Give Local America Day 2024 is on Monday, May 6, 2024: What were the people in America like in the 1950s?

Monday, May 6, 2024 is Give Local America Day 2024.

Sponsored Deals

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I was 16 in 1950 and joined the service in 1952 when I was 18. The main thing going for the 1950s was America was still free, and the people were responsible for the most part. I started high school in 1949, and we students had guns and took them to school where we did gunsmith work in the school shop. My dad bought dynamite, caps, and fuse at the local hardware store, and we cleared our place of stumps with it. When I was 12, I bought .22 rifle bullets at Montgomery Ward, nobody thought anything of it.

It was sometimes tough to make a living then, because there was little or no welfare. The basic rule was, "No work, no eat." So, when I was 16 and 17 I had to work on farms, survey crews chopping brush, picked berries and cherries, and did many odd jobs. But, before I was 18 and could work in the sawmill, I had already earned enough money to buy myself a large Indian Chief motorcycle, much like the large Harley Davidson motorcycles. I was proud and it meant a lot to me because I earned it.

The movies and music were already beginning to Rock and Roll in those days, and although there wasn't much TV around then, we went to the Drive-in that we called the "Passion Pit", and took girls there but they set the limits, and wouldn't go beyond kissing, most of the time. Those drive-ins were mix and match, because we may go there in one car, but leave in another. It was a great social activity.

At noon, we all went to the High School gym, where we turned the lights down low and danced with some really beautiful girls to recorded music. In those days the girls wore really nice clothes to school, knew how to use makeup, and moved in close to dance slow romantic dances. Of course there was some rock and roll and some swing like they had in the 1940s.

We in the 1950s used up most of the good old cars, hot rod roadsters and others. I have to laugh at future generations that dig old cars out of the brush and places, thus finding cars we never would have looked twice at, and then they say, "Classic man, classic". LOL

We used to cruise all the time. My friend had a nice 1942 Mercury Convertible with leather seats. We would cruise looking for girls, and sometimes they would climb in and ride with us. One time, the clerk at the clothing store sold me a nice turtleneck sweater, saying it made me look like Gene Kelly. LOL Well we picked up a couple of girls one day, and after they got in the car we noticed that they were silly, and seemed younger than we wanted to be seen with. So we were trying to figure out a way to get rid of them. One girl took a bottle of cheap perfume from her purse, opened the bottle, and spilled the perfume on me. It ruined my turtleneck. Anyway, we figured out a way to get them out of the car, and they left.

Both the old Indian motorcycle and the Merc convertible would cause a sensation today. They were cool then.

By the mid 1950s we listened to Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Joni James, Eartha Kitt, and many others. I got sort of hung up on Progressive Jazz and even visited the Black Hawk nightclub to hear Dave Brubeck in person, and also other performers.

We had clothes for the period and went around being cool just like young people today. If you want some flavor of the 1950s style and the early 1960s, get the movie "American Graffiti".

People abusing drugs were stigmatized and shunned by us in those days. Dopers were considered trash.

Child molesters disappeared. Drifters and troublemakers would sometimes show up in our towns. The town policemen would round them up, or him up, and tell him to leave, and give him time to do it. If he wasn't out of town by what the police said, they grabbed him, took him to the town line, and beat him to a pulp. If he was stupid enough to come back after that, he disappeared. That treatment was reserved for perverts hanging around the school, or insulting women, or just acting flaky in general. We had little or no crime, and most of us were armed. Any flakes that got past the police were taken care of by the loggers, or truck drivers. We had justice in the private sector when it came to troublemakers drifting in.

I would have to write a book if I keep on. But, I hope it gives you an idea of what you asked for.

latino america!! how much £ will i need?

I did a trip to south america last summer booked a flight to Bogota (Colombia) stayed there 3 days then took a bus to Medellin (Colombia) where I stayed 2 days (wish i stayed longer) from Medellin I took a flight to Lima, Peru stayed there 2 days and then 2 days in machu pichu, from Lima i took a bus to Santiago, Chile and stayed there 3 days then took a plane to Buenos Aires where i stayed 4 days, went up to Uruguay and finished in Rio de Janeiro.

I spent around 3,500 pounds no joke including airfare and everything. I did stay in cheap hostels and didnt eat in fancy restaurants. I would def recommend South America is a great region.

my top places to go in S.A

Medellin, Colombia (great nightlife and beautiful women i was very surprised)

Rio de Janeiro ( a true paradise )

Buenos Aires ( Very cultural city with many things to offer)

Santiago, Chile ( cool city great setting)

Machu Pichu and Lima

Quito

For your info Argentina,Brazil, Chile and Colombia are very European i didn't feel a cultural shock in this countries and was often mistaken as a local. But if you really want to explore the indigenous S. America then you will have to go to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru where you will see a big cultural difference,

Do schools close in America on Martin Luther King day ?

Each school district picks which holidays they will close for. They have to get in a set number of days of school but which days are a local decision. Many of them close on Martin Luther King day, but a lot don't. They don't even close on Columbus Day in Columbus OH some years. The state probably mandates some holidays and custom some (for example, I don't know of any school that is open on Christmas Day). In IL the schools close on Lincoln's birthday instead of President's Day.