Moving to the SuburbsAutumn, Billy, Keegan, Ryan

Baby Boomers Era

Defined as a period marked by greatly increased birth rate

Statistics

1946: 3.4 million

1947: 3.8 million

1952: 3.9 million

1954-1964: 4 million per year

Boomer Generation

★ Integrated schools

★ Protested Vietnam War

★ Feminism

★ Woodstock

Baby Boomers’ Impact Today

★ 3.5 million Americans will turn 65 this year

★ They provide money-making opportunities

★ They travel to warmer climates (evenly spread out)

Suburbs in the States

★ 900,000 new homes per year

★ Provided more housing

★ Was a safe place for white households to live

Abraham Levitt

★ Founded Levitts & Sons in 1929

★ Built upscale housing in Long Island, NY

William J. Levitt

★ Son of Abraham Levitt

★ Father of 1950’s modern American suburbia

★ Constructed suburbans in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

★ Only sold to white owners

Levittowns

★ Found in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

★ Constructed due to housing shortage

★ Landscaping and gardening popularized

★ Peaceful environment

Levittowns Today

★ Few remain

★ Suburbans are not popular

★ Negative qualities highlighted in Desperate Housewives, Weeds, Suburgatory

Architecture

★ Levitts experimented with the replicated construction of the perfect home

Architecture

Included four rooms with one bathroom

Architecture

750 square feet

Architecture

Houses featured modernism decor, the artistic movement of early 20th century.

Architecture

★ Timeless designing created an “ideal” family all people dreamed of having

★ Embodied the effortlessly perfect household

Feminist Movement

★ Society in the suburbs urged women to stay at home to be wives and mothers

★ A woman’s most important job was to bear children

★ Women yearned for a more fulfilling life

Feminist Movement

Women left the workforce once they moved to the suburbs

Feminist Movement

Men went to work while the women stayed at home to cook, clean, and take care of her

children

Betty Friedan

“Each suburban wife struggles with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night- she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question-- 'Is this all?”

Feminist Movement

★ 1950’s are the most popular era for the portrayal of housewives

Work Cited

"Baby Boomers." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

"What Baby Boomers’ Retirement Means For the U.S. Economy." FiveThirtyEight. N.p.,

07 May 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015."The Feminine Mystique Quotes." By Betty Friedan. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.Galyean, Crystal. "Levittown - US History Scene." US History Scene. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015."Baby Boomer Generation Fast Facts - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015."Levittown, Pa. | Building the Suburban Dream." Levittown, Pa. | Building the Suburban Dream. PA State Museum, n.d. Web.

16 Oct. 2015.Kilgannon, Corey. "Change Blurs Memories in a Famous Suburb." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.