The 1950’s (Decades Project) Dillon D. Allison

1950 The First Credit Card Charging for products and services has become a way of life. No longer do people bring cash when they buy a sweater or a large appliance, they charge it. Some people do it for the convenience of not carrying cash; others "put it on plastic" so they can purchase an item they can not yet afford. The credit card that allows them to do this is a twentieth century invention. At the beginning of the twentieth century, people had to pay cash for almost all products and services. Although the early part of the century saw an increase in individual store credit accounts, a credit card that could be used at more than one merchant was not invented until 1950. It all started when Frank X. McNamara and two of his friends went out to supper. -history 1900

1951 The First Color TV Is Introduced In the year 1951, the first color TV was introduced to the public and on June 25, the first color broadcast of CBS was aired. The show was called “Premiere” and included a cast of Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Faye Emerson, Arthur Godfrey, Sam Levenson, Robert Alda, and Isabel Bigley. It wasn’t true to color and it only reached a few cities (Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.) but color television had finally been accomplished. The era of color television was born. After that first broadcast, the FCC started showing color shows such as “The World Is Yours” with Ivan T. Sanderson. About a month and a half after that, CBS aired its first baseball game in color. The game was between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. -history 1900

Disney Land opens for the first time! 1955 Disney Land opens for the first time! On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened for a few thousand specially invited visitors; the following day, Disneyland officially opened to the public. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California on what used to be a 160-acre orange orchard, cost $17 million to build. The original park included Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. –hishtory 1900

Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat Dec. 1, 1955 Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For doing this, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for breaking the laws of segregation. Rosa Parks' refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. –history 1900

1958 NASA Founded The United States Congress passes legislation formally inaugurating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The establishment of NASA was a sign that the United States was committed to winning the "space races" against the Soviet Union. In October of 1957, the Soviet union launched its first spacecraft called the “Sputnik.” This gave them an advantage showing the world that they could do it. For America on the other hand, on our first attempt, we launched one named “Vanguard” but it only got a few feet off the ground and blew up. Finally a year later, we succeeded and launched the “Explorer.” With all this going on, the government created a space agency that could continue this exploration for generations to come. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was born. -History Channel

The 1950’s The Era of Steam Power

O. Winston Link December 16, 1914 – January 30, 2001 N&W Railroad Photographer

The End of an Era - 1959

Links http://www.centex.net/~elliott/1950.html http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/50sfood.html http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm First Credit Card: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/creditcard.htm Disney Land: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/disneyland.htm Color TV: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/Color-TV.htm Rosa Parks: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/RosaParks.htm NASA Founded: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_29.html NASA (history channel): http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nasa-established