1950's+America

1950's America Segregation-by Melanie Bernstein In 1954, seventeen US states mandated segregation and the laws affected about nine million white children and two point three million black children in public schools. In 1952, The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Brown vs. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall was the lead counsel for the black children. Segregation varied from state to state, but patterns were clear in the South. White hospital patients could only be taken care of by white nurses and black patients by black nurses. It was forbidden to share textbooks in school, they needed to be separated. Even in prisons, black and white inmates were not to associate at all. White people could have no black friends and no neighborhoods we bi-racial. Black and white people did not even live in the same parts of town. Maids were always black women and the men did labor work. Black people could not sit in the fronts of buses and always got worse things than white people. Their public bathrooms were not as nice and neither were their public water fountains.Information from Mrs. Messer's papers and Lauren Miller's Grandfather. Fashion and Fads-by Lauren MIller Since the 1950’s, America has changed and progressed a lot. One major change that has taken place is in both men’s and women’s fashion. Because the war was going on, the use of wool and silk was controlled in the United States. For American women, French Fashion designers were popular, so popular even that we copied them. One French Designer, [|Christian Dior], introduced a new style that became very popular for women. Nylon was also popular for panty hoes, which were worn with a garter belt. Sloping shoulders, a pinched waist, and a long skirt, which created the silhouette of an [|hourglass]. Women who wanted a more relaxed look would wear clothes by Claire McCardell. She used ordinary fabrics, like cotton, jersey, and denim, to create a sporty, comfortable, and functional look. Another popular look was the twinset, which was a knit top with a matching cardigan and wrap around skirt. Long dresses were far more common for women than pants were. Men’s fashion has also changed over the years. Men wore gray flannel suits/slacks, white button down shirts, and wing tipped shoes. They also wore double/single breasted suits with both suspenders and a belt. Vests that matched your jacket were also common. Teenage fashion was different then all other fashion. Most teenagers were inspired by novels and movie characters, including James Dean. They wore normal-width Levi jeans, T shirts, and leather jackets. Penny loafers (shoes without laces), white knee socks, and argyle knee socks were popular for teens. Overall, youth styles, sometimes known as anti-fashions, dominated couture. Some fad hits of the 50’s were toys like [|hula hoops], hopalong Cassidy guns, western gear, silly putty, and Davy Crockett coon skin hats. Little girls played with things like Barbie dolls, and boys played with action figures such as Roy Rodgers. Some popular artists were Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Liberace. Families worked, played, and vacationed at national parks and Disney Land. Drive-in-movies were also popular for teens and adults. My Sources [] [] My grandpa, David MIller

Science and technology

Sources: http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade50.html, Lauren Miller's Grandfather
 * Movies became more popular and better and the first 3-D movie was able to be seen in 1952
 * Hula hoops became a fad in 1958
 * Many toys were made in the late 40’s, and they were popular in the 50’s
 * Etch a Sketch was put in stores in 1959
 * Barbie became very popular in 1959-61
 * In 1950 the first non leaking ball point pen was made
 * The first copy machine was made in 1950
 * In 1955 a vaccine for polio was made that was given to millions that prevents the disease
 * The space race began in 1957
 * In 1958 the first plastic coke bottle was made
 * Cell phones took up the whole trunk of a car, they weren’t popular
 * 1 in 7 people had TVs, they had a small screen, and they were expensive
 * Highways were built were built for people’s convenience, by-passing small towns and helping to create central marketing areas or shopping malls (not as many)
 * Phone booths were used a lot
 * The first domestic jet airline service began between New York and Miami
 * Explorer 1, the first U.S satellite, successfully orbited earth.

1950's History Timeline- By Ryan Marmaros

1951 1952  1953  1954  1955  1956  1957  1958  1959
 * Color TV Introduced
 * South Africans Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race
 * Truman Signs Peace Treaty With Japan, Officially Ending WWII
 * [|Winston Churchill Again Prime Minister of Great Britain]
 * Car Seat Belts Introduced
 * [|The Great Smog of 1952]
 * Polio Vaccine Created
 * [|Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at Age 25]
 * DNA Discovered
 * Joseph Stalin Dies
 * Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed for Espionage
 * Britain Sponsors an Expedition to Search for the Abominable Snowman
 * Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer
 * [|Segregation Ruled Illegal in U.S.]
 * Brown vs. Board of Ed. (Segregation in public schools ruled unconstitutional)
 * [|Disneyland Opens]
 * McDonald's Corporation Founded
 * [|Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus] - lead to a year long bus boycott in Alabama
 * Warsaw Pact Signed
 * Hungarian Revolution
 * Suez Crisis
 * T.V. Remote Control Invented
 * Velcro Introduced
 * March 12th, Southern Manifesto was introduced in the house of reps. in which southern reps. and senators urge southerners to use lawful means to resist school desegregation
 * Dr. Seuss Publishes //The Cat in the Hat//
 * European Economic Community Established
 * Soviet Satellite //Sputnik// Launches Space Age
 * [|Laika Becomes the First Living Animal to Enter Orbit]
 * In Little Rock, AK. Nine black students are blocked from entering school by crowds organized by governor Orval Faubus, national guard intervened.
 * Boris Pasternak Refuses Nobel Prize
 * [|Hope Diamond is Donated to the Smithsonian]
 * Hula Hoops Become Popular
 * [|LEGO Toy Bricks First Introduced]
 * NASA Founded
 * [|Castro Becomes Dictator of Cuba]
 * International Treaty Makes Antarctica Scientific Preserve
 * // The Sound of Music // Opens on Broadway