The 1950’s had a lot going on at
the time but the developments of culture and technology is what interested me
when I was learning about this topic. I think it’s interesting to learn what
had an impact on the future which is today. The Korean War was happening during
this time and if you learn about that, you realize the reasoning behind why
Korea is the way it is now. That’s one of my favorite parts. Linking what I
learn in history to how our world is today.
Dwight Eisenhower was president
during this time and is considered to this day among the top ten presidents of
the United States. He definitely did a lot for this country. He didn’t get into
politics right away. He started out as a general. A great general who actually
became a five star general. A five star general is basically just a rank that a
handful of people got that was higher than all the other general’s ranks. Only
nine people got that rank. No one gets that rank anymore to this day. But, when
he was president later on, he served two terms. I agree that he did a lot of
positive good things during his presidency. He helped out with the segregation
problems in the schools. That type of color barrier was a big problem during
the 50’s. He was also one of the people who founded NASA. That’s a very popular
organization to this day. Without him, we wouldn’t have had that. Maybe
something similar, but not that specifically. History definitely effects what
we have today.
Unlike the time of the Great
Depression, the economy started to get much better and it was becoming a better
environment in America. Also there was one movement that was very important
during this time. That was the civil rights movement. African Americans did not
have that many rights. But slowly, that started to change. But, they were segregated
in schools, and many other places. It kind of sounds silly thinking about that
type of living. Separating people just because of their skin color? That’s
ridiculous but that was how they thought back then. But, in the 50’s that’s when
things started to slowly change up until today where everyone has the same
amount of rights. There was one man that started to create more awareness for
this issue. Jack Robinson is that man. He was a Major League baseball player.
He was not only that, he was the first African American man to play in the
Major Leagues. People of that color were also segregated in sports. They had
specific teams that they could join. But, Robinson was the man that sparked a
change in this part of American culture. He became so successful in his career
and he couldn’t have done that without having perseverance and breaking through
society’s rules.
There were other developments in
America during the 50’s like televisions. TV’s were getting very popular during
this time as well as the shows that were played on it. There’s actually one
show that played during this time that I like to watch today! I Love Lucy is that show. It was very
popular in the 50’s. In fact, some businesses would let their employees off of
work a little earlier so that they could get home and watch their favorite show
that was playing. There was no DVR where you can record your shows and watch
them later. You either made it to your television to watch your show, or not
get to watch it at all. I personally like some of the older shows better than
some of the ones that we have today. I just think the comedy in them is the
best. Of course, they didn’t have all the special effects and elaborate sets
that we have for our shows today, but that wasn’t needed. The shows had amazing
actors. If you have great actors, then you can make the show the best. I Love Lucy is actually in black and
white. I couldn’t see that show in color. I think it’s perfect in black and
white. But, during this time color photography started to get much more
popular. If you look back in pictures in the 50’s, color started to come into
play. But I think black and white shows are still awesome classics. Sometimes
color isn’t needed. So, I recommend that you try to find a way to watch a black
and white film. Or any older show. Like I
Love Lucy. Why you ask? You’ll see the difference in the shows back then,
to the ones that we have now. I do like some shows that we have today, but I
also really like the older shows because they were very entertaining. I’ve seen
some mistakes that were made in them but it didn’t matter. The actors were good
enough where they improvised on those mistakes. And honestly, it made it much
more entertaining. Some of these shows performed their episodes in front of a
live audience. So whatever happened, if it was a mistake or not, they just had
to go with it. But, overall I think that everyone should at least watch one
really good older show because it’s a really good difference of entertainment
that is very enjoyable.
Everything started to improve in
American culture, including music. Everyone knows what Rock and Roll is today,
but not many people did back then. That was until a young truck driver started
to get popular. That truck driver was Elvis Presley. Did you know he was a
truck driver? I had no clue until now. But he was the man that made Rock and
Roll much more popular. That’s why he is considered the “King of Rock and Roll”
He soon became a sensation and everyone started to love him and his music. He
is one of the most well-known musicians to this day. It’s amazing to see
changes like this in music and what not because it just adds to our culture.
Music is one of the things in history that is very interesting. Because from
the beginning of music to now, there’s a big difference. So, it’s awesome to
see things like that unfold in front of your eyes looking back in the past. Unfortunately
though, Presley died in 1977 because of prescription drug abuse. But, he
definitely left a legacy in this world because many people still listen to his
amazing and entertaining music to this day.
Overall, the 50’s were definitely
years of improvements and positivity for the United States because before that,
they finally got their victory in World War II and before that they even went
through the Great Depression in the 30’s. So this was definitely the time to
recover and it resulted in the economy getting much better than before. The
future was definitely looking much brighter for this country. Looking back at
these different decades, it makes me think a lot about how else we are going to
improve or fall in the years to come. What do you think the future of our
culture will be like?
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