Happy+Days



That's a great question, don't you think? We will answer it in class on Thursday in a (hopefully) fun activity, but to prepare, we should do a little background reading and watching. R**ead "The Fifties" in __Creating America__ (28-3, pp. 800-803), read over the ABC-CLIO links posted below, and w****atch the videos below.** 
 * FOR HOMEWORK, CREATE A LIST (IN YOUR ONLINE NOTEBOOK) OF POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES CONCERNING LIFE IN THE FIFTIES FOR CLASS ON THURSDAY. WE WILL USE IT TO WRITE SOME DIALOGUE ...**

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


 * An overview of the Red Scare and McCarthyism**

The "Duck and Cover" video - 1950 classic - a must watch

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 * Some more 1950s Cold War propaganda - giggles **

Did you ever watch or hear of the show, set in the beautiful city of Milwaukee? Here's a look back ... (ask your parents if they remember the show)

__POSITIVE__ - baby boom- after world war II the numbers of children being born in the US grew a lot - economic boom- the economy was doing very well partially because of the baby boom - increased wages- many more people were joining the middle class and moving to the suburbs -many new products-there were new products being invented and more advertising -optimistic attitude- people were happy and enjoyed life -more medical treatments- there were more vaccines being invented and people used more antibiotics - increased its focus on the space program- because of Russian satellite, US put money into a space program -$1 billion into science education and teacher training - the government was spending more money so people could be better educated - housing boom - because there were more children and higher wages, people moved to the suburbs and bought more houses __NEGATIVE__ - red scare- people were scared of communists/communism - Korean War- war going on cause thousands of deaths - prosperity left out many Americans—especially African Americans - many Americans were doing well but many also were not doing well - minorities were unwelcome to suburbs- most lived in the cities were living conditions weren't good -few civil rights- African Americans and other minorities were not treated equal