1950s+Teenagers+WICP

**__Facts__**
1. The 1950s was the start of the music genre Rock and Roll. It was first used by Alan Freed as a message from African Americans to white America. During this time teenagers were really singled out by society, and didn't really have anything to call their own so they took over the Rock and Roll Industry. The very big first rock and roll idol was Elvis Presley, who first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. His great hair, fancy clothes, and dance moves on stage made him look sexual in the eyes of the adults and were shunned by them and they tried to limit their kids to listening to this"garbage". Nonetheless not only their parents, but the government would label teenagers and their idols things such as communists. 2. In the 1950s fashion was another statement of teenagers. They wanted to feel independent and started all different trends and clothes to wear. One item was the poodle skirt. This was part of a poodle craze that teenage girls were going through. This really boomed when the skirt was shown on a model in Life Magazine while the model was holding a poodle on a leash. Along with that was the Poodle hair cut. It was a shorter, off the face haircut that boomed in 1952. Things like this were all little trends that teenagers got into in the 1950s to feel independent and different. 3.During the 1950s, many teenagers got into the Hot Rod cars. Teens in the 1950s now had freedom of driving wherever they wanted, and how fast they wanted. They would do this with the influence of movies during that time, and they would do this for various reasons such as getting away from parents or even just to drive. This was also the start of drag races. A drag race was a race between two cars on a straightaway that started at a point and they would race to the end point. This is also where the slang Flat Out was used, and this term ment when a car was driven at its fastest speed. 4.Dating was a huge point of teenagers emerging during the 1950s. The dating age started in the 1950s around the age of 13, if you were not dating by that time you were called a "Late Bloomer". It was a very popular thing to do in the 50s, handbooks were handed out to both male, and females, to show them how to get a date, and how they should look to get a date. Dates usually start as double dates and lead to single dates after the couple gets comfortable. This usually led to nothing sexual but just as a relationship. Later in the 50s though many teens liked to experiment, and that's where the cars,hangouts, and other places came to be an experimenting site. Parents were outraged at this but really could not do anything to stop it, but for example cops in NJ would know about "parking" and teens were aloud to do this only if they were watched by a cop car. 5.Teenagers had a lot of influences during the 1950s that changed their view of clothes and mid set. One influence was big James Dean. James Dean was a famous actor in the 1950s, he was a huge influence to teenagers in his movie Rebel Without a Cause. This movie had a huge resemblance on teenagers life in the 1950s and they loved it. They loved it because it showed the adults how they felt and how life was for them and the problems they had as teenagers in this time.



This is a picture of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. He was a huge influence to teenagers during this time, and also a hated image in the eyes of adulthood. This kind of music was tried to be moved away from teenagers by adults because they though it was music of the Devil.

January 24, 1956
//BOYS// ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND HUTCHINSON-TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL **Recommended:** **Not Recommended:** VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS **Recommended:** **Not Recommended:** //Note:// The apparel recommended for boys should be worn in standard fashion with shirts tucked in and buttoned, and ties tied at the neck. Standard of dress for boys, while in school shops or laboratories, should be determined by the school. //GIRLS// ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS **Recommended:** **Not Recommended:** __ This primary source is a dress code for a high school in New York in 1956. This would show how they completely limited their choice of clothing. They had no choice to express themselves, but to only do what society told them to do.
 * 1) Dress shirt and tie or conservative sport shirt and tie with suit jacket, jacket, sport coat, or sweater
 * 2) Standard trousers or khakis; clean and neatly pressed
 * 3) Shoes, clean and polished; white bucks acceptable
 * 1) Dungarees or soiled, unpressed khakis
 * 2) T-shirts, sweat shirts
 * 3) Extreme style of shoes, including hobnail or "motorcycle boots"
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Shirt and tie or sport shirt and tie
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Sport shirt with sweater or jacket
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Standard trousers or khakis; clean and neatly pressed
 * 4) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Shoes, clean and polished; white bucks acceptable
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Dungarees or soiled, unpressed khakis
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">T-shirts, sweat shirts
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Extreme styles of shoes, including hobnail or "motorcycle boots"
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Blouses, sweaters, blouse and sweater, jacket with blouse or sweater
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Skirts, jumpers, suits or conservative dresses
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Shoes appropriate to the rest of the costume
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">V-neck sweaters without blouse
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Bermuda shorts, kilts, party-type dresses, slacks of any kind
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Ornate jewelry
 * 4) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-left;">T-shirts, sweat shirts

My research defends the loss of innocence and emergence of the identity experienced by many teenagers in the 1950s. In my research I said about mostly all of the problems of teenagers in the 1950s. I talked about the start of the music genre Rock and Roll, and how parents hated it and it was a way for teenagers to rebel against their parents. Another thing I talk about is how the fashion in the 1950s. Many different trends started, and many were disliked by the parents of these teenagers but again this was a way for teenagers to be different, and rebel against society. I also have a picture of Elvis Presley, which was the hugest influence on teenagers in the 1950s, and was hated by parents all around the country. Another big thing that I stated was the dress code for a high school in New York. This is showing how strict the dress code was in the 1950s, and how it limited them to expressing themselves everyday, in the way they dress.

Work Cited Hendrickson, Ross. "rwhcapstone." . N.p., September 23rd 1998. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <https://sites.google.com/site/rwhcapstone/home/teenagerpop>. Sombat, Windy. "Teenage Dating in the 1950s." . N.p., 2000. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <http://universityhonors.umd.edu/HONR269J/projects/sombat.html>. Cox, Erika. "Life in the 1950s - The Fifties." . N.p., 1997. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <http://www.loti.com/fifties_history/life_in_the_1950s.htm>. "Facts on File History Online."//<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Fofweb.com //. N.p., 1956. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=E14091&SingleRecord=True>.