Over the years historians have described the 1950s as a decade of prosperity conformity while the 1960s were a decade of turmoil and violence. It is clear that these stereotypes are accurate portrayals of these times shown through the prosperity of Levittowns in America, but the turmoil and violence due to the different views of civil rights. During these decades there was both social and political changes, resulting in prosperity and conformity of beliefs during the 1950s and violence, turbulence, and disillusionment in the 1960s. During the 1950s society began to shift into a new culture of prosperity. Due to the prosperity of the 1950s new towns called Levittowns emerged. These towns were the first mass produced suburbs, where similar houses were built close to each other. As shown in the image of Document A, these houses were …show more content…
During the late 1940s President Truman held many private racial prejudices. He wished for social equality as he wrote in a letter to a friend stating, “I am not asking for social equality, because no such things exist, but I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings, and as long as I stay here, I am going to continue to fight” (Cayton et all. 682). Truman believed in equality, but people then believed in the supreme court’s establishment of “separate-but-equal” doctrine derived from the case Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. This meant that there can be separate utilities or areas, separating blacks from whites as long as they serve the same purposes. For example if there is a water fountain labeled “Whites” that looks nicer than the one next to it labeled, “Blacks,” if they both provide water, then it is equal. The fight for civil rights continued throughout the years, but in the 1960s multiple accounts of deadly riots and protests all across the United States broke