Business Work back 1950s Quiz Thurs Mar 16

Homework 1950s Popular Culture assignment Read pages 652-659 in textbook Complete worksheet (front and back) research/find an example of 1950s pop culture TV show/commercial, movie trailer, comic, etc) Due Tuesday March 14

Life in the 1950s

In what ways were there “Two America’s” during the 1950s? What was life like in the “Other America?”

Roots of “Other America” Slavery- ~1600-1865 Millions in bondage- no opportunity, literacy, success Reconstruction- 1865- 1877 Freed blacks kept in poverty by laws, discrimination Limited opportunity for success Birth of KKK

Segregation as a System Plessy v Ferguson, 1896: “Separate but equal” Federally legalized segregation Housing, education, public works, employment, etc Jim Crow laws De facto vs de jure segregation

Literacy Tests Towns/states gave black Americans “literacy tests” “If you can’t read, you shouldn’t vote” Justification to keep blacks away from polls 24th amendment- taxes outlawed but practice continued Could you vote?

Anti-Black Prejudice KKK, lynchings Ex: Emmett Till All over country, but more often in Southern states Ex: Emmett Till 14-yr old black boy, accused of flirting with white woman in Mississippi Beaten to death by two white men, found not guilty

Life in the 1950’s- Urban Poverty White flight- millions of middle class white Americans left cities Took economic resources Isolated from other races / classes Rural poor migrated to cities Urban poor suffered

Life in 1950’s- Urban Renewal Proposed solution- tear down rundown neighborhoods & construct low-income housing Not enough new housing was built for all displaced people Urban removal

Poverty Causes Activism Mexicans- Longoria incident Native Americans- 1953- termination policy eliminated federal support Failed- poor training, racial prejudice Black Americans- Civil Rights era

Segregation in Education “Black schools” and “white schools” White schools had: Better trained teachers Better and newer facilities More and better resources- books, desks, chalkboards, toys, etc Smaller classes

Resistance to Educational Segregation Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 8-year-old Linda Brown Supreme Court unanimously struck down school segregation

Arguments against Integration “They haven’t received the same education and will bring down the whole population- why should my child suffer for a political agenda?” “They will be a bad influence on my kids- they’ll bring disrespect, crime, drugs.” “I do not want my child to go to school with black people.”

Reaction to Brown v. Board Many areas resisted desegregation Little Rock 9 AK governor sent National Guard to turn away 9 African American students Eisenhower sent troops

Montgomery City Codes Read three city codes (laws) from Montgomery, Alabama Answer the questions

Resistance to Segregation Montgomery, 1955 Rosa Parks MLK-led bus boycott 1956- Supreme Court ended bus segregation

Segregation in America The follow series of photographs show what life looked like for African Americans in the 1950s Take notes on each picture and the key topics of segregation that are discussed

Picture #1

Picture #2 Picture #2

Picture #3 Picture #3

Picture #4

Picture #5

Picture #6 Gerrymandering

Exit Slip On the top half of a sheet of notebook paper, answer the following questions: This lesson is called “Two America’s.” What does this mean? How did segregation affect the daily life of African Americans in the 1950s? Why do you think the Civil Rights movement started to gain momentum at this time? (What changed in the minds of Americans in the 1940’s?)