1956 Hot Topics

Hot Topics of 1956 A year is like a jewelry box, it incorporates multiple objects that some individuals will favor and some will not. The year 1956 was in the heart of controversial issues and topics due to uprising ideas in pop culture and new way of life for youth in America, and was a crucial turning point with regards to civil rights.

As time passed, new innovations and role models arose that lead way to an improved yet contrasting lifestyle in the United States of America. The 1950s was a time where television was a more prominent aspect of the American home life. People were all about convenience in the fifties, whether it was “Zenith introducing the first wireless remote control devise for television sets” (Trager 12) or how “most

Elvis’s behavior and music style became conventional for youth culture because he was a role model who challenged traditional values with new and unusual sounds of music. As Elvis appeared on television more often, he became highly influential and created a new norm for kids (sometimes by dancing) that adults thought debatable (“Presley, Elvis Aron” 2) which led to a group of more rebellious children in the fifties. Elvis had an emerging effect of change eon America in 1956, he challenged certain ways of life, and people’s reluctance towards him signified how some American’s were resistant to change of any sorts during this

Prior to 1956 there had always been issues between different races (particularly African Americans and whites) due to slavery and mistreatment, and how the north supported desegregation while the south did not because they thought the white majority was superior to African Americans. Nevertheless as time went on and peoples viewpoints were altered, desegregation became inevitable; the University of Alabama-a place with traditional southern ideals- chose to welcome “the first black student to the university” (Trager 5); yet she was expelled first for her own safety, readmitted due to a court ruling, and expelled once again for the charges of “making libelous comments” (Trager 5). The back and forth tensions between desegregation at the University of Alabama signified that the US was working towards civil rights equality, however not everyone was shared those ideas- even if there were court rulings against segregation. The hostility to equality for all races went farther than just a university, it went to South Carolina as they created a law that “forbid city employees from affiliating with any civil-rights organization’ (Trager 5). This ruling took away rights from the average American because they did not have the freedom to voice their opinion or protest without severe consequences: it again proves how some