The Rest of the Story

 When the 1950 census came out I thought it would be easy to blog about. After all I was there in the room where it happened. So I dove right in a few months ago and ran straight into a roadblock. Why? I couldn't answer that question. At the time!   But as time went by I realized there comes a time when you need to look at the census differently. I was at a fork in the road. I could keep going on the path I was traveling or I could take the new path. 

A week ago I injured my ankle and wound up in the hospital totally unable to walk or put weight on my right foot. For years I have been struggling with mobility issues and gradually reached a point where I could barely do anything. My ankle injury put an end to standing or walking for a while. I was stuck and I live alone. I couldn't ignore the problem any more. In a matter of days I was on my way to a skilled nursing facility for a few weeks of physical therapy with the goal of being able to return home on my own. My family packed up a few things I needed from home and sent me on my way. 

They left my To Do List at home so all I could do was lay in bed, stare out the window and think. And there was the answer; right there in front of me. It was my turn to spend time, be it long or be it   short, (ahem) in the dreaded nursing home. Almost everyone eventually reaches this point in their life. 

What does this have to do with the 1950 census? . . . .As I sit here typing it is 2023 and my turn, my decade, a new chapter in my life to face the fact that I might have times when it is hard to live alone. MY TURN to make new decisions that will affect this decade in my life and possibly the rest of my life. And this discovery has made me look at the censuses in a much different way.

All the censuses that we appear in are chapters in our lives. In each chapter we are faced with new decisions. For every action there is a reaction. How we react to the situations in each chapter/decade of our life create the story of our life, the dash. Would you believe that you can find clues to these decisions in the census. 

What decisions did you have to make?  Did where you lived affect that decision? What were you doing at that decade in your life that could have affected your reaction? (School, working) Was there a major event or disaster in the decade that would have affected your reaction? The census is full of clues. You might have to hunt for them. Some may require research. Some people are affected by every little thing that happens around them. Others are oblivious to their surroundings. 

A few months ago when I first laid eyes on the 1950 census all I could see was everything that happened in my life and the world. I saw that decade as changing the world. It didn't -- well maybe a little. Mainly it changed my life, guided my life on the paths of my choosing. The 1940 census was to my older cousins what the 1950 census was to me. I watched them make the decisions that I would soon be making. If I am lucky enough to see the 1960 and 1970 censuses, I will see the decisions I made and how they shaped my life.

So what do I do with these new discoveries? I will use them to go back to the first census and take a new look at my ancestors. Find the clues that will give me a new insight into their lives. See them as real people with real problems and decisions that need to be made in order to travel through life. I will look for clues about things that affected the decisions my ancestors made.

Tomorrow I will return to my villa for a couple of hours to determine if I can safely return to living alone in a few days. Or will I need another week of therapy. I'm at a crossroads in my life and I know there will be major changes in the months of this decade ahead. How I react will affect my life in the future. i can't avoid it.                     

The Rebels

 James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo. Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story. "57 Chevy, black leather jackets, Rock and Roll is Here to Stay. 

Poodle skirts, pedal pushers, saddle oxfords, 45 records, Annette, Sandra D.

ELVIS!!!

I feel so sorry for my parents. It must have been hell living with these teenagers. 

But what made us such rebels? Speaking for myself I was a year old when Pearl Harbor sent this country into WWII. Of course I didn't realize it but it became normal for all my older cousins to be in military uniforms. I never under stood the word war. But that didn’t make me a rebel! 

Many kids my age grew up with their fathers in the service and their mothers working in factories. (My parents were older.) These children became responsible for their younger siblings and also for helping out at home. Personally I think they grew up faster that the rest of us whose mothers didn't need to work. Did it make them rebels? Maybe. Why? Because they learned responsibility at an early age. And they knew women could survive on their own.

Whatever it was, the result was Civil Rights and Women's Rights. And the 1950s lighted the fuse that started the fuss. 

What Did We Learn From Looking Back

We know what we have now.

We know not to take it for granted.

We know life can be a constant battle 

 I really believed and still do believe we can learn a lot from the census. But what? There’s something wrong with this post on my blog. I can feel it but I  can’t describe it. There is something wrong. But what’s wrong. Its me. It has to be me. My view has changed.

Let me think about it and I’ll get back to you. See ya later alligator!! After while crocodile!!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never realized what the 1950s were all about and then the census reminded me

With the 1950 census indexing project coming to a close on many genealogy websites it's time to take a look at myself in the census. I missed being counted in 1940 because I was born too late, but I turned 10 in 1950. And, after years of seeing my ancestors in the census, I am finally looking at myself.

I was a little disappointed at first but as I learned more about pop culture in the 50s I became more disappointed and I just wanted to bang my head against the nearest wall. I didn't realize what life was like back then. Compared to now!! As I started to relive my memories my mood improved a little but I was now becoming aware that I totally accepted the misogynistic society that I was born into. Seventy-two years ago as a 10 year old girl I guess it was just life. The 1950 census was a wake up call that made me realize why I am who I am today.

I decided that the best way to get a good view of the census would be to take a trip back in time.

1950

In post WWII the perfect family was born. Father was the breadwinner and disciplinarian of everyone in the household. Mother stayed home, cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids and tried to look like a movie star all day. Sure!! Men were back from the war and needed jobs so women left the workforce and went back to being "just housewives". Young couples graduated from high school, got married, started a family and moved to the suburbs. I remember in 1958 many of my friends were engaged and planning a summer wedding when I graduated from high school

In the early 50s we all walked to school in the morning, went home for lunch,  and finally walked back home in the afternoon. We played outside, rode our bikes and as we got older talked on the phone. Boys took shop class and girls took home economics. We survived air raid drills, bomb shelters and polio. There were no drugs, no alcohol, and no sex. We were totally innocent.     

And then it happened! Television!! 

It took a while to catch on. Many were still listening to the radio since those families couldn't afford a tv. Department stores offered a free home demonstration, you could rent a set for a dollar a day, OR you could grab a lawn chair and sit on the sidewalk outside a store display window and watch for free. Remember those days? 

My parents had a television so all my aunts, uncles and cousins came to our house. We turned out all the lights and sat  in the dark and watched 15 minute shows. Plus a lot of test patterns. Why did we sit in the dark? Because anything else would ruin our eyesight and let's face it we were used to watching movies in dark theaters.

A New Generation. 

 During the early 50s television began to be available from coast to coast, unless you lived in the country. In the fifties my dad retired and we moved to Florida. We had a tv but there were no tv stations. We lasted 6 months and moved back home. There you have it -- tv had us under control and we weren't alone. As our own lives were changing in the 50s, a new generation that had been born in the late 1940s was beginning to appear in our lives. Baby Boomers!

Marketing.

Television's evil twin had all of us in her cross hairs. Yup! Marketing was here to stay!  Soon we were learning how we should look and act. How to look, diet, dress, live. What we just couldn't live without in our lives. Sitcoms and advertising were shaping our lifestyle. 

Baby Boomers were targeted and taught to "need". Their teacher was Miss TV. But as these Boomers were growing up, the teenagers of the 50s came into their own.

*Next: The Rebels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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