Return To Domesticity Analysis

Words: 1870
Pages: 8

Question 1. Some historians have argued that 1950s America marked a step back for the advancement that women made during WWII. What contributed to this “return to domesticity” and do you believe that the the decade was good or bad for women?
“The challenge for many of these women was to embrace the emerging opportunities for independence while resisting a 'fantasy world' in which 'marriage and home were the twin pinnacles of aspiration' and a well-scrubbed doorstep represented moral decency”(Nicolson).
-This article speaks of a women Valerie Gisborn, a smart and hardworking women who had ambitions of opening her own business (Nicolson). That goal would fall short though as she gave into a housewife role because “Romance offered an emotional
…show more content…
Bill subsidized low-cost mortgages for returning soldiers, which meant that it was often cheaper to buy one of these suburban houses than it was to rent an apartment in the city” (“The 1950s”).
-This bill was a big contribution to the movement towards the suburbs because a solid portion of the men in this movement were those who had gotten married when they returned from the war. In this sense suburbs were a good part of american culture, but there is the piece about women. Women were forced to take on the role of basically devoting themselves to their family and not pursuing individual goals (“The 1950s”).
-Besides that piece the decade should be considered a consensus as new affordable homes brought in new families helping the economy.
3. What about the 1950s created an environment and culture that allowed for the beginning of a wide-scale civil rights movement. To what extent was the movement successful in the 1950s? What were the limitations of the
…show more content…
The woman's husband Roy Bryant and another man J.W. Milan beat the boy to death and left him in a river (“The Civil Rights Movement”). The men went virtually unpunished in front of a completely white jury (“The Civil Rights Movement”). The boy's mother requested an open casket so all could see the horror, as thousands came over 4 days northerners of both races realized it was time for change. A quote from the mother is "When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, 'That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all'(“The Civil Rights Movement”).
This along with Brown versus board of education helped lift the spirits of blacks in believing they could make a change. Leading to more acts of civil rights such as the Montgomery Bus boycott with Rosa Parks making a stand and then the day after the boycott the black community would select MLK as their civil rights leader (“The Civil Rights