chapter_19_section_4_notes.ppt | |
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The following paragraphs link a lot of the information from the chapter together.
Consequences of 1950s White Flight
Significant changes occurred in American culture and society after World War II ended and servicemen began to return home, reclaim jobs, and begin the process of pursuing and living the American Dream. The move from inner cities to newly constructed suburbs – Levittowns such as those built by William Levitt in the late 1940s, provided the opportunity of homeownership yet it also came with a price. “White flight” produced de facto segregation (segregation based on where you live... or as a matter of fact) in northern urban centers and left minorities, notably African Americans, out of the equation.
The GI Bill of Rights included provisions enabling returning veterans to purchase affordable homes. The law guaranteed mortgage insurance and expanded the FHA, a New Deal agency created in 1934. Capitalizing on federal and local government’s subsidizing of suburbs, men like William Levitt developed suburban communities that were within easy access to city jobs.
Within a twenty year period, suburban homeownership rose from 36 million in 1950 to 70 million in 1970. The building boom affected all areas of the American economy as homeowners sought to fill their homes with furniture and the latest labor-saving kitchen devices. The operative word in 1950s TV commercials was “automatic.” Everything was automatic, from brewing coffee to popping one of the new “TV Dinners” into the oven.
Suburban living confined women to their new cookie cutter community. This was the era of the “housewife” who cleaned, cooked, and nurtured the children. It was also a period known as the “baby boom” as Americans were having more children than in pre-war years. Every aspect of American culture, from education to popular entertainment, was geared toward supporting the notion that the American suburban family was the key ingredient preventing the spread of communism within the U.S.
White middle-class Americans could afford a Levittown home, paying $56 a month on a thirty-year, fixed rate mortgage as opposed to the average apartment monthly rent of $95.00. African-Americans, however, were frequently paid less than white workers and were unable to qualify for suburban mortgages. Consequently, minority Americans had little recourse but to live in the inner cities. As more government funding went to support a growing suburban culture, including the 1956 Interstate Highway Act that allocated $100 billion to construct 41,000 miles of highway, urban spending decreased. This affected inner cities negatively, resulting in the so-called “urban blight” that, in some cases, still exists today in major cities including the once thriving manufacturing center of Detroit, Michigan.
As suburbs grew with the construction of shopping centers, traditional urban downtowns faltered. Fewer opportunities existed for the growing poor in the larger cities as well as fewer choices. Dollars spent for education favored newly constructed facilities for white middle-class families that moved out to the suburbs at the expense of urban schools. White flight may have sparked national prosperity and consumerism, but these affects were not felt in non-white communities.
Certain ethnic groups such as the Italians and Irish also resisted the initial move to suburban life. Content to live within their own urban neighborhoods (Little Italy in New York and the North End in Boston), ethnic communities valued their traditions, associations, and shared old world values. Attending their own churches, patronizing their ethnic shops, and fearful of inter-marriage outside of their particular groups, they shunned the suburbs as a threat to the cohesiveness of their traditional identities.
Ultimately, “white flight” helped grow the American economy while allowing millions of Americans the opportunity to pursue the American Dream. Yet it would take several decades for those left behind to realize those same goals.
White Flight Explained
History of the Bracero Program
This 7 minute clip does a really good job summarizing the history of the bracero program and links it to demographics and conditions of most farm laborers in the American Southwest today.
The Longoria Incident
This 5 minute clip explains what the Longoria Incident was all about. Racism in 1950s America did not only affect black people. This incident doesn't get as much publicity as many events we will talk about in Chapter 21 dealing with the Civil Rights Movement (MLK, Rosa Parks, etc...), but it began a Mexican - American Rights movement.
Native American Struggles
This 5:50 clip documents the U.S. government policy towards Native Americans beginning with the Dawes Act of 1887 (the clip refers to it as the General Allotment Act) and ending with the Termination Policy of 1953 (the clip refers to it as the Relocation Program).