1950s America
The 1950s was right after World War 2. The men came back from world war 2 and the women were running the factories and doing the jobs while the men were at war. The economy got better during this time. During this time the suburbs came to be known. Suburbanization is when a community was filled of white single-home families with “white picket fences”. People of color didn’t stay in the suburbs during this time, they moved to the city. Suburbanization made the racial lines more divided in America. 7 million whites left the cities for the suburbs while 3 million African Americans moved into they city. The urban city was looked at as crime infested community by the whites in the suburbs. America encouraged citizens to consume because it was good for the nation and its economy . The suburbs are characterized by: conformity in Architecture, Race , Income (people of like incomes lived in the same neighborhoods) ,and family structure (single parents or both parent families). The African Americans that lived in the city tend to be people of low-class during this time.40,000 miles of highway were built in the 1950s to link suburbs and cities and to promote the use of automobiles. The economy was still increasing with the white population moving out of the cities and buying new houses. The city wasn’t bad until the white population moved out and since the African Americans were not making as much money, they went into poverty. The poverty during this time created welfare. Welfare was government aid for families that were considered low-class. Welfare made it possible for the low class families to be able to survive and feed their family. This time period was good for the economy if you had money but for the low class this time can be looked at as a downfall.
