1950s

The first of two fires began on Thursday, May 4th, 1950 when a cook stove overheated and started casting sparks. Fanned by winds of up to 70 mph, then began the first of two forest fires in the Capitan Mountains. The Los Tablo's fire burned approximately 1000 acres before fire crews had it under…

During the 1950s, innocent people were killed because of multiple scientific discoveries and many people feared the scientific researches and discoveries. Matheson uses the novella as a vehicle to illustrate the consequences of excessive scientific researches. During 1950s, numerous innocent people were the victim of massive scientific researches: From 1956 to 1958, U.S. biological warfare experiment was conducted. They released millions of mosquitoes infected with yellow fever over Savannah,…

Although Fahrenheit 451 is comprised of a futuristic universe and a backdrop of Bradbury’s own 1950s America inspiration, its central themes are certainly still applicable in our current time era: perhaps 2014 is wedged directly in between the ‘50s, which marked the awakening of a technological age; and the dystopian society that lurked within Bradbury’s own imagination. Fahrenheit 451 brazenly explores the themes of technology, the destruction of the natural world, and control and censorship,…

Even though Siddhartha deviated from the good life his experiences that he gathered on his detour, would eventually allow him to obtain the good life. Siddhartha conformed to society, but overcame the societal obstacle, as did many Americans in the 1950’s. Women were especially susceptible to societies obstacles, “women were expected to subordinate her own needs and aspirations to those of both her husband and her children (Coontz 9).” Society’s pressures were oppressive and began to fuel the…

The Korean War officially started in 1950 and ended in an armistice in 1953 with the Demilitarized zone falling at its pre-war position on the 38th parallel. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), with support from its Communist neighbors of China and the Soviet Union, invaded south past the 38th parallel in June of 1950 attacking the Republic of Korea (South Korea). North Korea’s invasion resulted in initial success until the United Nations intervened in the defense of South…

Clayton Forrester is played by Gene Barry (1919 - 2009), a screen, television, and stage actor. Barry’s suave and dapper persona made him perfect in Hollywood for leading man roles in the 1950s, and later in several television and the stage productions. Though, he is best remembered for his roles in the films The Atomic City (1952), The War of the Worlds (1953), and Steven Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds (2005), Barry and his co-star…

During the 1950’s cigarettes and other tobacco products were extremely crowd-pleasing and mainstream for American citizens. Throughout the decade a large majority of the population smoked cigarettes or used tobacco in some way. Cigarette smoking was the largest form of tobacco use. Tobacco was viewed as healthy for your body mentally and physically. One of the largest tobacco industries, if not the largest, was Camel. With over 98.2 billion in sales Camel cigarettes were obviously exceptionally…

“Doll Test.” The doll test was originally Clark´s wife graduate thesis on how African American children identified with their race (Nyman 2010). The research consisted of three tests: the doll test, the line test, and the color test (Clark & Phipps, 1950). They used four dolls: two that were black and two that were white—all identical, to measure how children felt about the color of their skin. They tested dozens of children in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Worcester,…

The country of Denmark’s population of African Americans was very low during the 1950s. Olaf was not a racist; he has dealt with all races, including black, but the sailor Jim was different. Jim did not seem human to Olaf. In the story “Big Black Good Man”, labeling against the black male Jim was obvious from the beginning when Olaf…

Set in the 1950’s Fences reveals the thoughts and hidden motivations behind an African American community faced with difficult obstacles such as segregation, and poor economic status. Troy Maxson, the protagonist in the play is a struggling African American father who is trying to support his family. Troy is conveyed as a man who has seen a lot of disappointment in his life; therefore, he uses excessive pride…