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American Society and Culture (1945-Present)

Explore 1950s societal shifts, from baby boom to civil rights, shaping American identity. Discover key events, icons, & challenges.

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American Society and Culture (1945-Present)

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  1. American Society and Culture(1945-Present) Unit IXC AP U.S. History

  2. Fundamental Questions • Evaluate the impact of the Cold War on American social identity. • To what extent was the year of 1968 a turning point in American society and culture.

  3. Baby Boom (1946-1964)

  4. American Suburbia • Causes • Postwar economic expansion • G.I. Bill and FHA • Great Migration • Interstate highways • Details • Single-family homes • Subdivisions and zoning • Shopping malls • Effects • “White flight” • Urban decay

  5. Second Red Scare (1947-1957) • Cold War Fears • Duck and Cover • “He May Be a Communist” • McCarthyism • Demographics: • Republican • Conservative Protestants and Catholics • Blue-collar workers • Tactics • Media and Television • Blacklisting • Reaction • Army-McCarthy Hearing (1954) • “Decency” • Edward R. Murrow of CBS • Public Outcry

  6. Nifty FiftiesThe American Dream • Corporate America • White-collar jobs • Business dress codes • Consumerism • Credit cards • Shopping malls and strip malls • Advertising/Brand Names/Franchising • Ford • Cheerios • Chef Boyardee

  7. Nifty FiftiesWomen • Suburban and middle-class growth and mainstream media culture reinforced cult of domesticity • “Know your role” • Increased employment opportunities • 40% of women held jobs

  8. Nifty FiftiesConformist and Conservative Society • Causes • New Deal politics, Cold War/Communism, Materialism, Baby Boom, Suburbia • Social Mores • Traditional gender roles • Respect for authority • Against perversion, drugs • Church Membership • 49% in 1950 • 69% in 1960 • Impact on Politics • “under God” added to the Pledge of Allegiance (1954) • “In God We Trust” as national motto and on paper currency (1956) • Billy Graham • Evangelism to be pure, not improved

  9. Nifty FiftiesTeenagers and Rebellion • Teenagers • “Quiet Generation” • Attracted to lifestyle of rock and roll, television, and movie stars • Rise in juvenile delinquency • Beat Generation/Beatniks • Rejection of contemporary conformist and materialist lifestyle • Spiritual liberation • Free lifestyle and experimentation

  10. Nifty FiftiesTelevision and Movies • Television • Ownership • 9% in 1950 • 65% in 1955 • 87% in 1960 • Impact • Corporate sponsorships • Sitcoms of the American middle class family • Ozzie and Harriet • Leave it to Beaver • Father Knows Best • Movies • Epic, science fiction, and Cold War themes • The Day the Earth Stood Still • Rebel Without a Cause

  11. Nifty FiftiesMusic • Classic Pop • Billie Holiday • Crooners • Frank Sinatra • Dean Martin • Doo Wop • Vocal group harmony • Rock and Roll • Influenced by rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, country, and pop • Electric guitars • Chuck Berry • Elvis Presley

  12. Nifty FiftiesLiterature • Post-Modernism • Post-WWII reactionary movement • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger • The Death of a Salesman and The Crucible by Arthur Miller • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee • Beat Generation • Rejection of materialism, sexual liberation, drug experimentation, Eastern religions and philosophies • On the Road by Jack Kerouac

  13. Postwar Reconstruction 13th Amendment end slavery 15th Amendment black suffrage Freedmen’s Bureau Ku Klux Klan and White League Disenfranchisement Plessy v. Ferguson Separate, but equal Jim Crow Laws in the South Progressive Era Gains Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois NAACP and National Urban League Great Migration 1920s Setbacks and Hope Race riots after WWI Lynchings KKK returns Marcus Garvey Harlem Renaissance 1930s Developments New Deal Coalition New Deal provided some relief programs Limited civil rights legislation Civil Rights MovementBackground

  14. Civil Rights MovementBeginning of Progress (1940s) • Smith v. Allwright (1944) • Prohibit all white primaries • March on Washington Movement • A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin • Jackie Robinson and Baseball (1947) • Executive Order 9981 (1948) • Desegregation of government and military

