Exploring America in the 1950s

Beneath the Formica (Grades 6-8)

Molly Sandling, Kimberley Chandler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000492811
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Exploring America in the 1950s: Beneath the Formica is an interdisciplinary humanities unit that looks at literature, art, and music of the 1950s to provide an understanding of how those living through the decade experienced and felt about the world around them. Through the lens of "identity, " it explores life in America and the myriad groups that coexisted in harmony and, often, with friction. Cultural icons like Elvis and the Beat poets are examined alongside larger issues such as the Cold War, conformity, and Civil Rights struggles. The unit uses field-tested instructional strategies for language arts and social studies from The College of William and Mary, as well as new strategies, and it includes graphic organizers and other tools for analyzing primary sources. It can be used to complement a social studies or language arts curriculum or as standalone material in a gifted program.Grades 6-8

LESSON 1
From World War to Cold War

DOI: 10.4324/9781003235064-3

Alignment of Unit Goals

• » Goal 1:To understand the concept of identity in 1950s America.
• » Goal 2:To develop skills in historical analysis and song and artwork interpretation.
• » Goal 3:To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature.
• » Goal 4: To develop an understanding of historical events occurring in the United States during the 1950s.

Unit Objectives

• » To describe how changes in American identity in the 1950s are revealed in the music, art, and literature of the decade;
• » To define the context in which a song or piece of art was produced and the implications of context for understanding the artifact;
• » To describe what a selected literary passage means; and
• » To describe music, art, and literature of the 1950s that reflected the American identity.

Resources for Unit Implementation

• » Handout 1.1: Identity Chart
• » Handout 1.2: Identity Generalizations
• » Handout 1.3: Music Analysis Model
• » Handout 1.4: Confronting the Atomic Bomb
• » Handout 1.5: Unit Project
• » Listen: "Atom and Evil" by Golden Gate Quartet (1947). The song is available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjlF646bA.
• » Listen: "Old Man Atom" (Partlow, 1950) by The Sons of the Pioneers. The song is available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGSIcfJ-Tc.
• » Listen: "Great Atomic Power" (Louvin, Louvin, & Bain, 1952) by The Louvin Brothers. The song is available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9xB7usNSPo.
• » Read: "If I Forget Thee, O Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke (1953). An online version is available at http://hermiene.net/short-stories/if_i_forget_thee.html.
• » Watch: "Duck and Cover: Bert the Turtle Civil Defense Film" (United States Federal Civil Defense Administration [USFCDA], 1951). The video is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60.
• » Listen: "When They Drop the Atomic Bomb" by Jackie Doll (1951) and His Pickled Peppers. The song is available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7V4tOdboWA.
• » Watch: Video clips of The Ed Sullivan Show. Many clips are available on YouTube.

Key Terms

• » Identity: the characteristics by which a person or thing is recognized

Learning Experiences

1. Explain to students that following World War II, the United States went through economic, political, and cultural changes that altered people's perceptions of themselves, their country, and their role in the world. In order to understand how these changes affected the average American, students will examine the music, literature, and art that was produced and consumed in the U.S. at the time.To see the changes, they first need to review what was going on in America at the time and how Americans viewed themselves and their country at the end of World War II.
2. Tell students that as they study the 1950s, they will focus on American identity, how it changed throughout the last half of the 20th century, and how those changes are revealed in the music, art, and literature of the time. In a whole group, brainstorm together responses to the following questions and display student responses to examine them. Ask: What is identity? What are the various aspects or parts of someone's identity? Why is a person's identity important? What role does a person's identity play in how he or she acts or what he or she does? Discuss student responses as a class.
3. Distribute the Identity Chart (Handout 1.1) to students and explain to them that some scholars have developed categories of elements that define identity, such as family, race, ethnicity, individuality, beliefs, values, nationality, social class, time, and place. Use this to try to define American identity in 1944. This should serve to review material you have been covering in class. As a whole group, work through the pieces of the chart. Ask:
   1. Time and place: What do we put in those boxes? What is our nationality? What are our national symbols and sources of pride? What shared symbols or traditions represent American identity and are seen as meaningful by most Americans?
   2. History and myths: What is the shared background or heritage of the U.S.? What recent events or experiences shape American views?
   3. Culture and traditions: What is the American idea of family at this time? What are American values in 1944?
   4. Race and ethnicity: What is the status of the races in 1944? What is the role of ethnicity in 1944?
   5. Civic identity: What is the role of the citizen in America? What are our rights and duties as citizens?
   6. International role: What beliefs does America have about itself and others in the world?
   7. Economy: What does the U.S. produce and how does the U.S. generate revenue? What types of jobs do most people have? What is the status of the U.S. economy?
4. Explain to students that they will look at how the events and experiences of the 1950s altered American identity by using a set of generalizations. Distribute the Identity Generalizations sheet (Handout 1.2) to students and explain that the class will work through it together using Handout 1.1.
   1. The first generalization is "Identity changes with new ideas, experiences, and conditions, or in response to other expressions of identity." Ask: What new ideas, experiences, or conditions arose out of the war? Have students hypothesize about how these might have affected American identity.
   2. The second generalization is "Identity is created, either by a group or person or by outsiders, and self-created identities may be different from how others see one's self." Ask: How did America see itself in the world? How did the Soviet Union see America? Likewise, how did Germany and Japan see America? How did these different views shape America's role in the world?
   3. The third generalization is "There are multiple elements of identity and at different times, different elements have greater or lesser importance." Ask: Which elements of identity were most significant in 1944? How might these priorities have shifted after the war?

• d. The fourth generalization is "Although members of a group or society may have different individual identities, they still share particular elements of identity." Ask: Despite individual differences, which elements of identity did all Americans have in common?
• 5. Explain to students that they will use these generalizations on identity and the concept of identity as they study the events of the late 20th century and examine the effect of those events on American identity. In this lesson, they will start by looking at the effect of new technologies on America. In 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The United States was the only country to use this incredibly destructive new weapon against another country. Give students a Music Analysis Model (Handout 1.3) and play for students the songs "Atom and Evil"by Golden Gate Quartet (1947),"Old Man Atom" (Partlow, 1950) by The Sons of the Pioneers, and "Great Atomic Power" (Louvin, Louvin, & Bain, 1952) by The Louvin Brothers. Give students a Confronting the Atomic Bomb sheet (Handout 1.4). Ask: How do the songs view the atomic bomb? What do the songs say the bomb is going to do? Based on the songs, how do you think the songwriters view the future? What images and allusions do the artists use? Why do they use these images? What do these songs tell us about the popular mindset regarding the new atomic bomb?
• 6. Have students read "If I Forget Thee, O Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke (1953). Ask: What is happening in the story? What is the Colony? Where is it? Why...