Ch. 28, Section 3: Problems in a Time of Plenty pg. 828

• Main Idea: Many Americans did not share in the prosperity of the 1950s.

• Key Terms:– Ghetto– Automation– Materialism

I. Poverty pgs. 828-830• A. Although many Americans shared in the economic boom of the

1950s, about 20% of Americans lived in poverty. Millions more with low incomes struggled to stay slightly above the poverty line.

• B. Farmers did not share in the general prosperity of the times. – 1. Huge crop surpluses caused the price of farm products to fall,

and farm incomes decreased. Huge corporations bought up the land of many farmers who could not afford to remain in farming. The new huge corporate farms made it even harder for small farmers to compete. Many of these poor farmers moved to urban areas.

– 2. Technology on the farm increased farm productivity, especially for large farms that could afford the machinery and chemicals that boosted productions. Many farm workers suffered. For example, mechanized cotton pickers took away many jobs. Synthetic fibers reduced the demand for cotton, causing many cotton farmers to lose their farms, and the workers on these farms lost their jobs.

– 3. Migrant farm workers- many of them Mexican Americans and Asian Americans- worked long hours and received low wages for picking crops. These workers lived in substandard housing and were stuck in poverty.

I. Poverty cont.

• C. An increasing number of middle-class Americans moved to the suburbs during the 1950s. The poor were left behind in the cities. Many additional people-African Americans from the rural South and Hispanics from Puerto Rico and Mexico-joined the native-born poor in cities.– 1. The migration of poor African Americans and

Hispanics to cities hastened the departure of the middle-class whites to the suburbs in what was called white flight.

– 2. White flight turned many areas of inner cities into ghettos, or neighborhoods inhabited mainly by poor minority groups.

I. Poverty cont.

• D. As more middle-class whites moved to the suburbs, life in cities became more difficult and it became tougher for the urban poor to escape poverty. – 1. Factories and other businesses followed the white population

to the suburbs, leaving fewer good jobs behind in urban areas.– 2. Cities collected fewer taxes as a result, making it increasingly

difficult to keep up with the demand for services such as public transportation and police protection.

– 3. The urban poor struggled, not only with poverty, but also with discriminations in housing, employment, and education. Crime and violence also grew in inner cities, making life more difficult for those who remained there.

II. Voices of Dissent pgs. 830-831

• A. The changes in American society that occurred during the 1950s caused some people to question emerging values. Some thought that cookie-cutter suburbs were causing Americans to lose their individuality. Others thought the society was becoming too materialistic.

• B. Many social critics examined American society during the 1950s. William H. Whyte wrote The Organization Man, which criticized young executives who abandoned their own views and principles in order to succeed in business. In The Affluent Society, John Kenneth Galbraith criticized prosperous, comfortable Americans who ignored the problems and hardships faced by other Americans who were not as economically well off.

II. Voices of Dissent cont.

• C. A group of writers called the Beats expressed their weariness with all forms of the modern industrial state, or rebelled against conformity, blind faith in technology, and materialism that they saw in American culture. Millions of young Americans read the works of Beat writers, such as Jack Kerouac, and adopted Beat attitudes of rebelliousness and isolation from society.

• D. Some women began to question their roles as housewives and mothers. In her book, The Feminine Mystique, author Betty Friedan described the frustration and unhappiness of women dissatisfied with these limited roles.

II. Voices of Dissent cont.

• E. African Americans also questioned the structure of American society during the 1950s. Increasingly unhappy with their place in society and desperate for change, African Americans fought to end segregation and gain greater freedom.

• F. Three events during the 1950s proved especially important for African Americans and helped pave the way for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.– 1. The Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education

of Topeka declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

– 2. African Americans staged a successful boycott to desegregate public buses in Montgomery, Alabama.

– 3. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce a court order to integrate a high school.