Happy+Days!!!

????

Answer this essential question by developing a discussion between two sets of people describing the positives and negatives of life in the 50s. Use one color to identify the positive aspects and another color to identify negative aspects. **You should include at least five (5) major aspects explained on each side of the discussion.** **Each aspect should be described with detail**. Make sure you spice up your discussion with some snappy 50s lingo. You'll be in fat city and have it made in the shade if you try your best, dig?

EXAMPLE POSITIVE NEGATIVE

What's buzzin', cousin? The 50s are fat city! Think about rock n' roll! Electric instruments, great rhythms, fun for dancing - teenagers love it. We've got Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard!

That's the word from the bird! And we have more entertainment because of the new fangled television. We can watch quiz shows, family shows, and keep up with rock and roll on American Bandstand. And we can buy television stuff in the stores. Like my cool Davy Crockett hat?

It sure is boss. But you want to know something that isn't? The poverty that is plaguing many in our nation. The economy may be booming, but farmers and farm workers are suffering in rural areas, as are coal miners. And I sure wouldn't want to live in the inner cities - those ghettos are becoming islands of poverty, mostly for minorities

Man, the fifties are such a blast! I can’t believe how rocking the 50’s era is! There are such large steps being taken in medical advances! Antibiotics and vaccines help control diseases such as diphtheria, influenza, and typhoid fever! Polio, the illness that paralyzed many and killed many as well, finally has a vaccine. The babies were booming! families enjoyed growth during the 50’s era. Babies went from 150 million to 175 million and babies lived longer thanks to vaccines!

Are you joking? The 50’s weren't so great!

Gays had to remain in the closet, they faced arrest for soliciting in bathrooms and their bars were often raided and they could not divulge their secret to their employers or their families and they were openly ridiculed in popular entertainment. Women who couldn't rely on attractiveness to get circled had to take care of them financially were sent out into a workforce that discriminated against them. Blacks, especially in the South, suffered under Segregation and other forms of cruelty.

You guys are such wet rags! Now many more cars are being made so that people can get around easier. Interstates and highways were made getting to and from the suburbs easier. Also Americans could travel by air easier with jet-powered commercial aircraft, airplanes were replacing trains. Women worked outside the home more and more among the decade. With the Culture of Conformity everyone believed everyone should be equal.

Pregnant women smoked, in fact, nearly everyone smoked cigarettes, movies were censored, people abused alcohol as it was socially acceptable to have a three-martini lunch, abortion was illegal, women who were victims of domestic violence usually had little recourse. People in unhappy marriages were expected to stay in them no matter what

[|The Cold War at Home] / [|The Economy Booms] / [|The Sky is the Limit] / [|Boom-Time for Babies and Houses]