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Culture of the United States in 1950-1960
Culture in America 1925-1930
American history
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During a time when the population was only around 132 million, versus today’s 318 million, and swing music would fill every room, the children were happier and families were richer. With no problems, society focused on entertainment and passion, leading to a decade of fads reminisced today. Inspiring today’s fashion and music, the 1940’s played an instrumental role in creating history in the American culture. While we still have reminiscence of the $43 billion debt from back then in our trillions, moments such as jitterbug dances and Casablanca reruns define the Swing Era. With life expectancy up in the sixties, people had years of life to live and make the world their own. With discoveries beyond Antarctica and news greater than Truman’s next …show more content…
New toys and activities allowed people to escape their days. The most prominent was the Jitterbug, which was a popular dance form, geared toward teenagers. This allowed them to be free and gain independence. From these small Jitterbug clubs, teenagers got to stay out late and hang out with their friends. Teenagers, with the newfound freedom, began working. With more money to buy more stuff, inventions were geared toward this age group. Hence, their involvement boosted the economy. Since jazz music was already entrenched in American culture, dances such as the Lindy Hop and Jive employed over twenty musicians for a single dance. Famed artists of the era included Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller. To gear specifically to the children, the popular slinky was invented by Richard James. In 1945 the toy became so popular that the regular slinky, slinky worm, and slinky dog, which was portrayed in the Toy Story movie series, became staples in every child’s toy box. Another one of the great toys was fun for the kids, but irritating to the adults. The “pea shooter” was a plastic tube about an eighth of an inch in diameter and about nine inches long that was generally blue and green. The name was given because it was a perfect tool to shoot peas with. In addition, shows such as Jack Benny, The Lone Ranger, and The Ed Sullivan Show became household names. Stars like Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Katherine Hepburn were idolized for their celebrity status. Since they are still well known today, we can conclude that the 1940s entertainment business was one to be remembered. However, the famous of all was the first female animated star: Betty Boop. She had started out as a poodle in a Fleischer Studios animation series, but she slowly became a human. She eventually got her own series of animated shorts and Sunday paper comics. Her bubbly personality inspired legends such as Marilyn
Stephanie Coontz's essay `What we really miss about the 1950's' is an essay that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950's as the best decade for children to grow up. Coontz doesn't believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesn't believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50's only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50's that makes it better than other decades from 20's to 80's. She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken `literally' because from 50's there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50's were good, it didn't lead to a better 60, 70, and 80.
In Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain, author David E. Kyvig, creates historical account of the Great Depression, and the events leading up to it. Kyvig’s goal in writing this book was to show how Americans had to change their daily life in order to cope with the changing times. Kyvig utilizes historical evidence and inferences from these events and developments to strengthen his point. The book is organized chronologically, recounting events and their effects on American culture. Each chapter of the book tackles a various point in American history between 1920 and1939 and events are used to comment on American life at the time. While Kyvig does not exactly have a “thesis” per se, his main point is to examine American life under a microscope, seeing how people either reacted, or were forced to react due to a wide range of specific events or developments in history, be it Prohibition, the KKK, or women’s suffrage.
In the Midwest, farmers were losing their land to mortgage foreclosures. American tourist deaths were attributed to a terrorist attack. A president known for his effective use of the media governed the United States. The U.S. cooperated in a change of government in the Philippines. Parents and churches criticized motion pictures for eroding American morals. And Appalachian State, after setting a new enrollment record, received favorable publicity in a national magazine. Sound familiar? Think again; you're 55 years off. The year was 1934 in the U.S.A.
The 1920’s through 1940’s were incredibly influential years for America, as this was the first period when the commonwealth could partake in entertainment and leisure activities. Although these years had great impact on all of entertainment,the jazz rebirth of the Swing Era was the dominant cultural overtake in the 20th century. The Swing Era impacted America predominantly through its new found discovery as a social commodity, its reimagination of music, and the effect it had on the people who played it.
