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Racial discrimination in the united states
How wwii changed the economy in america
Racial discrimination in the united states
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The United States in the mid-1900s marked a time of innovation and advancement. However, not everything was a positive attribute. Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s, the nation was faced with disasters. Domestically, the stock market crash of 1929 led to a decade-long period of economic downfall. Known as the Great Depression, many people were left unemployed and many businesses and banks shut down. Internationally, between 1939 and 1945, the US was heavily involved in World War II. Directly after the US had come out of an economic situation, the country was then dragged into a war to prevent a German totalitarian regime from taking over Europe. However, towards the 1950’s, the US had a booming economy. Since many countries were in debt to the …show more content…
Despite the world war, domestically, the United States was thriving economically. The war itself allowed the US to distribute goods to other countries. And, since many countries were in debt to the US, the economy was continuously growing and improving. Schools had reopened and employment rates were also rising. Most teenagers and their families no longer lived in poverty. After the New Deal and the international commerce during World War II, most teenagers could return to school and come home to a proper meal. “After the war, many new products were introduced to the American public.”(Carey, 9), allowing teenagers to indulge in entertainment such as movies, sports games, music, and fashion. However, not all of these luxuries were available to African Americans. Post World War II, racial prejudice and segregation still existed. Emma Belle Petcher states: “Two separate, but not equal. White and the blacks. The blacks could not eat in the restaurants. They could not drink in the white fountain. They was separate fountains. Separate sections of the bus that they could not ride in. The trains, if they were big enough, they had separate coach. Separate everything.”(2). Jim Crow laws, especially in the South forced African Americans to use segregated schools, neighborhoods, transportation, public restrooms, and sometimes, hospitals. And in the North, some workplaces paid less to African …show more content…
Although the 1940’s was a period of improvement, it was really just a time of revitalization as the country was emerging from a terrible nationwide economic crisis. The 1950’s is where the nation really lifts its spirits. By now, the people that had lost their jobs in the Great Depression were back to full employment and many businesses and banks had reopened. The US was getting back into its groove, with more trade establishments and a thriving economy. And during this time, teenagers were living happily as well. “The construction of interstate highways and schools, the distribution of veterans’ benefits and most of all the increase in military spending–on goods like airplanes and new technologies like computers–all contributed to the decade’s economic growth. Rates of unemployment and inflation were low, and wages were high. Middle-class people had more money to spend than ever–and, because the variety and availability of consumer goods expanded along with the economy, they also had more things to buy.”(“The 1950s”). With the development of new products and resources, teenagers began discovering more in the entertainment industry. Music genres such as rock n’ roll became a huge trend, with widely popular Elvis Presley. Clothing trends were becoming more apparent, with new v-neck dresses with puffy sleeves and short jackets. Boys would often wear suits or sweaters with neat hair and
In Alabama between 1932 and 2003 many things have changed. The book "To Kill A Mockingbird",was set in the 1930's.I can see many changes in the culture and the general way of life.
Before the Civil War, blacks suffered oppression: slaves to the white man and unable to prosper as individuals. However as Marilyn Kern-Foxworth, author of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, explains, “After the Civil War blacks existed free to begin their own communities… and become members of the buying public” (29). With the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, and with the 14th Amendment, which established equal protection under the law for African Americans, the black community slowly saw improvements, including economic prosperity. However, even then, they confronted discrimination and humiliation. For instance, many “advertisers created campaigns [using] blacks in their advertisements but in demeaning postures that appealed to the white majority” not African Americans (29). The early 1960s marked a critical time for advancement; the Civil Rights Movement with its boycotts and marches demanded real equality. African American leaders called Jim Crow Laws into question and insisted on the integration of schools, businesses, and public transportation. As Brian L. Goff, Robert E. McCormick and Robert D. Tollinson explain in their piece, “Racial Integration as an Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Sports Leagues,” “the civil rights laws and court rulings in the 1950’s and 60’s are among the major changes in public policy that gradually led to a breakdown of Jim Crow rule in the American south” (16). This pivotal moment within American history provoked profound changes in the ways Americans interacted with each other.
