The Crucible Historical Context by Arthur Miller

The 1950s

The Post-War Era 1950s - “Age of Anxiety” this “Silent Generation” had lived through WWII and the Great Depression - tired of uncertainty and hard times people craved normalcy and social conformity What life was like during the 1950s: widespread prosperity suburban living areas expanded economy flourished Underneath the idyllic, “perfect” surface, people also very fearful of bad things happening Result: regular air-raid drills, Red Scare/Communist hunts

Duck and Cover What to do in case of Atomic Bomb:

Rise of the Soviet Union Space Race the Soviet Union launches Sputnik into space > U.S. feels need to compete Communist aggression - spreading through Eastern Europe and in North Korea - perceived as a major threat to Western culture and U.S. as a result >> espionage, economic sanctions, treaties, defense measures, and diplomatic conflict were always in the news Even Thoreau’s Walden was banned for being “socialist” Leads to “witch hunts” for Communists hiding among Americans

How to Spot a Communist

McCarthyism Definition: the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence. During this era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communist sympathizers and were forced to undergo investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels. Hundreds were imprisoned and 10,000 to 12,000 people lost their jobs

Senator Joseph McCarthy Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. In 1950, during a McCarthy produced a piece of paper of “known communists” working for the government (probably faked document meant to scare people) Led the anti-Communist crusade known as the Second Red Scare. Resulted in creation of HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) Investigated Hollywood film industry 2 choices when questioned: admit to being a Communist and be jailed or name other people who are Communist Those who refused to answer were jailed McCarthy’s downfall Tried to investigate the Army Created major backlash and lost his support

Modern Day Connection Take out a piece of paper - write your responses for the questions as we go. I will ask you to share. This counts as credit at the end of class. What was your first experience learning about 9/11? Do you notice Muslims or people of Middle Eastern descent being treated differently than other people? Is it ok for them to be treated differently? Why or why not? Think of situations. Watch video What were your thoughts of what happened in the video? What would you have done as a bystander? Does it surprise you to see/hear people being so discriminatory? Does this remind you of other times in history when people were discriminated against? If so, when? What is dangerous about this?

HW Copy definitions - Vocab #37-45: pg 970: international, diplomacy, protest pg 974: prosperity, rebellion, avant-garde pg 976: cityscape, underground, suburbs **Remember the synonym, picture, or mnemonic!