American Society and
Culture
(1945-1980)
Unit VIIC
AP U.S. History
Fundamental Questions
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How did American society change in relation
to America’s superpower status?
To what extent did civil rights expand from
1950 to 1980?
Postwar Demographics

Baby Boom
 Prosperity and postwar recovery led to young marriages
and higher birthrates
 50 million babies from 1945-1960

Suburban Growth
 Prosperity and growth of middle-class led to development
of suburbs
 Levittown - mass-produced, affordable housing
 Inner urban sectors loss of population led to low-income
families and physical breakdown

Sunbelt
 Using prosperity and government assistance, more
Americans moved south and west
 More employment opportunities and few taxes shifted
Americans to warmer climates
Baby Boom Stats
Levittown and Conformity
Sunbelt Migration Continues
Second Red Scare

Communist expansion and Cold War concerns led to
increasing fears among Americans
 “He May Be a Communist”
 Question of loyalty and espionage began in government
and spread to society
 blacklisting

McCarthyism
 Characteristics:

Republican, conservative Protestants, Catholics, blue-collar workers
 Strong-arm tactics and use of media propelled his popularity and
increased American public fears
 Army-McCarthy Hearing (1954) and Edward R. Murrow of CBS
Tired of McCarthy’s witch hunts, few Americans pushed back at
McCarthyism – “Decency”
 Through the media, Americans realized McCarthy violated fundamental
rights with false accusations

This political cartoon shows how the HUAC is
running over citizens and justifying it by hunting
down communists.
Essentially, running over the Bill of Rights in
favor of national security.
Senator McCarthy used the media
to expand his influence and power
through fear and ruthless tactics,
which some Americans accepted or
endorsed.
1950s Homogenous Culture
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Corporate America - The Price for Prosperity and the “American Dream”
 White collar jobs the new majority
 Businesses established dress codes and behaviors
Advertising and Wants
 Growth of media led to proliferation of brand names and franchises
 Credit cards
 Suburban shopping centers
Television
 Boomed in the 1950s as many families could afford due to prosperity
 Bland content and common culture displays
Reading and Paperback Books
 More Americans read than ever
 Paperbacks easy to make and easier to read
Music and LP Records
 Along with radio, music companies produced records spreading and developing music genres
 Rock and roll and Elvis Presley
Religion
 Grew exponentially as faith surpassed doctrine
 Last socially accepted bastion of individuality
Rebellion Against Conformity
 Arguments against conformity, loss of individuality, corporate society, materialism
 Catcher in the Rye and Catch-22
 Beatniks - promoted rebellious and socially unacceptable behavior
The 1950s established a society of conformity
akin to the 1920s consumerist society.
Expansion of the middle-class in an era of
prosperity added to the increased materialism
and consumerism of the American society.
Leave it to Beaver
Ozzie and Harriet
Father Knows Best
Beatnik artists broke from the
conformity of the 1950s by
engaging in satirical
responses through various
mediums of entertainment
and leisure.
Unlike the Lost Generation
of the 1920s, the Beatniks of
the 1950s rebelled against the
materialism of Corporate
America by promoting rock
and roll and loose fashions.
The music industry expanded with
the innovation of LP records and
players.
It added to the consumerism and
materialism.
It also allowed for young people to
witness rock and roll over and over
again.
As the King of Rock and
Roll and a soldier, Elvis
remained popular on two
fronts of American society in
the 1950s.
1950s Women
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Suburban and middle-class
growth reinforced housewife
mentality
Baby and Child Care by Dr.
Spock
 Reinforced the American
housewife and mother
 “Know your role”
Increased employment
opportunities
 Growing dissatisfaction
concerning unequal
wages
Background of Civil Rights
Movement
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Postwar Reconstruction
 13th Amendment - end slavery
 15th Amendment - black suffrage
 Freedmen’s Bureau
 Ku Klux Klan and White League
 Plessy v. Ferguson = separate, but
equal
 Jim Crow Laws in the South
Progressive Era Gains

19th Amendment - women suffrage
 Booker T. Washington and W.E.B.
DuBois
 NAACP and National Urban League
 Great Migration

Blacks move to North and cities
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1920s Setbacks and Hope
 Race riots after WWI
 KKK returns
 Marcus Garvey
 Harlem Renaissance
 Quota Laws
1930s Developments
 New Deal Coalition included
blacks as Democratic bloc
 New Deal provided relief
programs
 Limited civil rights legislation
 Mexican Repatriation
Beginning of Progress (1940s)

