What Life Was Really Like in 1950s America

After the war, America got richer than any country in history. A factory job could buy a house, the house came with a yard, and the yard came with a car in the driveway. This film answers one question with real footage from the time: what was life really like in 1950s America, for white families and Black families alike? We look at the paycheck, the new suburbs, the cars and the highways, the kitchen and the television, and the Black main streets that fed and clothed whole cities, from Sweet Auburn in Atlanta to the new homeowners of Detroit. We also look at what was hard, and why so many Americans still miss this decade. Chapters 0:00 What life was like in the 1950s 1:15 The Boom 5:43 The House 9:35 The Car 13:45 The Kitchen and the Television 18:17 The Richest Negro Street in the World 25:16 The Best Decade? Sources U.S. Census Bureau (family income, home ownership); Federal Highway Administration (Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs history (GI Bill); Pew Research Center (U.S. births); Smithsonian Magazine (drive-in theaters); National Park Service (The Negro Motorist Green Book); Economic Policy Institute (Black home ownership and income); New Georgia Encyclopedia (Auburn Avenue); National Museum of African American History and Culture (The Nat King Cole Show); Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Music Chapter music, public domain recordings from the Great 78 Project, Internet Archive: "Ain't We Got Fun", Metropolitan Dance Orchestra (1921); "Beautiful Ohio", J. C. Beck's Orchestra (1919); "Corn on the Cob", Banta & Hess with Selvin's Orchestra (1923); "A Kiss in the Dark", Clark's Marimba Orchestra (1923); "Charleston Crazy", Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra (1923); "Miami", Maryland Dance Orchestra (1925). The American Century answers the questions people ask about life in 1900s America, one decade at a time. #1950s #AmericanHistory #Nostalgia