OH+Research

=Life in the Fifties Research= The 1950s was a decade full of excitement! After WWII soldiers came home to find wives and girlfriends. This led to the Baby Boom. This was a massive increase in population that went on throughout the decade. Factors other than returning veterans were advances in medicine, confidence in economy, and younger marriages. Many children were raised under the guidelines of Dr. Benjamin Spock. And Dr. Jonas Stalk created the vaccine for poliomyelitis, which was a revelation in medicine. Women of the time were glorified in shows, movies, and magazines as homemakers and mothers. And along with the Baby Boom, there was a boom in housing. Suburbs were growing. But evidently more women were out of suburbs and working. Most of these women were either single or divorced and many jobs were limited to women.

There was much more leisure time in the 50s than in the decades before. People fished, hunted, and played more sports. They also attended professional sports games. More people read as well. As for kids, Brownies, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts were more popular than before.

Every large city was surrounded by suburbs. They were the paragon of the perfect American family's life. Suburbs were scarcely integrated. White, middle and upper class families dominated them, and minorities crowded into the cities. The suburbs made cars necessary and most families had more than one. Cars and gas were inexpensive and necessary for commuting. Highways were created as well. Other industries boomed with the car industry at a pinnacle. Malls, drive-in movies and restaurants became more popular than ever. Unfortunately, cars were noisy and polluted the planet.

As the economy boomed consumers purchased more materialistic goods. There were new products like polyester fabrics, nonstick cooking spray, and plastic products instead of wooden ones. There were also many new electronic appliances which led to technology being the 5th largest industry in the US at the time. Advertisements were everywhere, especially on TV. Mass media was the perfect place to advertise because it was so popular. Television led to tv dinners. Movie theaters had special effects in which you could smell things that were on the screen while you sat in the theater. Movies and tv got sound and color. However, tv shows and movies lacked diversity, were often sexist, and they portrayed the idolized American family.

The teenage years were considered to be very important as transition years from child to adult. Teens went to movies, had slumber parties, drove around, and listened to music. Rock and roll became all the rage, as well as the blues. Elvis was, of course, the king of rock, and he was loved by girls across the nation.

Style in the 50s seemed to be groomed and tailored. Women and girls wore pencil skirts, swing skirts, and poodle skirts. Women wore girdles and heels and gloves. Also, wide collars known as "peter pan" collars were very commonly seen on shirts and dresses. Women were usually seen in dresses.

Although the fifties seemed like "happy days," there was segregation everywhere people looked. There were separate schools, lunch counters, and even water fountains.

Sources: Rich, Michael. "Fifties Fashions." //Fifties Web//. N.p., 2010. Web. 25 May 2010. 

Danzer, Gerald, Clor de Alva J. Jorge, Larry Kreiger, Louis Wilson, and Nancy Woloch. //The Americans; Reconstruction Through the 20th Century//. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littel, 1999. Print.

MEDIA: media type="youtube" key="2bxxIvPZwG4" height="385" width="480" Elvis Presley; "The King of Rock"

media type="youtube" key="QgZ650X6Ln8" height="385" width="480" This is a student made video with great pictures of fifties fashion!



[|This website displays Girl Scout catalog covers from the fifties!]