Great Migration to North and West during
Depression
 World War II production provided women and
minorities more employment opportunities
 March on Washington (late 30s to 1947)
 A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin
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Jackie Robinson and Baseball (1947)
 Executive Order 9981 (1948)
 Truman desegregates the federal government and
military
The Spark of the 1950s
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Hernandez v. Texas (1954)
 Equal protection for all races
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 Ended segregation in schools
 Southern states resist
 Eisenhower sends federal troops to protect ensure desegregation
Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott
 Rosa Parks refused to move to back of the bus (1955)
 MLK led public transit boycott in retaliation to segregation laws
 Supreme Court ruled against Alabama’s segregation laws
Civil Rights Acts
 1957 - voting rights
 First since Reconstruction
 Strom Thurmond’s filibuster
 Civil Rights Commission
 1960 - stronger enforcement by Justice Department
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957)
 MLK’s recruitment of churches to promote civil rights agendas
Jim Crow laws
enforced
segregation in the
Deep South
Rosa Parks stood up to
segregation by refusing to give
up her seat on the bus.
Brown v. Board paved the
way for an end to segregation.
Racial reaction to
desegregation.
ABOVE - Little Rock Nine
BOTTOM - Student
protesters to desegregation
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Non-Violent Protests (1960s)
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Sit-ins (1960)
 Lunch Counter at Woolworths
 Led to Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Freedom Riders (1961)
 Bus rides through the South to protest segregated facilities
Birmingham Campaign (1963)
 MLK’s arrest increased American sympathy for movements
 Led to Kennedy and Congress to pursue stronger civil rights legislation
March on Washington (1963)
 “I Have a Dream” Speech
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
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Prohibited discrimination in employment practices
March from Selma to Montgomery (1965)
 Voting Rights Act of 1965

Eliminated Jim Crow laws
Sit-Ins in Southern diners.
Freedom Riders firebombed.
March on Washington
Selma March on close watch.
A Different Approach to NonViolence
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Some black leaders and civil rights groups felt non-violence slowed progress
Nation of Islam and Malcolm X
 Elijah Muhammad promoted black nationalism and separatism
 Malcolm X believed in violent retaliation to white violence
Black Power
 Stokely Carmichael changed SNCC’s message of non-violence to black
power and self-rule
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“Black Power”
 Black Panthers (Huey Newton and Bobby Seale)
 Extremists of black power
 “Kill or Get Whitey!” “Burn, baby, burn!”
Public Reaction
 Race riots launched all over America in cities and the South
 Some Americans believed riots produced by black extremists like Black
Panthers and Nation of Islam
Malcolm X displays how direct
action was required for equality
immediately.
Black Panthers dressed the
part in promoting black power.
Counterculture and Sexual Revolution
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Youth and Rebellion
 Counter to the strict dress codes and conformities of American corporate society
 Engaged in many protest movements against the Vietnam Conflict
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A conflict for upper-class industrialists, warmongers, and politicians using the youth and lower-class
as cannon fodder
 Hippie Culture
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Denounced the mainstream and conformity as “squares”
Long hair, beards, jeans, beads
 Youth International Party (Yippies) and Abbie Hoffman
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Radical and comical hippies who used theatrical tactics and protests
Music of the Era
 Included lyrics and beats satirizing Corporate America, Vietnam Conflict and promoting
counterculture lifestyle
 The Beatles, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison
 Woodstock (1969)
 Music festival acknowledging popularity of counterculture
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Loose Morality
 Alfred Kinsey’s Studies
 Monogamy to promiscuity
 Medical Advances
 Antibiotics, birth control pills, abortions
 Rampant drug use
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Marijuana, LSD
Vietnam Protests
Self-immolation
was an extreme
form of protest.
Here, Buddhist
monk, Thich Quang
Duc, before the
U.S. escalation. A
few Americans
engaged in this
extreme act of
protest during
Vietnam.
The hippie counterculture
movement of the 1960s responded
to Cold War fears and use of armed
conflict by promoting peace and
love.
Women’s Movement

