Post-War American Life

Isms

100

This is the ideology that people should share their resources equally within their community.

Communism

200

This is the idea that people have greater or lower status in society only based on their heritage.

Racism

300

This 'ism' is about people spending money. It helped the economy 'boom' again 37% during the 1950s and was driven by advertising.

Consumerism

400

One senator went after Americans who he accused (usually falsely) of being communist. His name forms an 'ism' that now means someone who is attacked with little or no evidence.

McCarthyism

500

This 'ism' revolves around social, political, and economic empowerment of black communities and people, especially to resist assimilation into white American culture (through integration or otherwise), and maintain a distinct black identity.

Black Nationalism

Prosperity

100

There were 60 million of these moving around the USA by the mid-1950s.

Cars

200

After leaving WWII, the GI Bill gave military veterans two important benefits. What are they?

1) Access to a university education
2) Priority for highly-skilled jobs

300

Many Americans during the 1950s bought things they could not pay for all up front. What is this practice called?

Debt

400

While most Americans prospered during the 1950s, what percentage were still living in poverty?

25%

500

This was the name of the first credit card in the USA. It was founded in 1950.

Diner's Club

You Gotta Fight

100

This leader promoted a new type of action in the 1960s - force.

Malcolm X

200

This group of people demanded equality in education, housing, employment and civil rights.

The Black Panthers

300

This important event happened following the shooting of fifteen year-old James Powell by a white off-duty police officer on July 18th 1964.

Harlem Race Riots

400

This landmark Supreme Court case desegregated schools by law.

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka

500

These are the names of the two individuals who protested at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City

Tommie Smith
John Carlos

For Your Right

100

This man lead the SCLC and was a famous orator of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and '60s.

Martin Luther King, Jr

200

This is the name of the school where nine Black students integrated despite fierce opposition from locals.

Central High School, Little Rock

300

Rosa Park refuse to give up her seat and started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. What is one way this was this an significant event?

1) It was one of the first mass protests.
2) MLK became a prominent leader.

3) Brought international attention to the plight of Black people.

400

LB Johnson furthered civil rights of all by tackling problems of unemployment, bad housing and inadequate medical care. What was this platform called?

The Great Society

500

Non-violent protests gained traction during the 1960s. Other than the Bus Boycott, name two other famous protests that used this tactic

1) Sit-ins
2) Freedom Riders

3) March on Washington

To Party

100

This was the new term applied to American youth who had more leisure time and spending money than previous generations.

Teenager

200

This man was the first mainstream Rock and Roll star.

Elvis Presley

300

By 1954, 4 in 5 American homes had what in their front room?

A television

400

Most films in the 1950s appealed to the confidence and optimism of which group of Americans?

White Americans

500

What 'ism' did the advertisements on television help grow?

Consumerism