Similarities Between The 1920s And 1960s

1043 Words5 Pages

American culture encompasses the social behaviors, establishments, and norms of the United States of America. There are abundant influences that create the set culture in our world. Those historical events have had various or different outcomes to them. Specifically throughout the 1920s and 1960s the contrasts displayed throughout are how events occurred and how they ended. In spite of the fact that there are those contrasted events that transpired, there have been comparisons throughout as well. The 1920s and 1960s have similarities in their American culture because of the counterculture that occurred, the way civil rights protests affected society and the beauty standards for women. Counterculture is a significant historical recurrence …show more content…

Early action had come about during both the 1920s and 1960s. In the 1920s, “civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph founded the first predominantly Black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to draw attention to the discriminatory hiring practices and working conditions for Blacks” (Hayes). By Randolph attempting to take action, it was able to help out his fellow African Americans in getting what they thought they deserved. This is significant because he knew it was time to take action because of the unstable conditions and employment that was occurring for African Americans. This proves that it helped to shape society because of how it marks some of the first steps. These first steps were to end the discrimination in the industries and armed forces. The fight for what they thought was right continued in the 1960s as well. Writers from History.com tell us, in February of 1960, “four black students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave”. This is significant because it shows that African Americans were starting to understand that if they wanted a change they needed to take action, not wait for others to. They knew that they would probably get scolded because of how it was against what the norm was set at, but they wanted to fight for themselves. These two …show more content…

There has always been a certain degree that women have felt they needed to follow. In the 1920s, “the charming childish “flapper” look-- [was] characterized by a small, pursed mouth, round face, obligatory short wavy hairdo, “ (Romm). Women had an obligation to the standards given to them. This particular look was an exciting look that many turned an eye to. This look shaped the way that women's beauty was. A way for women to express themselves. We see this again in the 1960s, during this time it was the “pale lips and heavily made-up eyes, which gave way to a natural, healthy image” (Romm). This image of women during this period of time was a clean look, they wanted to show off what they had. The 1920s and 1960s were similar in this way because they had a custom that they had to stick to. So even though they may have had different standards for what was acceptable, they are similar in the fact that they had a specific trend to

Open Document