Bombs, Beats, and Bus Boycotts: The Turbulence of the 1950s

A detailed Summary of Bombs, Beats, and Bus Boycotts: The Turbulence of the 1950s

At the end of World War II , Americans saw prosperity that they had never seen before. The standard of living had risen, and America was racing for world dominance. Moreover , the events that took place during this decade would change the way we look at this era forever. This decade was an era of turbulence, rather than an era of idealism, due to great fear during the Cold War, the rise of rebellious beats, and the Civil Rights Movements taking place in the segregated south.

First and foremost, the Cold War that began in the 50s created fear about rise of the Communist threat and nuclear power, a fear that dominates the anxieties of fighting a major war today. A very influent man named Joseph McCarthy led the communist threat. McCarthy brought a new word into America's vocabulary, McCarthyism. The legacy he left can be defined as a time in America's history when the government questioned people about their personal ideologies and brought negative exposure to thousands of people's lives. Communism in America during the 1950's was more like a rumor than a real event. McCarthyism left scars on many people's lives by his slander and should be viewed as a lesson of what simple accusations can do to one's life. Also the nuclear power

created worries and anxieties that probably could have been avoided. After what the atomic bomb had done to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the idea of creating a bomb much more powerful raised many eyebrows. In the video " The F!

nd political movement showed whites how other whites were acting and exposed these moral scars. For blacks, the Civil Rights Movement led to real equality and not just constitutional equality.

Sadly, racial discrimination and segregation were a way of life in the south, but this was all about to change. The death of Emmit Till showed all of America how racist southern Americans were. His mother showed her son's mutilated bodies on television to get her point across to the people in the north who did not truly understand what was going on in parts of the country. When Rosa Parks got arrested for sitting in the front section of a bus, blacks in Montgomery, Alabama, took control of the matter by refusing to ride buses. Halberstam stated in the " Rage Within" video that, " the blacks of the 1950s were the backbone of the busing system in the south." When they refused to ride a revolution began. When the color barrier was broken at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, the whites went crazy. The blacks were verbally and physically abused while trying to enter the school. All these events combined into what is today called the Civil Ri

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Approximate Word count = 923
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History