CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Fences" by August Wilson
The play "Fences" explores the complex relationships of a 1950s middle-class, African American family and how they deal with issues of financial hardship, infidelity, and insecurities. Selected (7) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair...
Curated OER
National Park Service: Archive: New Orleans Jazz: Music!
Dozens of audio clips of New Orleans-style jazz music from different time periods: 1920s and 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and the year 2000.
Digital History
Digital History: Sources of Discontent
After World War Two, many women placed a higher priority on marriage and having a family. However, this trend changed during the 1950s and by 1960 more women were attending college, working outside of the home, marrying later, and having...
PBS
Pbs: American Masters: Abstract Expressionism
Provides an article on Abstract Expressionism, "the dominant trend in western painting throughout the 1950s."
Other
Bouwmans of the Northwest: Television at the Sheckler's
Provides short descriptions of various television shows in the 1940's and 1950's.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Civil Rights Movement
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart focuses on the Civil Rights Movement and leaders of the 1950's and the 1960's.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Atomic Fears and the Arms Race
Looks at the nuclear arms race in the 1950s as the United States and the USSR both stockpiled nuclear weapons. Includes 1951 propaganda video showing schoolchildren how to 'Duck and Cover' in the event of a nuclear attack. [9:15]
Country Studies US
Country Studies: Foreign Economic Relations
Exports were the key to South Korea's industrial expansion. Until 1986 the value of imports was greater than exports. This situation was reversed, however, in 1986 when South Korea registered a favorable balance of trade of US$4.2...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Segregation
Steven Lawson, Professor of History at Rutgers, explores how racial segreagation changed from before the Civil War up to the 1950s and the differences in segregation between the North and the South. Students should understand the legacy...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Brown Reactions: Editorials
This sampling of newspaper editorials from the mid-1950s reflects the range of public opinion and responses to the Brown decision.
Oregon State University
Oregon State University: Military Aspects of Atomic Energy: Military Power
Article describes military power in an atomic age and perception at home and abroad during the 1950s.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Korean War
This encyclopedia article from Wikipedia provides a thorough discussion of the Korean War, the 1950s conflict between communist North Korea and anti-communist South Korea.
US Department of State
America.gov: Edward R. Murrow [Pdf]
Highlights the life and career of broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow. Examines his "This is London" reports during World War 11, the Senator McCarthy anti-Communist campaign in the 1950s, his critical treatment of migrant workers, and...
Other
Paul Yee: 'Dead Man's Gold and Other Stories' Teaching Guide [Pdf]
This teaching guide provided by Paul Yee for his book of short stories, "Tales from Gold Mountain", provides a summary of the book, discussion questions and classroom activities. The book explores the experiences of Chinese immigrants to...
Other
Nuclear Weapon Archive: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Program
Examine the development of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program from its inception in the late 1950s to the emergence of Saddam Hussein and the implementation of his nuclear weapon policy. (2001)
Other
University System of Georgia: Civil Rights Digital Library
Compilation of primary resources from broadcasters, museums, libraries, and other content repositories, constituting a scholarly collection of primary sources that document aspects of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s....
Other
Russian Life: Nikita S. Khrushchev
Russian Life offers this article that analyzes Khrushchev and his de-Stalinization policies during the 1950s and 1960s.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Teaching Math & Science in Age of Sputnik
Why did the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik throw the fields of mathematics and science into tremendous demand in the United States? Find the many ways this revolutionary event impacted children from the 1950s to become the...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: American Literature: The Crucible
This is the introduction to an American Literature unit on The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Miller wrote the play about the witch hunt in the 1690s in Salem, Massachusetts as an allegory protesting against McCarthyism, a similiar problem...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Contemporary Drama: Introduction to a Raisin in the Sun
This lesson is an introduction to the play "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, which is set in Chicago in the 1950s. It features links to two of Langston Hughes's poems that influenced the title of the play and a Lorraine...
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: The Supreme Court in Action
This tutorial looks at eight famous cases that were heard in the Supreme Court in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It examines each case, the results, and the ramifications of each decision. A PDF file of the tutorial is available.
Read Works
Read Works: Senator Joseph Mc Carthy's Speech Before the Senate on June 14, 1951
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PDF is an excerpt from Senator Joseph McCarthy's Speech before the Senate on June 14, 1951. It is part of Paired Texts (above the passage) with "Anti - Communism in the 1950s" by Wendy...
Council of Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations: Iran's Nuclear Program
Greg Bruno discusses Iran's Nuclear Program from its conception in the 1950s to the present day, focusing specifically on the tenuous relationship between Iran and the United States. Updated March 10, 2010.
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society: Conclusion: Did the Civil War End at Appomattox?
While the American Civil War officially ended at the Battle of Appomattox, Confederate sensibilities ran deep and it was not until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s that blacks were able to fully assert their equality....
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