Dissatisfaction

1
Dissatisfaction

• Those Who Found the Era Too Conformist, Too
  Restrictive, Too Materialistic or Just Plain
  Boring.

2
Exhibit Credits

• Special thanks to students of my MCS 233 class
  (Spring 2004) for information on the Mansfield
  Schools of Texas and the public schools of
  Delaware
• Kiley Hyland, Tara Rosenow, Kate Howard,
  Nicholle Breikjern, Theresa Nygaard, Teresa
  Sachow, Tyson Zitzow, Melissa Doll.

3
Who Was Unhappy

• Minorities who wanted greater equality
• Women who chafed at the restrictions imposed on
  their opportunities.
• Intellectuals who disliked restrictions on their
  creativity, or who disliked society as too
  conformist (writers, musicians, artists, etc.).

4
Brown Vs. Board of Education
How desegregation was carried out in many
southern schools
5
Why Brown Was Decided

• 1890s Supreme Court Decision, that separate but
  equal facilities were acceptable was never
  carried out separate was never made equal.
• Funding for black schools generally 40-50 less
  than white schools of same size
• Black teachers paid about two-thirds of white
  teachers salaries.
• Texts in black schools generally 10-15 years out
  of date.

6
The Story of Mansfield, Texas, 1955

• Terrant county Texas
• Segregated school system, providing no bus
  transportation for black students to their
  segregated school.
• T.M. Moody- the active president of regions
  NAACP helped to pay for lawsuits.
• I.M. Terrel High School for African American
  students.
• Landmark integration case in the state of Texas

7
Events in the Desegregation Process

• I.M. Terrel School was a black-only high school
  under funded and poorly staffed.
• Black community frequently requested improvements
  no result.
• 1955 --Three I.M. Terrel School students
  attempted in Mansfield public school, and turned
  away.
• Lawyer for students files suit on Oct. 7, the
  case would begin Nov. 7.
• Ruled in favor of the defendant.
• After school district loses appeals to higher
  courts, the school board determined that the
  school would be integrated the following school
  year, 1956-1957.

8
Community Reaction to Desegregation

• The announcement for integration was not released
  until August 27, two weeks be fore school began.
• White organizations expressed fear that
  desegregation would lead to a mixed race in the
  future.
• Parents of black students from the I.M. Terrel
  school worried that their children would have
  difficulty being accepted into the new school
  system, might be subject to violence.
• Additional police added to school area to prevent
  violence.

9
Evans Vs. Buchanan
1956
10
Evans Vs. Buchanan
Background Information

• 1956 saw a series of lawsuit in Delaware
  regarding segregated schools in the state.
• All lawsuits were consolidated and heard as Evans
  vs. Buchanan.
• Delaware had been a slave state in 1860 and
  indeed did not end slavery until 1864 (13th
  Amendment).
• One national publication termed Delawares
  segregation as worse than the deep south.

11
Court Actions

• No black children were being admitted into white
  schools
• In 1955, 9 year-old Brenda Evans was 1st
  plaintiff to file suit against the town of
  Clayton, DE.
• Evans attorney was Louis L. Redding, prominent
  civil rights attorney.
• In 1956 Federal District Court found that
  Delaware had done little to obey Brown decision
  and eliminate separate but equal schools. The
  Court ordered Delaware to come up with a
  desegregation plan

12
Attempts to Delay Implementation

• In response to Federal order, Delaware state
  board of education developed a plan-
  one-grade-a-year basis (i.e. desegregate
  kindergarten the first year, 1st grade the second
  year, etc.)
• Black community returned to court, arguing plan
  is an attempt to delay.
• Public opinion in white communities mixed
  schools were unnatural and dangerous.
• Court actions continued into 1959 before state
  made real efforts to comply.

13
Long and Difficult Process Two County
Experiences

• 1961- Public schools in Kent Sussex counties
  were partially desegregated.
• Desegregation occurred under a freedom-of-choice
  plan
• Plan allowed students of both races to attend any
  school within geographical district.
• Attempts to intimidate black students to opt for
  old schools did occur.
• -Still considerable amount of racial mixing.
• -Delawares Board of Education was not satisfied
  with plan.
• Delawares last all black school was closed in
  1967.
• Various court cases continue until 1993 to
  eliminate differences in funding, etc.

14
Television Racism
Although it had high ratings (an used real
African-American actors, unlike the radio show),
Amos n Andy was cancelled after viewers
protested its portrayal of Black life in America.
15
King and Adam Clayton Powell
16
Rock and Appropriation
17
The First Great Rock Hit
Sh-Boom was first recorded by the Chords,
Earth Angel by the Penguins black groups.
The Crew Cuts made them into hits.
18
Big Boy Crudup
While Thats All Right Mama and My Baby Left
Me made Presley rich, songwriter Arthur Crudup
quit performing as segregated clubs I was
making everybody rich, and here I was poor.
19
Blanching the Music
Pat Boone made a career of covering Black songs
Roll with me Henry became Dance with me
Henry, Long Tall Sally (Little Richard) was
sanitized and many other songs were redone and
sold as Boones hits.
20
First Steps in Personal Music
21
The Payola Scandal
Dick Clark (above, with The Coasters) barely
survived the revelation that DJs and music hosts
were paid to promote certain groups and records.
22
Alan Freed
Rocks first super promoter produced concerts
that were integrated and helped black performers
get recording contracts, until he was ruined in
the payola scandal. He died in 1965, age 43.
23
Alice Paul and the ERA
The ERA was first introduced in 1923. It came
closest to passage in 1950s when US Senate
approved it (excluding protective legislation)
by a vote of 63 to 11.
24
Betty Friedan
I never found a woman who fit that happy
housewife image. The Feminine Mystique
25
Birth Control
In 1965, the US Supreme Court struck down state
laws that prevented the sale of birth control
devices.
26
Jack Kerouac
Kerouac, and Neal Cassaday, 1952. On the Road was
written on a roll of teletype paper, in one week,
as Kerouac simply followed the movie in his
head. The book inspired the Beat Generation.
27
Howl
Allan Ginsbergs free-verse poem Howl denounced
all that was wrong in American society. Like
Kerouac, Ginsberg helped create the Beat
movement, later influenced many 1960s
counter-cultural activities.
28
Lenny Bruce
Arrested numerous times for obscenity while on
stage, Bruce died of a drug overdose many fans
insisted he was murdered by police.
29
Norman Mailer
In several 1950s essays (including The White
Negro, Mailer compared the fears of the average
American about the Cold War to the problems that
African-Americans faced every day.
30
Most Were Satisfied

• Most were quite satisfied with the situation in
  the 1950s, when
• American was not at war
• Work was available to almost everyone
• Incomes were higher than ever
• There was more leisure time than ever before
• But there was a major shift coming as the
  largest generation ever began to come of age.