Our Times: The Era of Conformity in the 1950s
Justice Thurgood Marshall, in front of Supreme Court, is the first African American appointed to the top court. Photo courtesy of Bettmann/Corbis.
1950
Reader's Digest Condensed Books launches, bringing bestselling fiction and nonfiction to a mass audience of American readers.
1953
B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior brings to light how reinforcement can change behavior, an idea that has an impact on American educational practices.
1954
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a Supreme Court decision, opens the way for school desegregation.
1955
Why Johnny Can't Read by Rudolf Flesch champions phonics over the "look-say" method of teaching reading. Bill Haley and the Comets song "Rock Around the Clock" becomes the anthem of the new rock and roll generation.
1957
The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union initiates the "space race" and increased funding in the U.S. for scientific research and science education.
The "Little Rock Nine" take the first step toward integrated education in the segregated South by walking into Central High School under the protection of federal troops.
1959
Jack Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments, is credited with inventing the microchip, which makes possible smaller, faster, cheaper, more efficient communication systems. Soon he puts chips to use in the first pocket calculator.
About the Authors
Mark Ciabattari is a novelist and cultural historian, and author of the forthcoming book Social History of the United States: The 1940s. Jane Ciabattari is a widely-published journalist and frequent contributor to NRTA Live & Learn.
This article originally appeared in NRTA Live & Learn, Summer 2007, as a 60th Anniversary Extra.
