1920s And 1950s Essay

Development in the United States Societies of the 1920’s and 1950’s Across the decades since America’s creation, times have changed drastically. We began as a miniscule nation, barely on its own two feet and developed into a great power worldwide in the span of roughly 240 years. To many people, this sounds like a very long time, as it is longer than the average human lifespan and then some, yet in the grand scheme of things, this is still a relatively short amount of time. As a nation, America continues to change every single day, growing and passing new legislations and laws. Each decade is marked with its own notable challenges, and obviously some are more readily discussed than others. Most notably, if one looks at the growth of the United
The role of women was brought into the limelight by the growing consumerism and shift in our economy, especially since both of these eras come right after some of the largest-scale wars to date as well as the latter era coming right after one of our greatest economic collapses. The 1920s and the 1950s are two eras marked by incredible change and development for our nation, specifically with race relations, the role of women, and the ever growing presence of consumerism within American society. Race relations, as mentioned earlier, is still a very prevalent topic in today's media. It’s impossible to turn on any news station without hearing about different race related crimes, or hear talks of growing tensions between different ethnic groups. These sorts of discussions have been rooted in history with the slavery of the south. The 1920s were no exception to race relations being one of the hot topics. Despite slavery having ended roughly 57 years prior, there was a definite inequality between whites and blacks in America.
World War II had just ended and many of their husbands were returning home, expecting to return to how things had been prior to their leave. Many women, in the absence of their husbands, had taken over their jobs and did not want to leave the positions upon the return of the men. “In 1957, 70% of working women held clerical positions, assembly lines or service jobs. 12 % held a profession and 6% held management positions. Those that held professional jobs worked as nurses and teachers” (Stoneham). The 1950s also had many advertisements focusing on the role of motherhood and aimed at feminine concerns with homemaking and remaining in the house. The ads would show women cleaning the home or making a nice dinner for their families, not out working a job. Also in contrast to the 1920s, college admissions for female students actually dropped out as many women married after the war, and quite a few who stayed did not intend to work toward a job. Furthermore, a conflicting view on women at home versus women at work led to many different arguments about children; many people argued that for women to be out working caused children to be deprived of a