1950s American Society Essay

American society during the decade of the 1950s served as somewhat of a “kickstarter” for how the U.S. as a nation became what it is today. This decade’s society is about the massive changes that were made to the country and how its citizens operated together. Major events took place in this society and changed things that can still be seen today, such as transportation, rights for all citizens, and the population expansion to even the outermost areas of the nation. Influential American figures that fueled these changes in 1950s society include Rosa Parks, who contributed to the growing presence of civil rights along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, whose efforts provided a prospering society
While America was busy with fighting against Hitler and the Axis Powers, there was an affluence of jobs booming in not urban areas, but instead the suburbs. With this large migration of job and luxury seekers both to these less populated areas, then came the idea of the national Interstate Highway System, which provided the connection of the country with major roads to give migrators the ability to travel to the suburbs without much trouble. This transportation movement also changed society in the way that Americans were becoming parts of a consumer society (1950s involved much spending). Also a cause of this mass-migration of American citizens (particularly white Americans) to the suburbs was the sudden influx of minorities (blacks and Latinos mostly) in the urban North in hopes to locate labor and equality, although society was still segregated during the 1950s. These minorities were sick of this constant alienation and ignorance coming from their white counterparts, and thus in turn, civil rights was brought up as a major issue in