fun data and graphs that show the historical trend ... in fact you can clearly see a noticeable spike starting in the 1950s
Nostalgia and feelings aside, with facts presented - how can this wonderful decade in all of it's family goodness have higher birthrates than today with the very real factors of new immigrant families, single family homes, poverty, etc
You are comparing apples and oranges.
There was no Federal/State welfare safety net in the 1950s
outside of a few very small food programs.
There was no birth control.
The vast majority of teenage moms were married or became married quickly.
In this publication from the CDC you get all sorts of fun data and graphs that show the historical trend ... in fact you can clearly see a noticeable spike starting in the 1950s
Nostalgia and feelings aside, with facts presented - how can this wonderful decade in all of it's family goodness have higher birthrates than today with the very real factors of new immigrant families, single family homes, poverty, etc
While I have often loved throwing those statistics in the face of people that talk about how horrible teenagers are today, getting all sexed up, etc...The truth is that when you really look closely at the numbers, there is a very telling reason why it has dropped off. The CDC considers a "teen" anyone from 15-19 years old for purposes of keeping these statistics. They bracket them into 15-17, 15-19 and 18-19 year old demographic trend lines.
The 15-17 year old line has been declining slowly overtime from 1950 until today. The 15-19 year old line, which is the one many people use as it encompasses the entire group and is the longest running line, shows a spike in the decade of the 1950's before trailing off. The one you need to control that against though is the 18-19 year old line which shows a huge number in 1960 and then falls off rapidly through the period from 1960-1980. Basically, births among 18-19 year olds is what drives the spike in teen birth rates in the 1950's.
That isn't so odd and either is the decline when you consider that in many parts of the country in the 1950's and earlier, it was not at all uncommon for people to marry at 17 or 18 years of age and start having children. As time progresses and more and more people go onto secondary education and delay marriage, that primary driver of the earlier "high" rate drops off.
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