  15. Civil Rights MovementDesegregation • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) • Desegregation of schools • Overrules “separate but equal” • “all deliberate speed” • White Southern Reaction • Southern Manifesto (1956) • Little Rock Nine (1957) • Eisenhower orders National Guard to escort black students to Arkansas high school • Stand at Schoolhouse Door (1963) • University of Alabama • Governor George Wallace • “Segregation Now…”

  16. Civil Rights MovementRosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott • Rosa Parks (Dec. 1, 1955) • Segregation on Montgomery, AL buses • Refused to give up her seat and arrested • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) • Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional

  17. Civil Rights MovementMartin Luther King Jr. • Passive Resistance • Bayard Rustin • "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.” • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) • Network of churches to organize non-violent civil rights demonstrations

  18. Civil Rights MovementStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) • Sit-Ins • Freedom Rides • “By 1965, SNCC fielded the largest staff of any civil rights organization in the South. It had organized nonviolent direct action against segregated facilities, as well as voter-registration projects, in Alabama, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi; built two independent political parties and organized labor unions and agricultural cooperatives; and given the movement for women's liberation new energy. It inspired and trained the activists who began the "New Left." It helped expand the limits of political debate within Black America, and broadened the focus of the civil rights movement. Unlike mainstream civil rights groups, which merely sought integration of Blacks into the existing order, SNCC sought structural changes in American society itself”. - Julian Bond

  19. Civil Rights MovementBirmingham and Washington • Birmingham Campaign (1963) • Letter from Birmingham Jail • “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” • March on Washington (8/27/63) • I Have a Dream • Civil Rights Act of 1964

  20. Civil Rights MovementSelma March (1965) • From Selma to Montgomery (Alabama) • Blood Sunday (March 7) • Voting Rights Act of 1965

  21. Civil Rights MovementMalcolm X and Nation of Islam • Malcolm X • Promoted black separatism, black nationalism, black supremacy • “We don’t teach you to turn the other cheek. We teach you to obey the law… But at the same time, we teach you that anyone who puts his hands on you, you do your best to see that he doesn’t put it on anybody else.” • Nation of Islam • Elijah Muhammad • Black separatism and black pride

  22. Civil Rights MovementBlack Power • Stokely Carmichael • SNCC • Black Panthers • Huey Newton and Bobby Seale • “Kill Whitey!” • “Burn, baby, burn!”

  23. Civil Rights MovementUrban Riots • Los Angeles (1965) • Watts neighborhood • 34 deaths, over 1000 injured • Detroit (1967) • National guard and federal troops and tanks sent • 43 deaths, over 1000 injured • Kerner Commission • Frustration among impoverished urban blacks due to white racism • Attempt to improve inter-racial communications

  24. Swinging SixtiesNew Left • Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) (1962) • Condemned corporatism, racism, poverty, Vietnam War (“The Establishment”) • Berkeley Free Speech Movement (1964-1965)

  25. Swinging SixtiesCounterculture Movement • Hippies/Flower Children • Non-violent anarchism • Rejection of materialism • Concern for the environment • Youth International Party (Yippies) • Abbie Hoffman • Radical hippies known for theatrical protests and tactics • Sexual Revolution (1960s-1980s) • Kinsey studies, novels, magazines • Contraception and premarital sex • Abortion and Roe v. Wade (1973)

  26. Swinging SixtiesMusic as Expression • Themes • Anti-Establishment • Anti-war • Promotion of counterculture • War - Edwin Starr • Artists • Bob Dylan • Jim Morrison • Rolling Stones • The Beatles • Joan Baez • Jimi Hendrix • Woodstock (1969) • 500,000 attend 3-day rock concert

  27. Vietnam Protests Self-immolation was an extreme form of protest. Here, Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, before the U.S. escalation. A few Americans engaged in this extreme act of protest during Vietnam.

