Dissatisfaction

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

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.

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.).

Brown Vs. Board of Education

How desegregation was carried out in many southern schools

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•Texts in black schools generally 10-15 years out of date.

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 region’s NAACP helped to pay for lawsuits.

• I.M. Terrel High School for African American students.

• Landmark integration case in the state of Texas

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.

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.

1956

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 Delaware’s segregation as “worse than the deep south.”

Evans Vs. Buchanan

•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

Court Actions

•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.

Attempts to Delay Implementation

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.

-Delaware’s Board of Education was not satisfied with plan.

• Delaware’s last all black school was closed in 1967.

• Various court cases continue until 1993 to eliminate differences in funding, etc.

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.

King and Adam Clayton Powell

Rock and “Appropriation”

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.

“Big Boy” Crudup

While “That’s 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.”

“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 Boone’s hits.

First Steps in “Personal Music”

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.

Alan Freed

Rock’s 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.

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.

Betty Friedan

“I never found a woman who fit that ‘happy housewife’ image.”

The Feminine Mystique

Birth Control

In 1965, the US Supreme Court struck down state laws that prevented the sale of birth control devices.

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.”

“Howl”

Allan Ginsberg’s 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.

Lenny Bruce

Arrested numerous times for obscenity while on stage, Bruce died of a drug overdose – many fans insisted he was murdered by police.

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.

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.