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Levittown
William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage called Levittown. -
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U.S. History chapter 29
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Truman strengthens desegregation
In 1948, Truman issued an order calling for the desegregation of the armed forces. The navy and the air force quickly complied, but the army resisted until the personnel needs of the Korean War finnaly overcame the military's objections. -
Fair Deal
The deal was a series of reform measures proposed by President Truman in 1949, inlcuding federal aid to education, civil rights measures, and national medical insurance. -
Baby Boom
Post-World War II saw the incredible increase of population and birthrates. The booming birth rate after the war led children born to this generation to be commonly referred to as "baby boomers." -
Brown v. BOE
The Supreme Court reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that established the "separate but equal" doctrine. The Brown decision found segregation in schools inherently unequal and initaiated a long and difficult effort to integrate the nation's public schools. -
Mid term elections
Republicans lost both the houses in 1954 which weakene Eisenhower's relations with Congress. The Democrats regained control of both houses and kept it throughout the 1950s. -
Montgomery bus boycott
In late 1955, African Americans led by Martin Luther King Jr., boycotted the buses in Montogermy, Alabama, after seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus. The boycott was successful when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the protesters. -
The Organization Man
The Organization Man was a book written by William H. Whyte based on a study of the Chicago suburb of Park Forest. Whyte percieved a change from the emphasis on hard work and personal responsibility, to a new social ethic of belongingness, where everyone fit in. -
Southern Manifesto
One hundred and one representatives and senators signed a Southern Manifesto in 1956 that denounced the Brown decision as a clear abuse of judicial power. -
Highway Act of 1956
The act created the interstate highway system. The system, built over twenty years, provided jobs in construction, shortened travel times, and increased dependence on the automobile while weakening the railroads. -
The Election of 1956
Eisenhower had the election under control and defeats Adlai Stevenson in a landslide. -
SCLC created
A year after the successful bus boycott, King founded the SCLC to direct the crusade against segregation. -
Prayer Pilgrimage
Martin Luther King led a march of thirty thousand to Washington on the third anniversary of the Brown decision. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine African American students who were escorted into Little Rock's Central High School by paratroopers sent in by JFK after armed troops denied them entrance. -
Sputnik
In 1957, the Soviet Union suprised the world by launching Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. -
The launch of Explorer
In 1958, Explorer, the first American satellite, successfully orbited the earth. Much smaller than the original Sputnik, Explorer did carry a more sophisticated set of instruments to send back data from space. -
National Defense Education Act (NDEA)
This act, passed in response to the launch of Sputnik, provided an opportunity and stimulus for college education for many Americans. It allocated funs for upgrading studies in the sciences, foreign languages, guidance services, and teaching innovation. -
The Split Level Trap
The Split Level Trap, written by Richard Gordon, Katherine Gordon, and Max Gunther, was about the psychological toll of suburban life. They labeled the new lifestyle "Disturbia" and they also labeled the parents and the children. -
Student sit ins
In February 1960, four African American students sat down at a dime-store lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to move after being denied service. -
SNCC created
SNCC was a radical group advocating black power. They broke with MLK, to advocate greater militancy and acts of violence.