  28. 1968The Year of Rage • Tet Offensive (Jan. 30) • Nguyen Van Lem Assassinated (Feb. 1) • My Lai Massacre (Mar. 16) • LBJ Withdraws (Mar. 31) • MLK Assassination (Apr. 4) • Columbia University Protests (Apr. 23-30) • Robert Kennedy Assassination (June 5) • Democratic National Convention Riots (Aug. 22-30) • Nixon wins election (Nov. 5)

  29. Kent State University (1970) • Student protests of Cambodia invasion • Ohio National Guard opened fire, killing 4 students and wounding 9 students (May 4, 1970) • President Nixon responded with indifference • Majority of Americans blamed students • Emphasized turmoil in America over Vietnam and the youth-based counterculture Mary Ann Vecchio in anguish over Jeffrey Miller * Pulitzer Prize winning photo

  30. Feminist Movement • The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963) • National Organization of Women (NOW) • Gloria Steinem • Roe v. Wade (1973) • Political Gains • Sandra Day O’Connor - first female Supreme Court justice (1981) • Geraldine Ferraro - first major party Vice Presidential candidate (1984) • Madeline Albright - first female Secretary of State (1997) • Nancy Pelosi - first female Speaker of the House (2006)

  31. Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) • “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” • Phyllis Schlafly Red - ratified Yellow - rescinded ratification Green - ratified by only one state legislative chamber Blue - not ratified

  32. Civil RightsHispanics • Hernandez v. Texas (1954) • Chicano Movement • El Movimiento • La Raza Unida • Cesar Chavez • Viva la Causa • Si Se Puede • Bilingual Education • Coral Way Elementary (1963) • Bilingual Education Act (1968) • Political Gains • Sonia Sotomayor - first Hispanic Supreme Court justice (2009)

  33. Civil RightsNatives • American Indian Movement (AIM) (1968) • Civil rights organization for native property rights and cultural preservation and restoration • Indian Self-Determination Act (1975) • Sports team references • Washington Redskins

  34. Civil RightsLGBT • Gay Liberation Movement • Stonewall Riots (1969) • AIDS • Setbacks • Anita Bryant and Save Our Children (1977) • Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) • Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (1993) • Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (1996) • Achievements • Lawrence v. Texas (2003) • United States v. Windsor (2013) • Same-sex marriage

  35. Contemporary Labor Developments • Taft-Hartley Act (1947) • AFL-CIO (1955) • United Farm Workers (UFW) • United Farm Workers • Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta • Labor Unions Weaken • PATCO Strike (1981) • NAFTA (1994) • Right-to-Work States • Outsourcing

  36. The Sunbelt and Rustbelt Why the Sunbelt? Low taxes, warmer climates, defense industries, right-to-work, immigrants Rustbelt Deindustrialization due to globalization, domestic policies, demographics. migration

  37. Contemporary Immigration Pushes Escape communism, violence Pulls Seek American Dream Immigration Policies Immigration Act of 1965 Eliminated 1920s quota laws Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) Penalties for illegal immigration employment Illegal immigrants before 1982 granted residency

  38. Contemporary Society and CultureMulticulturalism • Melting Pot • Americanization and assimilation of diverse cultures • Salad Bowl • Cultural mosaic • Promotion of cultural diversity • Contemporary nativism • American exceptionalism • English Language Amendment

  39. Contemporary Society and CultureEnvironmental Movement • Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (1970) • Earth Day - April 22 • Fossil Fuels • Oil • Natural gas/fracking • Coal • Alternative Fuel Sources • Nuclear • Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and Fukushima (2011) • Solar energy • Electric hybrids • Global Warming/Climate Change • Human impact on CO2 levels

  40. Contemporary Society and CultureHealth • Medical Breakthroughs • Polio Vaccine and Jonas Salk (1955) • CAT Scan (1971) • MRI (1971) • Stem cell therapy (1998) • Epidemics • HIV/AIDS • Cancer • Obesity

  41. Contemporary Society and CultureAmerican Family and Lifestyle • Graying of America • 1/8th of Americans are 65 or older (2000) • Life expectancy is 78 years old (2012) • Baby boomers retiring and impact on Social Security • American Family • Nearly 50% divorce rates • Single parenthood • Different forms of family • Education • 1 in 4 of 25-34 year olds a 4-year college graduate • Internet

  42. Contemporary Society and CultureTechnology and the Future • Automation • Internet • World Wide Web • Genetics • DNA structure (1953) • Human Genome Project

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