What was life like back in the 50's?

Question

I am doing a paper for school and I would like to know what it was like for anyone out there who may have grown up in the 50's. Do you remember the Civil rights, or womens' movement? What was your particular situation? What are some of the things you remember, that compared to today, are extremely different?

Answer 1

I loved the fifties, it was a great time to be alive. And I was in the Civil rights movement. I was in the March on Washington when MLK gave his "I have a Dream" speech, Aug 28Th 1963. But mostly that was later, We were just starting to get better after WW2, the economy. In 1954, my High School in WV was just starting to allow Black Students to enroll. I graduated in 1953 and got married a month after graduation to my High School sweetheart who was in the Navy."The Ten Commandments" came out in 1954, as did "Rear Window", with Grace Kelly.
We bought a 1954 Ford Fairlane with blue on the bottom and white on the top and down part of the side. You could go dancing, at night clubs and big bands would be there playing, with the name of the band on the drums.
I do not recall any women's movement at that time, no one was burning their bra. And I liked being a girl. My husband took me on his ship, to see the ship and meet the captain, and he told me to wear my white suit and picture hat. And I was piped aboard.
I had my first baby in 1955, a girl, and by Sept of 1956 I was expecting again. My husband had not settled down, was not happy I was going to have another child, and in Oct, I filed for divorce. Now back then if the husband did not want a divorce, it was extremely hard to get one. And my husband did not want a divorce, he wanted to run around and still come home to me. But I stood firm, I went to court on June 14, 1957, and the judge said," I don't see how I can give you a divorce". Will I was in labor and I said, " I will sit right here until I get it." The man taking down the notes in shorthand came up to the judge and said, if her water breaks, the board of health will shut us down. So the Judge said, "Divorce Granted". I went to the hospital and had my second daughter. My now exhusband paced the floor, and the nurses felt sorry for him. Gave him a place to lay down. But the Judge in my divorce settlement ordered my ex husband to pay 37.50 for each child until age 18. He was out of the service and had a good job in a Power Plant.
But that was all he ever had to pay. The difference is now, courts take the children into consideration, and fathers must pay according to their incomes, and also pay for some medical, and dental needs of the children. I went to work in a factory, and worked over time if the girls needed something extra.
And that is why, I always told my daughters to get an education to fall back on, if they needed to. Marriages do not always last. Get that college degree first, then get married.
And make sure you talk things, like having children over before marriage. Good luck with your paper.
Postscript: No much sex ed back then in schools, if you delivered only girls, it was thought to be the wife's fault. the sha of Iran divorced his wife in 1948 because she had only one daughter, and could not give him sons.

Answer 2

It was innocent but narrow-minded. Very black and white, including television. No FM-radio yet, only AM Top-40 stations... the same songs over and over and over. It wasn't until the TV talk shows of the 70's that we were exposed to alternate lifestyles and opinions. A good thing... an opportunity to see the world with other people's eyes.

Answer 3

It's hard for me to believe I am now 60 years old..... But I do remember the fifties as a young boy growing up in upstate NY.
Historians like to say it was a time of growth; after the Korean "War," The u.S, settled into a "Cleaver family" mode of thinking, Deco & new "ways" were in, Rock and Roll was emerging The age of television (b/w) was sprouting, and the telephone was considered high tech. families were closer, secrets kept even closer, and we had to invent our own play time..because everyone was struggling there seemed to be a more level playing fireld; of course segregation was still allowed even though it just didn't seem right .... it would later in the 60's lash out. If you cruise an old antique store you'll have an idea of what things were made of and how well they were made.....it was in some ways an age of innocence.

Answer 4

Society was civil then; not like today, where people don't give a hoot about anyone else.

You could go out walking even after mid-night, and there was no such thing as a mugging.

People were courteous and polite. Our economy was the best in the world, there was no such thing as the exportation of jobs overseas.

The middle-class was robust, thriving and very self-confident. Route 66 was the most popular TV show. Elvis was in his prime and reigning king of popmuisc.

This country then - not like it is now - was a truly wonderful place to live, and enjoy life.

It in every sense was a "Fabulous" time; we who were alive then, greatly mourn its loss.

Wotan

Answer 5

The era of "duck tail" hair cuts, tight blue jeans and shiny black shoes. The girls wore flaring skirts and small kerchiefs on the head, some wore the tall bouffant hair-do.
The Korean war, Senator McCarthy and "McCarthyism" in the government, the end of the fifties brought the one and only, Bill Haley and the comets and "Rock and roll" along with Elvis "the pelvis" Presley.
I do believe the wage limit was somewhere around seventy-five cents an hour and health insurance was a theory.

The Ford nightmare and the Hudson along with the Jeep going into exile. The rise of the war babies and the end of post war trauma from WW2.

Answer 6

Drive-in malt shops where servers on roller skates brought your order to the car and hung the tray on the car window like you would hang the speaker at a drive-in movie.

Back yard bomb shelters.

The music of Chuck Berry and his duckwalk across the stage.

Double beds for married couples in situation comedies.

Answer 7

Economically, it was a boom period. But socially, it was an era of bland cultural conformity. Worse, for women and non-white people, it was an era of disappointments, when the social gains and increased opportunities of the 1930s and 1940s seemed to disappear. Internationally, the Cold War emerged, leading to political demagoguery in domestic politics and a climate of nuclear fear in every household in the nation.

Answer 8

Much more relaxed.
There was no civil rights or women's movements that came in the 60s.
No drug culture, no celebrity culture ( people had to do something remarkable to become famous). People earned less but things were more affordable and there was less unemployment.

Answer 9

1