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1950's And 1960s American Culture

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1950s to 1960s American Culture The 1950’s and 1960’s were a pivotal time in American history for change. My focus question for this paper is How did American Culture in the 1950’s and 60’s impact Civil Rights Movements? The purpose of the paper is to examine the 1950’s and 60’s and analyze how technology, music, the Baby Boom and Space Race all led to a new and an increasing emphasis on Civil Rights that previously had not been experienced. During the 1950’s and 1960s the civil rights movement became more pronounced and people began to speak out about inequality and injustice in more powerful ways than they had in the past.African americans had been fighting for equal rights for a long time. But racism and segregation entered the mainstream of american life. Some evidence for this is in the 1896 Supreme Court court case Plessy vs Ferguson which made the practice of segregation legal. This institutional practice became deeply ingrained in the Southern way of life and made it OK to have separate drinking fountains, schools and restrooms for colored people and whites. Today we know this was wrong and a great injustice but what people don’t understand is how long this practice took to get rid of by changing people’s minds about it. As the culture changed in America so too did these old outdated ideas. equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on its railroads. …show more content…

In the 1950s, the relatively new technology of television began to compete with motion pictures as a major form of popular entertainment. More people had access to different parts of the country including the South to see how people lived. Actors such as Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge were seen on the big screens around the country and helped many people see their experiences as inspiration for overcoming the problems they faced in

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Near the end of the Reconstruction Era, laws and amendments were passed to give African American’s rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed to forbid racial discrimination in public areas. However, Congress ended up repealing the law saying that it was unconstitutional. As a result, more laws dealing with segregation were passed. Plessy v. Ferguson was an important landmark court case because it paved way for African American civil rights movements that challenged the laws under “separate but equal.”

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During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement was a big topic and controversy with all of the United States. It was quite clear that African Americans did not get treated the same way that whites did. It had been ruled that it was constitutional to be “separate but equal”, but African Americans always had less than the whites did. For example, the schools that they had were run down, and had very little classrooms, books, and buses. Martin Luther King had a large role in the Civil Rights Movement, as did Malcolm X, and others.

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In 1896, the historic ruling of the Plessy versus Ferguson case made by the Supreme Court significantly affected the generations to come. In the case, the Supreme Court made the ruling of “separate but equal.” This was when segregation came out in full force. Despite the amendments made before, the Supreme Court made the decision that African Americans were supposed to be separated from whites in daily life. This included schools, churches, entrances made specifically for one race, and even public transportation was segregated (Brock, “New South”).

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For hundreds of years African Americans have faced racial discrimination in the United States. Over and over again contracts were made that gave them hope of equality such as the Emancipation Proclamation, the 14th and 15th amendment, and the end of the separate but equal law. However, they were continuously refused the basic rights that they were promised and were still forcefully separated from whites. Racist police and white supremacists evoked fear in African American men and women who attempted to participate in the rights they were entitled to. Then, in the 1950s and 60s there was a spark of interminable protesting of the clear racial injustices that the African American people faced, this time was known as the Civil Rights Movement.

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Trough out the 1960, the goal for racial became priority for many Afro-Americans who suffer from segregation or also called Jim Crow. After the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision in 1896, all Afro-Americans will need to obey the law that stated separation of facilities or known as “separate but equal”. Since the 1900s, association like the NAACP fought for the equality in education, politics and economy in America between the races, in 1960 the nonviolent propaganda became a way to stop the segregation and start living as the constitution stated, with equality and freedom (Document 1). In 1954 the famous Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall won against segregation when there was a concern about

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The 1950s in the US saw significant changes politically, socially, culturally, and economically due to the "economic boom". Politically, the 1950s were marked by the beginning of the Cold War, which led to increased government spending on military and defense. The era was also characterized by a wave of conservative sentiment, reflected in the election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the rise of suburbanization. Socially, the 1950s saw a rise in consumerism and a growing middle class, leading to a proliferation of new consumer goods and the development of a more materialistic culture.

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The 1960s era was quite the controversial time, debating between if segregation was the way to go or the complete opposite, integration. African Americans during this time were fighting for equality and acceptance in their communities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically outlaws any discrimination, this meaning :race, color, religion, sex, and etc. In a community, working together brings unity and equality in the environment. Malcolm X thought segregation was the path to follow, but separate doesn’t mean equal.

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Racial discrimination became a problem for African Americans throughout the 1960s. It commenced with the Jim Crow laws that promoted segregation for African Americans. Leading for African Americans to become segregated from public facilities and treated unfairly. At the time it was clear that in the eyes of Jim Crow and others who thought just like him, he saw those with black skin as unworthy and unequal compared to their white skin. Plessy fought to be “separate but equal” in their community.

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