1950s Test
Brown v. Board
After a girl was forced to travel several miles to go to a segregated school when there was a white school right next door to her, southerners wanted change. Eisenhower sent fed. troops to integrate a central Little Rock, AR high school In 1954 supreme court made segregated schools illegal
Duck and cover
Bert the turtle: taught children how to prepare for a nuclear attack using the tactic "duck and cover"
HUAC
House Un American Act Committee formed before the war and started to investigated the so-called racial groups the entertainment industry was held in suspicion
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Keynote speaker at church meeting to organize Montgomery Bus Boycott has a religious message, clear & passionate, nice voice wanted non-violence
Postdam and Yalta Conferences
Us and Soviet Union had been allies during WWII these conferences toward the end of the war revealed tension between the US and USSR over the issue of the atomic weapon this tension was ideological and military in nature and became known as the cold war
Little Rock Nine
a group of 9 african americans from little rock who tried to attend an integrated school were turned away at the door by guards and Eisenhower publicly announced that he would send federal troops to anyone in violation.
Cold War
a series of confrontational events between the US and Soviet Union starting immediately following WWII and ending with the downfall of the Soviet Union
Iron Curtain
attempt to divide postwar europe
Montgomery Bus Boycott
began with the arrest of Rosa Parks on Dec. 1, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person sparked a 13 month protest for african americans coordinated by the Montgomery improvement Association & led by Rev. MLKjr. instead, they organized carpools, walked, etc. Nov. 1, 1956 the US supreme court passed laws requiring segregated seating on public buses
Hollywood Ten
jailed after they refused to answer questions about beliefs
Evidence of Suburbanization
larger families created demand for larger cars, people could afford homes (cookie cutter houses) rise in automobile use and rising consumer culture (home appliances needed) strong economic growth, fueled by military spending
Levittown, NY
the most famous of the new suburban developments. the key to its success was affordability was not a diverse community
Joseph Stalin
wanted a buffer zone of satellite states in eastern europe
McCarthyism
McCarthy was a first term republican senator from wisconsin said he had a list of 20 known communists in the state department/ accused other agencies and individuals
Eyes on the Prize
Money, Mississippi Emmett Till upset the social expectations of the south by talking fresh to a white woman killed and dead body was found Mose Wright, his uncle, identified the body and testified in court Mrs. Till, his mother, chose an open casket to show the world what they did to him and make a point Jury was all white, and found the men that killed him not guilty
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
NY couple that were convicted of passing information to the Soviet Union sentenced to death, died by electrocution in 1953
Rosa Parks
Sparked the 13 month bus boycott protest after refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man; was arrested
GI Bill
The servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, signed by Roosevelt "Government Issue" (nickname for members of the armed forces) included several features aimed at helping veterans make smooth entries into civilian life provided money for vets to attend college and job training, etc. included a years worth of unemployment
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Two japanese cities hit by atomic bomb
Baby Boom
US population rose 20% b/t 1950 & 1960 a dramatic rise in the birth rate due to all of the men returning from war
Containment Policy
US worked to contain the spread of communism containment policy began after communism threatened greece and turkey US promised economic aid to prevent the spread of communism feared communism would spread like a "domino effect" because communism was already in china and korea
Marshall Plan
part of america's post-war rebuilding plans in europe 12 billion in economic aid to reconstruct western europe quickly wanted europeans to buy american goods/ make western europe strongly against communism
Manhattan Project
research and developmental project that produced the first atomic bomb leading physicist: J Robert Oppenheimer
Federal Civil Defense Admin
response to America's fears of the atomic weapon distributed pamphlets and made educational films such as Bert the Turtle purpose was to instill comfort and security