The 1930’s were a time of poverty in America. The Great Depression hit the United States hard and it would take years to recover, but presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, although he did not solve everyone’s problem, would help a lot. Roosevelt brought America back from the brink and helped a lot of people, but so many others were left without jobs or money or food. 1930 to 1941 were difficult years for America and it was not until World War II that we started to make some progress.
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
Teenagers in the 1950's are so iconic that, for some, they represent the last generation of innocence before it is "lost" in the sixties. When asked to imagine this lost group, images of bobbysoxers, letterman jackets, malt shops and sock hops come instantly to mind. Images like these are so classic, they, for a number of people, are "as American as apple pie." They are produced and perpetuated by the media, through films like Grease and Pleasantville and television shows like Happy Days, The Donna Reed Show, and Leave It to Beaver. Because of these entertainment forums, these images will continue to be a pop cultural symbol of the 1950's. After the second World War, teenagers became much more noticeable in America (Bailey 47). Their presence and existence became readily more apparent because they were granted more freedom than previous generations ever were.
The years berween 1929 and 1933 were trying years for people throughout the world. Inflation was often so high money became nearly worthless. America had lost the prosperity it had known during the 1920's. America was caught in a trap of a complete meltdown of economy, workers had no jobs simply because it cost too much to ship the abundance of goods being produced. This cycle was unbreakable, and produced what is nearly universally recognized as the greatest economic collapse of all times. These would be trying years for all, but not every American faced the same challenges and hardships. (Sliding 3)
As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the American way of life.
Prior to World War I there was much social, economic, and political inequality for African Americans. This made it difficult for African Americans to accept their own ethnicity and integrate with the rest of American society. By the end of World War II however African Americans had made great strides towards reaching complete equality, developing their culture, securing basic rights, and incorporating into American society.
The bureaucratization of business in the 1920’s meant that more people could be employed in higher paying white-collar jobs than before, including, for the first time, housewives. This new income combined with the reduced prices for goods that resulted from mechanized production, assembly lines and a general decrease in the cost of technology created a thriving consumerist middle class that went on to fuel the economy in all sectors, especially the upper classes. Likewise, during World War II Americans saved up around 150 billion dollars, and this sum combined with the income of the GI Bill allowed normal people to buy expensive things, from houses to cars to electronics to education at a rapid rate, fueling the trademark prosperity of the 1950’s. The new automobile culture of the 50’s spawned new businesses that catered to mobile Americans, such as nicer and more standardized hotels like Holiday Inn, and drive-up restaurants like McDonalds. Just as the culture of the 1920’s was transformed by modernist ideas, the world of the 1950’s was reinvigorated by the introduction of the automobile to the middle class....
The 1920’s was a wild time, full of parties, an increased standard of living, and new innovative gadgets. It was an era of peace and prosperity for Americans nationwide. But every party must come to an end. The thinly veiled failing economy during the 1920’s would ultimately come crashing down right before the dawn of the thirty’s. However, an economy takes a long time and a lot of pressure to fail to the extent of the Great Depression. The main causes of the Great Depression were the income maldistribution which created an unstable economic environment, extreme debt brought about by speculation and installment buying habits, and overproduction that made wages drop even lower than before.
During the aftermath of World War I great change was happening to America’s society. Of the nations that were involved in the worldwide conflict from 1914 to 1918 no other nation experienced prosperity socially, politically, and economically as quickly as did the United States of America. The middle-class American suddenly became the most important component to the growth of the American economy. As the purchase of luxuries, the automobile in particular, became more available to middle-class, opportunity in the housing and labor industries expanded.
The 1920s were known as carefree and relaxed. The decade after the war was one of improvement for many Americans. Industries were still standing in America; they were actually richer and more powerful than before World War I. So what was so different in the 1930’s? The Great Depression replaced those carefree years into ones of turmoil and despair.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, America was at a glorious age. Global superiority, winning the Space Race, and with the economy doing well gave an America a sense of assurance and confidence. In the 1920s, many thought of it as an era of change. With new radios, cars, and many more goods. At the time of the 1930s, America experienced deep troubles with the Stock Market crash on October 29th, 1929 which left many Americans with an impression of loss and anxiety. The 1940s were known for WW2 which left millions dead and was caused by Germany electing Hitler as the Chancellor. But soon in the 50s, the rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. Not only was
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...
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...