<p>"I think you have a very stereotyped view of the 50’s. I grew up in suburban NJ not all the different from Conn. We probably had a broader range of incomes althougth in RR the poorer section was just blocks away. </p>
<p>As to life in the 50’s, it seemed fine as a kid. Less planned activities and more free range development. I could go anywhere I could ride my bike so long as I was home for supper. In the summer this might mean 10 miles from home to explore other towns etc. I don’t think most peole took the nuclear practices anymore seriously than we take fire drills today. Very few people actually built shelters–it was a frindge thing even then. I knew nobody that actually had one."</p>
<p>I grew up in the 1950s. I found the school bomb drills frightening. I remember that a book at home about how to handle health problems included not only care for the common cold but also descriptions what people should do and eat if there was a nuclear attack. I remember reading description of Hiroshima victims including children whose skin was burned off. As a child, I was an avid reader, reading anything I could get my hands on, and I also had a vivid imagination, so I was very aware of the horrors of the world.</p>
<p>I lived in a factory town where there also was a nuclear research facility, and I remember the nuns at my school telling us that due to the major industry in our city, we were a prime target for nuclear attack. Consequently, the --hide under your desks – bomb drills seemed very real to me. I remember the TV public service announcements showing an axe destroying a radio, an example of what would happen if the U.S.'s arch enemies, the Russians, managed to take over our country. The nuns vividly explained to my classmates and me how if the Russians took over, we’d be forced to become atheists and to turn in our parents for supporting democracy. </p>
<p>As a black person, I also was very aware of the civil rights struggle – which I saw on TV, since I lived in the North, and I felt that there were large parts of the U.S. that it wouldn’t be safe for me to travel to. I remember seeing pictures of 12-year-old Emmit Till in his casket with his head bashed in by racists. Heck, even in Upstate N.Y., my parents had to look far and wide to find a place that didn’t have restrictive covenants preventing us from buying in that area. </p>
<p>I also remember my mother’s being miserable, in large part because she and my father didn’t get along, but divorce was considered so shameful that she didn’t consider divorcing him. I also remember that my mom wanted to work, but my dad, a dentist, wouldn’t let her because, as he put it, “I’m a man.”</p>
<p>I can remember not being allowed to splash in a water fountain for fear that I’d get polio. I remember collecting dimes to help pay for iron lungs for polio victims. </p>
<p>Where I lived was on a busy street that didn’t have sidewalks, and the 6-year-old across the street from us was killed crossing the street, so I never was allowed to walk or bike around my neighborhood. I don’t have the fond memories of freely walking the streets as a child that many people my age have. I didn’t get to do that until I moved to big cities as an adult. </p>
<p>Interesting how different people’s perspectives of eras can can be even though they are about the same age and grew up in similar communities. The decade that I have the fondest memory of is the 70s. Ah, protest marches, freedom and liberation movements, reliable contraception. What a grand time to be young!</p>