American Culture and Dissent in the 1950s PDF

American Life in the 1950s Culture, Compliance, Dissent The upside of life in the 1950s Booming economy Cheap suburban housing Abundant consumer products Hollywood provided diversion/entertainment Reasons for unrest Anxiety (reflected in movies) Youthful rebelliousness Cultu...

American Life in the 1950s Culture, Compliance, Dissent The upside of life in the 1950s Booming economy Cheap suburban housing Abundant consumer products Hollywood provided diversion/entertainment Reasons for unrest Anxiety (reflected in movies) Youthful rebelliousness Cultural criticism Fear of nuclear tests Stirrings of civil rights protests Key complaints by dissidents Prosperity’s byproducts Rampant materialism Standardized mass culture Growth of a desk-bound white- collar class Economic evidence of trouble Seminole Indian Harjo 1959 Robert Lampman report Osceolo with 2 boys on estimated 32 million poor reservation in Florida Americans Blacks, American Indians, Hispanic newcomers lived in poverty Rural whites also plagued by poverty National attention did not acknowledge the poor Photo of three children in rural America Two protest movements during Eisenhower administration Movement to halt nuclear testing Emerging civil rights campaign Government response to nuclear fears The Civil Defense Program Taught Americans to prepare for a nuclear attack Create fallout shelters in concrete bunkers, stocked with food and water for weeks Children practiced drills in school Study of Effects of Nuclear Fallout Department of Health and Human Services did a study of the effects of fallout from nuclear tests Tests probably caused 15,000 deaths from cancer Tests probably caused another 20,000 nonfatal cancers Outlets of discontent in 1950s Writings of critics and novelists Jazz and folk music clubs Drive-in theaters Coffee houses Rock-and-roll concerts Antinuclear marches Southern black churches (see Henry Louis Gates, Jr. documentary The Black Church) Movies that expressed fear and discontent Them! About giant ants hatched in nuclear test grounds that rampage and kill families The Thing about alien blob buried in the Arctic ice The Invasion of the Body Snatchers about aliens who create clones on Earth in an effort to form a race of clones who will carry out their schemes The Desperate Hours about an escaped convict who terrorizes a suburban family I Married a Monster from Outer Space about a woman who discovers her husband is not what he seems Youthful Rebellion Sitcoms portrayed cheerful teens who conformed; movies depicted angry, rebellious teens Rebel Without a Cause Blackboard Jungle The Wild One Elvis Presley’s blend of R&B, country music, and gospel of white southern churches crossed boundaries, as did his dancing Parents feared that depictions of youthful moral disintegration were connected to communist plots of subversion Social changes that affected youth More young people stayed in school beyond 8th grade after WWII; this made high school a greater blend of diverse people In 1950 a White House Conference on Children noted with alarm that “the standards of the lowest class” were infecting “the boys and girls of other social groups”(Boyer, Promises to Keep, p 138) Prosperity meant teens had access to a family car and could go out to meet with people who came from different backgrounds Teens had leisure time and spending money, which created a distinct youth economy and culture Teen Experiences Grossmont High 1950s Drive-in diners Cultural Critics Dissidents didn’t focus on politics They focused on a break from the conformity of prosperous American life They focused on the psychological and cultural toll of affluence Bebop was an expression of black consciousness, though it was not directly political Abstract expressionism was an important visual art form (Jackson Pollack) Dizzy Gillespie and Bebop Jackson Pollack’s art “Convergence” 1952 https://www.jackso n- pollock.org/converg ence.jsp Ironically, the U.S. hired jazz musicians to tour the world as an expression of the benefits of American life and democracy Forces that stifled dissent Celebration of democracy as superior to Communism Weakness of organized labor (no one organized people to protest against big business) Effects of McCarthyism (it was seen as unpatriotic and treasonous to criticize the American way of life) The Power Elite Written by C. Wright Mills, it explained that three groups of elites held power in America: Corporate elites Political elites Military elites Those Who Did Not Have Power Native Americans Termination Act proposed to eradicate Tribes Native Americans were given incentives to leave reservations and move to cities Many tribes were no longer recognized by United States Learn more at https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/11/04/uprooted-the-1950s- plan-to-erase-indian-country Louise Erdrich novel The Night Watchman about the Termination Act African Americans South was segregated due to Jim Crow laws Civil Rights movements were emerging Eisenhower didn’t address civil rights movement; didn’t engage with it NAACP operated through the courts to fight segregation Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled there could be no “separate but equal,” outlawing segregated schools White families responded by moving to the suburbs where there were no black children to be integrated National businesses worked against segregation behind the scenes, because it was bad for business Puerto Ricans Many of them moved to New York in the 1950s, becoming “Nuyorican” Characterized by close-knit families Catholic religious identity Urban vibrant street life Poverty Youth gangs. See https://savingplaces.org/stories/becoming-nuyorican- history-puerto-rican-migration-nyc, location of this image Mexicans Came to the U.S. under the bracero program Eventually many settled in urban areas, like Los Angeles Mexican American Difficulties The Bracero program ended in 1964 because of abuses of Mexican workers Thousands of poor Mexicans crossed into America illegally each year Mexicans outside the Bracero program would apply for green cards (work permits for immigrants) or marry Mexican-American women In 1954, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had a program called “Operation Wetback” that rounded up and returned over a million illegal immigrants to Mexico New immigrants swelled the numbers of Spanish-speakers, caused barrios in cities to become crowded, and created conflict between 2nd or 3rd generation Mexican Americans and the new arrivals Spanish-speaking immigrants faced prejudice and discrimination Chavez Ravine and Dodgers Stadium Case Study A Latino community was demolished to make way for Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles in 1959 The city used eminent domain laws to claim the land, clear Latinos from their homes, and build the stadium The residents didn’t want to move Read more at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/american experience/features/zoot-suit-riots- bleacher-seats-demolished-barrio/ Nadel, Leonard. “Elysian Heights and Chavez Ravine.” circa 1950. Los Angeles Housing Authority Collection, Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/photos/id/1011/rec/7 Photo of deportation during Operation Wetback. Source of photo: Coard, Michael. “Operation Wetback: America’s Worst Deportation.” The Philadelphia Tribune. 14 July 2018. Accessed on 5/31/2022. https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/coard-operation-wetback-americas-worst-mass-deportation/article_59154bc8- Mexican Americans Assert Themselves In East L.A., the Community Service Organization worked for Latinos to address civil rights and police abuse issues In 1949 the CSO elected the first Mexican American to the LA City Council Mexican American women had to navigate traditional roles prescribed by their culture with the greater freedom that American society gave to women Asian Americans in the 1950s Despite the nasty propaganda campaign against the Japanese – and Japanese internment camps – during World War II, in the 1950s Asians were reported in the media as “the model minority” The United States needed to appear to be accepting of minorities during the Cold War The Soviets were exploiting racism toward African Americans to discredit the United States as a world leader American promotion of Asian minorities as successful and welcomed was a part of a public relations campaign Photo of Carlos Bulosan, famous Phillippino-American Guo, Jeff. “The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans.” The author Washington Post 29 Nov. 2016 Accessed 5/31/2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/29/the-real-reason-americans- stopped-spitting-on-asian-americans-and-started-praising-them/