1950 s America The Baby Boom Between 1946

1950 s America

The Baby Boom • Between 1946 and 1964, the birthrate soared. • As soldiers returned from WWII, they settled in to family life. • In 1957, at the height of the Baby Boom, one infant was born every seven seconds.

The Prosperity of the 1950 s • 1950 s America was very prosperous. • Its prosperity was shown with the purchase of much more goods and services than ever before. • Many more people were buying homes on the G. I. Bill and moving to the suburbs. • Suburbanization

White Flight • Millions of middle class white Americans left the cities for the suburbs. • They took with them precious economic resources. • At the same time the rural poor moved to inner cities. • Cities began to fail as a result of a lack of businesses and economic activity. • The National Housing Act of 1949 was passed which provided public housing for the urban poor.

The Subculture of the 1950 s • The Beat Movement • Many nonconformists, called Beatniks, cared little for material things and lived in places like Greenwich Village in NYC, and San Francisco. • Beatniks were artists, novelists and poets who expressed themes of traveling, drugs, and other countercultural things. • Rock and Roll • Musicians who added electric guitars to traditional blues music. • Many adults condemned this aspect of the 50 s subculture because the felt that it would lead to delinquency and immorality. • http: //www. youtube. com/wa tch? v=8 y. Rd. Dnr. B 5 k. M • Greasers • Bikers, motorheads, and others who were a part of the noncomformist subculture • http: //www. youtube. com/wa tch? v=9 t. LU_-8 VIrs