Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: A Biography of America: The Fifties 1945 1960
World War II ends with the legacy of its final moment: the atomic bomb. After reading comprehensive background material, interactive feature lets you decide if President Truman was correct in his decision to drop atomic bombs on...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Marshall and Mc Carthyism
Read the outlandish claims Senators Joseph McCarthy and William Jenner made about honored statesman and public servant, George Marshal during the time that came to be known as McCarthyism.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Post War Prosperity and Cold War Fears 1945 1960: The American Dream
Looks at the policies of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, both at home and abroad. Also examines changing gender roles in the 1950s, and the impact of suburbanization on America.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Prosperity and Cold War Fears 1945 60: Popular Culture and Mass Media
Examines the impact that rock and roll music, movies and the invention of television had on America in the 1950s.
Museum of Modern Art
Mo Ma: Abstract Expressionist New York
Blockbuster exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art underscores the relationship between New York City and the explosion of creative activity among the artists who lived there in the postwar period. Learn why New York became the center of...
University of Virginia
Virginia Center for Digital History: Television News of the Civil Rights Era
A rich collection of streaming video samples of television news footage from 1950 to 1970, along with an assortment of primary source documents, first-person accounts, a glossary of terms, and essays and analysis for learning about the...
Duke University
Duke University Libraries: Digital Collections: Ad Views
A record of the times as well as of vintage brands, AdViews provides access to commercials created during the postwar period, 1950s through 1980s.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Marine Patent Models
View the Smithsonian's collection of patent models that demonstrate marine inventions from the 1770s to the 1950s that attempted to change and improve the challenges Americans encountered working and traveling on the water.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Land of Television
The advent of increased television programming helped create a national popular culture. Read about the many kinds of television programs offered in the 1950s.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Rock 'N' Roll: Beginnings to Woodstock
The resources in this set highlight the artists and sounds that were central to the rock 'n' roll musical genre that contributed to social and cultural change in America beginning in the 1950s.
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania: The Hollywood Blacklist
This site describes what went on in Hollywood during the Red Scare of the 1950s when many actors and directors were asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee about possible communist activity in Hollywood.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots
A lesson plan unit with good background information for students. Details the history of lynching and race riots in America and the treatment of African-Americans from 1880 to 1950.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Eisenhower National Historic Site: Presidency
Learn about the ways in which Eisenhower's presidency and personality mirrored the country as a whole during the years he was president (1952-1960). Includes many artifacts of the era, such as campaign paraphernalia and articles of...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 8-10) to pair with the drama "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. When a struggling African-American family receives a large insurance check, a conflict erupts on how to spend the money....
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Atomic Fears and the Arms Race
Looks at the nuclear arms race in the 1950s as the United States and the USSR both stockpiled nuclear weapons. Includes 1951 propaganda video showing schoolchildren how to 'Duck and Cover' in the event of a nuclear attack. [9:15]
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Start of the Space Race
Looks at the USSR's launch of Sputnik and the galvanizing effect it had on America's motivation to fund aerospace research. NASA was soon formed and more funding was put in place for public education in the sciences and math.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Eisenhower Era
Discusses the domestic and foreign policies of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: Atomic Fears and the Arms Race
Read about the impact of nuclear proliferation in the 1950s, including fears of atomic bombs and increasing militarization.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Consensus and Change
Brief illustration of the changes in U.S. domestic and foreign policy that occurred following WWII.
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 8: An Age of Confidence and Anxiety
This extensive learning module examines the United States' response to the global uncertainty and instability that followed World War II and the ways that marginalized groups challenged discrimination, and the counter-responses to their...
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania: Senator Joe Mc Carthy
An excerpt from a book on Senator Joseph McCarthy. Includes a description of his life and career and details the impact his actions and ideas had on America in the 1950's.
Stanford University
Mlk and Global Freedom Struggle: Congress of Racial Equality
Encyclopedia entry explores the involvement of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in America's civil rights struggle throughout the late 1950s and into the mid-1960s.
Other
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
The collection of more than 150,000 maps focuses on rare 18th and 19th-century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, wall maps,...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Period 8: 1945 1980
This Khan Academy resource provides a table of contents with notes for several sections of AP US History: Period 8: 1945-1980.
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