Introduction
The Museum of Natural History wants to create a new exhibit. They would like to create a timeline of events leading up to the 1950's. Your job is too create a mock timeline to submit to the museum. Many things were happening in the world in the 1950's it was a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the civil rights movement in the United States. “America at this moment,” said the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1945, “stands at the summit of the world.” However, the 1950s were also an era of great conflict. For example, the civil rights movement and the crusade against communism at home exposed underlying divisions in American society. Helping to create this timeline will be a great introduction to our next novel "To Kill a mockingbird"
Task
Your task is to create a mock timeline of events happening pre and post 1950's, to be used in a new museum exhibit.
Process
1. Brainstorm in your small groups important events in the 1940's and 1950's that gives a overall picture of what was happening in the world and America. As a class we will vote on the most important events and assign particular events to each small group.
2. Begin researching in your smalls groups with print (ex. Time Magazine) and the websites provided. Fill out the 5 W's graphic organizer for your event by answering these questions;
- When or what year did the event take place?
- Where, in what country did the event take place?
- Why did the event happen in the first place (cause)?
- Who was involved in the historical event?
- What was the outcome of the event (effect)?
3. Now you can begin gathering images and multimedia for your event and add them to the Google Slide created for this project. You must have at least 10 slides.
4. You must create a presentation of all the information gathered for your particular event and submit it to the teacher for approval.
5. As a class we will print and post the individual events into the wall timeline in the class, take a picture and submit it to the museum.
6. This is a list of websites for you to use;
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/1950s
The 1950’s were marked by the post-World War 11 boom. This is relevant to the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird as so many things were about to change for Americans. For the soldiers returning from Europe to a changed mindset in which woman and people of color were changed and demanded equality after fighting for their country and the woman who supported the war effort found it difficult to remain in the house as merely a caregiver when they had supported the household by earning their own money. Although slavery was abolished the south refused to accept the new equality mindset which divided many. America unscathed from the war found themselves in an era of great prosperity.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshall-plan-1 ( you will need to copy and paste this link)
Now that Europe was devastated from the war the US enacted The Marshal Plan in order to help Europe rebuild. The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. The Marshal Plan was developed unerringly to stop the spread of Communism throughout Europe and money was distributed to nations based on their allegiance during the war.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin. After returning from the war Black people demanded more freedom and/or less segregation as they had just fought for freedom overseas.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1950s-america/a/women-in-the-1950s
Post war many woman did not want to return to the happy housewife role. Although the virtues of capitalism were touted at home proving the superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union. Woman were prompted to quit their jobs and stay home as success of democracy was based on the nuclear family. However post-war about 40 percent of the workforce was made up of woman and many did not want to give up their jobs to be the perfect homemaker. African American woman were essentially ignored during the 1950’s as American media was a “whitewashed” decade. Thus beginning the roots of the “Woman’s Rights Movement”
A first person view of growing up in the south during the 1950’s. The soldiers returning from wars atrocities were happy to go back to the simpler life or the way things have always been after the war. The author gives a great description of how religion and small farming played an integral role in what was happening during the 1950’s era. The general belief that white people were superior and most of the community wanted to keep things the way they
Evaluation
| Category | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Quality of Content | Events are important and interesting. No major details are excluded | Most of the included events are important or interesting. One or two major events may be missing | Some events included are trivial, and major information is missing | Almost all important information is missing. | ||||||
| Quantity of Facts | There are 8-10 important facts about the event in history. | There are are 6-7 important facts related to the topic being studied. | There are 4-5 important facts related to the topic being studied. | There are fewer than 4 related facts. | ||||||
| Accuracy of Content | Facts are accurate for all information on the topic. | Facts are accurate for almost all information on the topic. | Facts are accurate for some of the information on the topic. | Facts are often inaccurate for the information on the topic. | ||||||
| Multimedia | There are at least 8-10 pictures on the Google slide assignment. |
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| Sentence Fluency | The information is described clearly using accurate and vivid language | The information was described well, but language is sometimes vague or inaccurate | The information is not described well and is often vague or inaccurate | The information is vague and mostly inaccurate. | ||||||
| Mechanics | Punctuation, spelling and capitalization were checked and is correct. | Punctuation, spelling and capitalization were checked and is mostly correct. | Punctuation, spelling and capitalization were checked and is somewhat correct. | There are many punctuation, spelling and capitalization errors. |
Conclusion
Now that you understand the major events leading up to the 1950's, what do you think the attitudes of Americans are? Considering the soldiers coming home from war and the beginning of equal rights in the south? Remember that soldiers wanted to return to normalcy, although the world had changed tremendously during this time. Please write a short paragraph in the Google classroom slide inferring what you think might be happening?
Credits
Black life in the 1950's in Mississippi - https://www.loc.gov/folklife/civilrights/survey/view_collection.php?coll_id=2368
Story of a child in the South during the 1950's - https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/racism-as-a-child-in-1950s-us-south