ALL Course: How the Mild Fifties Transformed into the Wild Sixties

How the Mild Fifties Transformed into the Wild Sixties

With Gerald Sweeney

Date: Two sessions on Thursdays, April 4, 11

Time: 1:30–3:00pm

Location: Van Lennep Auditorium, CBMM

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Course Description:

The question is: How did we go from the Silent Generation to Baby Boomers, and from grey flannel suits to head bandannas in a few short years? This two-part course details how the tradition-bound and conventional Eisenhower years changed into the free-spirited and explosive Age of Aquarius. Many of the developments had their roots in the Fifties with the rise of the black and youth movements, as well as the television boom, the Beatles, the introduction of drugs, and the shift in sexual practices. All of this combined with the Cold War, the Space Race, and fear of atomic weaponry formed the background that eventually rattled the population. America saw a suburban migration and a booming economy that brought lucrative employment with increased new home sales, shopping malls, and a strong sense of material worth in the Fifties. At the same time, many were dissatisfied with a lack of progress in integrating schools, McCarthyism, and the containment of communism. A new wave of interest in the women’s movement, New Journalism, Theater of the Absurd, R&B, and the protests of the folk singers all contributed to the revolution that followed.

Members $21 | Non-Members $30

About the Instructors:

Gerald F. Sweeney is an Army Vet and a graduate of Michigan State. A retired magazine executive, he writes literary fiction. His new novel, Comes the Electric Circus, set in the Fifties, completes his seven-book series called The Columbiad that follows four generations through the 20th century.