Inspired by civil rights movement, counterculture,
and sexual revolution
 The Feminine Mystique by Berry Friedan
 Inspiration for women to seek higher opportunities
beyond housewives
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National Organization of Women (NOW)
 Activist group for equality and opportunity for women
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Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
 Congress passed equality in all aspects of society based
on gender
 States did not ratify as conservative culture rebounded in
1970s
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Legacy
 Inspired evolution of women to higher opportunities and
pay in all fields of employment
Inspired by the black civil rights
movement, women used the momentum to
gain equality and break from the
conformity of housewives.
Failure of ERA Ratification
Baby Boomers as Students in the 1960s
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Inspired by the efforts of MLK and the
civil rights movement
New Left
 Student-led liberal group opposed
to the Establishment
Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS)
 Participatory democracy and
direct action for reforms
Free Speech Movement (1964-1965)
 Student protests for free speech
and academic freedoms
 Held on University of California Berkeley
Weathermen
 Extremists students using
violence and vandalism on
American institutions
 Counterproductive attitudes and
actions
1968
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January 30 - Tet Offensive
 Moral victory for Vietcong and inspired more anti-war protests among
Americans and youths
March 16 - My Lai Massacre
 Though made public in 1969, sparks massive anti-war protests against
American war atrocities
April - Columbia University protests
 Student-led protests against discrimination
April 4 - MLK assassinated
 Sparks massive race riots
April 11 - Civil Rights Act - housing
June 5 - Robert Kennedy assassinated
 Democratic Party loses frontrunner as Johnson refused to run for office
August - Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago
 Fueled by Johnson’s escalation in Vietnam and civil rights legislation
November 5 - Nixon defeats Humphrey and Wallace for president
 The nation chooses a return to conservatism and domestic tranquility
Kent State (1970)
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Student protests of
Cambodia invasion
 Ohio National Guard
opened fire, killing 4
students and wounding 9
students
 Nixon responded with
indifference
 Majority of Americans
blamed students
 Emphasized turmoil in
America over Vietnam and
the youth-based
counterculture
Mary Ann Vecchio in anguish over Jeffrey Miller
* Pulitzer Prize winning photo
Immigration Rises
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Immigration Demographics by 1980s
 47% from Latin America
 37% from Asia
 12% from Europe and Canada
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Immigration Policies
 Immigration Act of 1965
 Eliminated
quota laws of 1920s opening the doors
 Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986)
 Illegal
immigration became a growing concern politically,
economically, socially, and culturally
 Penalties for illegal immigration employment
 Illegal immigrants before 1982 granted residency
1960s Inspires More Minorities in 1970s
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Hispanics
 Immigrants escaping corrupt or communist governments forming in Latin
America
 Exploited for cheap labor, especially in agricultural sector
 Cesar Chavez and United Farm Workers Organization
 Boycotts in retaliation to exploitation of immigrants
 Si Se Puede!
Natives
 Attempted assimilation programs in 1950s
 American Indian Movement (AIM)
 Activist group for rights, recognition, and opportunities
 Indian Self-Determination Act (1975)
 Increased sovereignty of tribal lands
Asians
 Growth of Asian-born immigrants from China, Japan, and India
Homosexuals
 Inspired by civil rights movement, homosexuals declared openness with gay
liberation movement
 Harvey Milk in San Francisco (1978)
Cesar Chavez established
the Farm Workers to gain
respect and protection for
immigrants.
Gay Liberation Front marched
and protested for rights.
Space Race Legacy on American Culture

Technology
 NASA advances eventually became a part of consumer
society
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Education
 National security and global dominance focused the
nation on science and mathematics
 Increased funding in research universities
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Environment
 Views of Earth from space inspired environmental
movements and legislation
With Americans
viewing their
planet from
space, they were
inspired to take
care of their
home.
Environmental
concerns became
issues starting in
the 1970s,
especially with
the energy crises.
Supreme Court Developments of
the 1960s and 1970s
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The Warren Court (1953-1969)
 Equality Decisions
 Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - desegregation
 Baker v. Carr (1962) - one man, one vote regarding reapportionment
 Criminal Justice
 Mapp v. Ohio (1961) - illegal search and seizure
 Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) - right to attorney
 Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) - right to remain silent
 Miranda v. Arizona (1966) - Miranda Warnings
 First Amendment and Privacy
 Engel v. Vitale (1962) - prohibited public school-sanctioned prayer and Bible readings
 Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) - right to contraceptives
 Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) - right for student expression in public schools
The Berger Court (1969-1986)
 Lemon v. Kurtzman - Lemon Test of parochial schools
 New York Times Co. v. Sullivan - Pentagon Papers
 Gregg v. Georgia - upheld death penalty
 Roe v. Wade - right to abortion
 Miller v. California - obscenity test
 Regents v. Bakke - reverse discrimination/affirmative action