Anyone remember the 50's?

[leebee]

I posted earlier but will jump in again. I was born in 1955 so remember some of the 50s but lots of the early 60s. We lived in a 3br, 1½ bath ranch on ⅓ acre of land in a development in a Boston suburb. My parents paid $16,900 for this house and mom sold it in 1982 for $70,000 (and it needed a roof and full heat system as the pipes of the radiant heat system had frozen and ruptured in several places in the slab floor). By the height of the housing market, homes in this area were selling for $500K. Growing up, we spent all our time outdoors, running from yard to yard, only going inside when it was mealtime or the street lights came on. We walked about 4 blocks to the school bus stop- no parent chaperoning the walk and wait, even in elementary school. We watched TV with the family in the evenings and watched cartoons on Saturday morning. It was a good life, for us, as a 2 parent, solidly middle class family.

The 50s were not a good time in this country if you were poor, black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, or female. Racism was rampant and accepted. Gender issues? There were no gender issues… if you were a straight white male, you had it made. If not…. Boys took shop, girls took home economics. Girls weren't expected to be good in science or math, and that was OK. That stuff was for boys- and in many families, boys were expected to go to college, girls to get married, after high school. Everyone had a role and place in life, and you'd better not complain or try to change it. I already described my mother's role in the family, and remember… we were privileged, white, middle class, protestant suburbanites. We were the lucky ones.

 

[DeaverTex]

I was born in 1950. My parents grew up during the Great Depression and never really got over it. They were 100% home bodies and creatures of habit. My Dad, in fact, frequently said that he would be perfectly content to live in a sort of Ground Hog Day world, where every day was exactly like all the others. Get up at the same time, eat the same thing (for all three meals), watch the same episode of I Love Lucy every evening, and go to bed because there wasn't anything else to do. (Can you tell that I was bored?)

I remember segregated restrooms (Sears, for example, had two for each gender -- one for white, one for "colored"), segregated drinking fountains, and being told by my parents that the reason was "those people are dirty". I remember the polio terror, with iron lungs and leg braces. I remember measles (both kinds) and chicken pox, having eardrums lanced for ear infections, and all manner of modern medical miracles like that. Yes, we made light of those childhood diseases, but mostly because there wasn't a darned thing we could do about them except hope that they didn't kill or disfigure us. Sometimes they did, too.

I'm not saying that I don't have good memories of the 50's, because I certainly do. But they weren't Ozzie and Harriet, or Leave it to Beaver, by any means. I like my internet.

 

[superme80]

My mom was born in 1950. Between her and my grandma, I got the stories of the golden era of the 50s. I love the clothing of that era. My mom was raised in California, so there was not nerely as much racism. My dad lived all over the United States. He saw first hand way more racism than my mom did. Until her death my great grandma would refuse to admit that she was Puerto Rican because she lived in the South. I think that is really sad. I wish we could go back to the good parts while keeping the tolerance of today.

 

[snapppyd]

Eliza, at first I thought i had you confused with someone else. Are you from the South or from Harlem?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I was born in the mid 70's. I do look at the 50's with a small amount of wistfulness. Sinatra. The golden age of TV. Classy attire. The bombshell era (my kind of lady!)

But then: The Red Scare, constant threat of nuclear annihilation, the Korean War, segregation, and the start of the Vietnam War...

 

[Luvchefmic]

Eliza, at first I thought i had you confused with someone else. Are you from the South or from Harlem?

I think you might be thinking of RobinR ? Although I think she may be a Brooklyn girl

 

[snapppyd]

I think you might be thinking of RobinR ? Although I think she may be a Brooklyn girl

I think Eliza said she was from Harlem when we were talking about neighborhood gentrifcation last year.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Oh ok my mistake, not the first time I've been wrong and it's still early in the day

 

[goofy4tink]

Born in '49. Yes, the 50's were a different kind of time period. We ate dinner together almost every night. Sunday dinner was a big deal. Dad worked all day, my mother kept house. Did we spend more time together vs families of today? No, not really. As kids, when we weren't in school, we were outside, playing. Weekends meant that you were gone almost all day. You might return to someone's home for lunch. But, no one wondered or worried about where you were...playing in the woods or in someone's back field. All the mom's watched out for all the kids. Heaven forbid if someone's mom saw you doing something you shouldn't have been doing. A 'little birdie' always told your mom!!!!
One small tv with few channels. Yes, the family watched together...especially on Sunday evenings.
Were times 'better'? No. Just different. I don't think there are more pedophiles today...I just don't think we heard about it very much back then. We, in fact, had one living behind us. Imagine my dad's surprise when we moved, about 20 miles away, and he saw the same guy walking down the street in our new town. He reported it to the police dept...it wasn't a huge deal. No alarms were sounded, no visits to the guy by the police. At least not that I ever heard about. But, with the media the way it is now, and all the social media out there, I think we have truly lost something. You can't go back. I realize that. But you can feel sad that some things will never be again.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Eliza, at first I thought i had you confused with someone else. Are you from the South or from Harlem?

She said her family was living in the South, and then implied they must have moved North at some point (referencing her dad's refusal to travel South of DC).

So, I got the impression she was either very young or not yet born at that point.

 

[eliza61]

Eliza, at first I thought i had you confused with someone else. Are you from the South or from Harlem?

Nope, you're absolutely right.

I was born in Harlem spent most of my years there . My mom was born and raised in Knoxville Tenneessee, her entire family was active in the movement (she was a civil rights attorney) so summers and a lot of my early years were spent there. She went to college in NYC
My dad is from a small town in south Carolina called Easley, about 3 hours from Charleston. His family actually moved to louisiana where he stayed until he joined the army and was stationed in New Jersey.

Met my mom in Central park one Saturday and the rest is history.

My dad won a silver star for heroism during the Korean war and hated the fact that in order to return home he had to ride the back of the bus and when he wanted to go to the movies he had to go around the back to the colored entrance. Made him bitter and he flatly refused to do it.

 

[aprilchem]

I remember family dinners around the dining room table every night after my father got home from work and had a highball with my mother. Then he'd watch TV for the rest of the evening. My mom was a SAHM so she was there when we got home from school each day. Of course, there was only 1 family car, so she couldn't have gone anywhere even if she'd wanted to. I am not sure the 50s were fun for my mom. She was responsible for every aspect of raising us kids (4), keeping the house clean, doing all the cooking, all the dishes after every meal, all the laundry, all the grocery (and other) shopping, made our dresses, did the gardening, and mowed the lawn. Daddy shoveled the front walk (we had a plow guy for the driveway) and took out the trash (after we kids had collected it from each room). Oh yeah, and she wore a dress all the time (but not heels- she was not June Cleaver, LOL!)When my dad died (I was almost 14, and the oldest) I learned that my mom didn't know who held the mortgage, how to write a check or balance a checkbook, if there was life insurance, etc. There was a lot behind the scenes in the 50s that those TV shows never portrayed.

I actually think this is one thing I would have liked about the 50s - I'm responsible for all the things that you mention in your post, but in addition I have a full-time job. The only thing I don't do is mow the lawn all the time - DH does that 50% of the time. My kids do go to school (so I'm not responsible for them 100% of the time), but kids did that in the 50s, too.

 

[luvsJack]

I was born in the early 60's but two of my siblings grew up in the 50's. My dad was in the USAF, so their memories of the 50's may be a little different. Always lived on base. Dad went to work, mom stayed home with the kids. But my siblings and my mom have some great memories of neighbors and get togethers and family stuff. I grew up with Mom working 12-14 hours a day so my youth was much different than their's.