1950s+Teenagers+KSEP

During the 1950s, teenagers wanted to find a way to define their generation from all the others before and those to come. They did with the music that was beginning to evolve into something that was never heard before. Rock-n-Roll began to become very popular with the teenagers very quickly. Rock-n-Roll broke down the racial and social barriers that existed in the this decade. Rock-n-Roll was highly influenced by African American music. The slave hymns, blues, and jazz influenced the creation of the genre. Teenagers wanted to find a way to define their generation from all the others before and those to come. Bill Haley and the Comets were the first group to release a hit Rock-n-Roll hit, "Rock Around the Clock." This turned Rock-n-Roll into the mainstream of white America. Certain radio stations refused to play the "devil's music" and others only played white or black rock music. But Alan Freed in Cleveland, Ohio, was the only disk jockey to played white and black rock music. Freed was the first to call the genre by the name Rock-n-Roll. Elvis Presley was the first white artist to truly capture what Rock-n-Roll was truly about and he made Rock-n-Roll popular in the American suburbs. Most parents did not like their child listening to the explicit content of the genre. They did everything in their power to try to stop radio stations from playing this music and tried to shield the effects of the music from their children. Teenagers no longer listened to the quiet conventional music that their parents, teachers, and preachers wanted them to listen to. Teenagers began to join the Beat Movement. This movement may have started in the late 1940s but it was the literary and political movement of the 1950s. The movement's followers became know to Americans as the "beatniks" and hung at coffeehouses. At the coffeehouses, beatniks would recite poetry and made statements that went against conformity. Famous faces among the beatniks were JAck Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Kenneth Rexroth. Beatniks did not agree with the social and political restrictions that the middle class American society lived by and went against conformity. Beats were rejected from academe, but some of their major writers had a formal education. Magazine articles emphasized their social and political nonconformity even though the group was not accepted with middle class Americans. Beats used mariguana, peyote, LSD, and "mind expanding" drugs that most Americans didn't agree with. They promoted homosexuality and sexual freedom, which offended "middle Americans." The Beats wanted to reaffirm the basic values of humanism politically. They wanted to regain sanctity of human life, free expression of the individual, and respect for nature. More and more teenagers were starting to go against their parents and the way they had grown up. They started defying the adults in their lives. __**Fashion**__ The fashion of the 1950s is very dressy compared to today's fashion, but back then, this was the "New Look." Teen girls wore dresses everyday with white socks, and loadters, saddle shoes, flats or ballet slippers. No girl was ever caught wearing pants or shorts out in public. There were different occasions that they would get even more dressed up with newer dresses, fancier heels, and different accessories. Most teen boys were considered preps. They wore neat slacks, a nice shirt, and a pullover with vivid socks and tennis shores or bucks. There were a select few teens that would dress differently. They were considered greasers. They would hang out in black leather jackets, t-shirts, and jeans. Girls could be considered greasers as well if they wore jeans and didn't dress the same as the preps in their community. Teens were starting to get less and less conservative and certain groups of teenagers completely went against what everyone wanted them to wear and act. Any student that didn't follow the strict rules set by their school, they would face expulsion. If a boy's hair touched his ears, he could be expelled from school. Some boys still wanted to grow their hair out, so they began slicking their hair away from their ears. Some schools, including Stanford University, would not allow men or women to wear blue jeans. Girls usually weren't even allowed to wear pants. Teenagers began to talk more and more about dating and sex. If you were caught talking about sex with anyone, you would be punished. School dances were shut down because dancing to Rock-n-Roll was banned from most schools and towns. Chewing gum in class was considered a juvenile delinquency. Students began defying the adults within the school and did not want to follow the set rules given to them. More and more students were losing their chance at an education because they would refuse to follows the set rules. Teen dances varied in styles throughout the 1950s. Some dances were swing, others were low and smooth, and others were wild and angular. No teenager wanted to dance like their disapproving parents and they began a new range on step and style replacements. They began to create new steps for Rock-n-Roll music, which just needed a completely different style of dance. Different dances included the jitterbug, swing, Lindy, the rock-n-roll, boogie-woogie, the Bop, and the Twist. Local television stations would pay radio DJs to play teenage music while they showed teens dancing. Most dances were shut down because the adults in the town did not like the dancing and the music occurring at the events. But teenagers still danced even if the adults in their life did not want them to. Teens no longer wanted to grow up the way their parents had and they did not follow the standards set for them by the generation before them.
 * __Music__**
 * __Social Environment__**
 * __School__**
 * __Dances__**


 * __Primary Sources__**



This is a picture of one of many teen dances that was broadcasted over local television stations. Stations would pay different DJs to play a popular teenage song while they showed an image of a dance like this. Most dances were shut down because of the types of music being played and the dances that young teens were doing. Adults were not used to having so many different ways to express themselves when they were younger and they weren't able to accept that their children now had that opportunity.



This is a poster that was posted around different towns during the 1950s. Adults wanted to get the word around that the actions of the teenagers weren't what they wanted to happen. The poster says that girls were hanging around gang boys and getting into trouble. Adults didn't want their children getting into trouble and risk going to a juvenile hall. Rules were created to keep this from occurring but teenagers still did what they wanted. Spreading the word around in the form of flyers and posters was the most affective way to get adults to pay attention to what their teenagers were getting themselves into.

__**Work Cited**__ Escovar, Matthew. "rock and roll."//Encyclopedia of American History: Postwar United States, 1946 to 1968//. Facts on File, Inc., 2011. Web. 15 Nov 2011. . Powers, Richard. "Teen Dances of the 1950s." //Teen Dances of the 1950s//. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2011. . Powers, Richard. "The Life of a 1950s Teenager." //The Life of a 1950s Teenager//. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2011. . Schwartz, Richard A.. "Beat Movement." //Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945-1990//. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2011. Web. 15 Nov 2011. . . "The 1950s: Bobby Socks, Rock & ROll and the Ozzy & Harriet Syndrome." //Head Over Heels//. KBCreations, 2006. Web. 15 Nov 2011. .