Technology played an important role in the daily lives of Americans in the 1920s. Many inventions and new developments occurred during this time. A large number of items that are used today were invented by individuals and teams in research laboratories. This technology brought many conveniences such as electrical power and indoor plumbing into the home. Radios gave people access to the news and provided entertainment. Mass culture was also born and the automobile became the largest consumer product of the decade. By 1929, one in five Americans had an automobile on the road. America experienced a decade of economic growth due to the impact of technology in the 1920s.
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.
Also known as the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, the American people felt that they deserved to have some fun in order to forget the emotional toll and social scars left from the war. The Jazz Age was appropriately named due to the illegal activities and good times, which included music, parties, and flapper girls. Jazz was a new style of music that originated out of the New Orleans area, where one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time – Louis Armstrong – began his career. The energy of jazz was a very new and almost uncomfortable style for the very traditional, rigid family of the 1920s. Young people in particular seemed to enjoy this new music the most, as it made them feel carefree. The energy of jazz was symbolic of the era’s trans...
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
Membership in the musicians’ union declined by almost one-third between 1928, and 1934, and the economic situation of the country led to the halt of many elaborate live music shows which previously been a staple of popular entertainment in most cities. Goodman was perhaps the most recorded artist during the swing era, which helped make him a symbol of the swing era. In the late 1930’s, as war clouds gathered, jazz reached the pinnacle of popularity. Musicians’ skills and promoters’ efforts have made possible the success of “swing”. In the two years after the war began in September 1939, government spending for war production and defense reinvigorated the American economy and ended the Great Depression.
In the early 1930’s entertainment started to become popular. The reason for that was due to the Great Depression. Entertainment took people’s minds off of the struggles that were being faced. Country and blues were forms of music that were introduced during this time, but the 1930’s was mainly a time of jazz. Broadway and movies became more advanced and more popular then too. “Movies, music, and Broadway all combined to provide as an escape from the dreary life of the depression.”(Walker n.pag.) Throughout the 1930's people would turn to entertainment to forget about the hard times.
The Fifties were a good time to be a white middle class American These years brought an UN-thought of prosperity and confidence to Americans who barely remembered the Great Depression. Popular music of the early fifties mirrored the life of mainstream America: bland predictable and reassuring. Which didn't seem bad after the depre...
Although 1969, was the end of a significant decade, it held possibilities and hope for a new prosperous 10 years. Still in the midst of what was seen to many as the most pointless American war, the young generation especially was desperate to enforce a change. Change was a common theme of the 1960’s, deriving from movements such as the civil rights movements, the second feminist wave, a social revolution, and the anti-war movement. In addition, technology in America was at one of its highest peaks. Events such as the Space Race against the Sov...
It seems impossible that I have lived through so many decades! I have lived through decades from the thirties to the sixties, and there are many similarities between the two decades. In both decades democrats gained control in the political arena. Both decades were a time of rapid change, socially, economically, politically, and culturally. The population in the United States greatly increased by about fifty-four million people between the thirties and the sixties. Both decades were affected by a war; the 1930’s was greatly affected by WWII, and the sixties was greatly affected by the Viet Nam war. It seems like just yesterday that we began the roller coaster ride of the 1930’s. Why the twenties ended so horribly with the stock market crash, it didn’t seem like the thirties could get any worse, after Black Thursday, but the Great Depression proved that theory wrong.,
The nineteen fifties was a decade of prosperous times in America, but the average lifestyle of an American seemed extremely dull. The average American conformed to social norms, most Americans in the nineteen fifties dressed alike, talked the same way, and seemed to have the same types of personality. Music is what started to change the conformist lifestyle in America. Teenagers started to rebellion against their families by listening to Rock-n-Roll...
Amidst the exceedingly prosperous decade of the 1920’s, traditional American lifestyles and principles were interjected by the new superficial and materialistic beliefs closely associated with “The Roaring Twenties.” Undoubtedly, the 1920’s were a decade of change.