A. PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN
1. President Truman issued an Executive Order desegregating the armed forces in 1948. This marked the most significant civil rights breakthrough of his administration.
2. The Dixiecrats walked out of the 1948 Democratic National Convention to demonstrate their opposition to President Truman's civil rights legislation.
B. BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, 1954
1. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was a denial of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. The Supreme Court decision directly contradicted the legal principle of "separate but equal" established by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.
3. As a result of its victory in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) continued to base its court suits on the "equal protection" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
C. PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
1. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock's Central High School to enforce court-ordered desegregation.
2. Ike supported his decision by saying, "The very basis of our individual rights and freedoms rests upon the certainty that the President and the Executive Branch of Government will support and insure the carrying out of the decisions of the Federal courts, even, when necessary, with all the means at the President's command."
3. Although President Eisenhower did send troops to Little Rock, he was not a vigorous supporter of civil rights legislation.
4. The primary power granted to the Civil Rights Commission in 1957 was the authority to investigate and report on cases involving discrimination.
D. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
1. Dr. King's goal was a peaceful integration of the races in all areas of society.
2. Dr. King's theory of nonviolent civil disobedience was influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau.
3. Dr. King was head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
4. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a White passenger. Her refusal helped galvanize the Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Dr. King.
5. The following quote vividly expresses Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence:
'The problem with hatred and violence is that they intensify the fears of the White majority, and leave them less ashamed of their prejudices toward Negroes. In the guilt and confusion confronting our society, violence only adds to chaos. It deepens the brutality of the oppressor and increases the bitterness of the oppressed. Violence is the antithesis of creativity and wholeness. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible."
TEST TIP
APUSH test writers know that you can identify Dr. King, so they often use a challenging but tricky question, asking you to identify Dr. King as the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Do not confuse the SCLC with Stokely Carmichael's more confrontational Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
E. THE SIT-IN MOVEMENT
1. Students staged the first sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960 to protest segregation in public facilities.
2. The sit-ins provide an excellent example of nonviolent civil disobedience.
A. THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY
1. The decade after World War II was characterized by the following:
• Unprecedented prosperity
• A population explosion known as the baby boom
• Rapid and extensive suburbanization
B. WOMEN AND THE WORKPLACE
1. Following World War II, large numbers of women left their industrial jobs to make room for returning soldiers.
2. As Rosie the Riveter gave up her tools and returned home, the housewife became the new ideal for married women.
3. Television programs such as I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best, and The Honeymooners all portrayed women in their roles as housewives.
C. INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS AND THE GROWTH OF SUBURBIA
1. Passed during the Eisenhower administration, the Federal Highway Act of 1956 created the interstate highway system.
2. The Federal Highway Act of 1956 vastly accelerated the growth of suburbia.
A. SOCIAL CRITICS
1. Social commentators criticized the conformity of postwar culture. The leading social critics were:
• William H. Whyte—The Organization Man
• David Riesman—The Lonely Crowd
• Sloan Wilson—The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
• John Kenneth Galbraith—The Affluent Society
2. Critics lambasted most television programs, calling the new medium a "vast wasteland."
B. NONCONFORMISTS
1. Led by Jack Kerouac, Beat Generation writers rejected middle-class culture and conformity.
2. In his book On the Road, Kerouac expressed the alienation and disillusionment he felt toward mainstream American culture.
TEST TIP
Both the Lost Generation writers of the 1920s and the Beat Generation writers of the 1950s wrote about their alienation and disillusionment with American conformity and materialism.
C. CULTURAL REBELS
1. Rock and Roll
• Rock and Roll first emerged during the 1950s.
• Rock and Roll was inspired and strongly influenced by Black musical traditions, especially rhythm and blues.
2. Abstract Expressionist Artistsa
• Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York City in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
• Led by Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionist artists abandoned paintings that represented reality. Instead, they created works of art that expressed their state of mind.
3. Movie Stars
• Movie stars such as James Dean and Marlon Brando symbolized youthful rebellion.