The Fifties: A Women's Oral History

by Brett Harvey

Many think of America in the 1950s as our last happy decade, with every family just like the one in "Leave it to Beaver" and every woman living just like Donna Reed. In fact, it was a time of great fear, especially for women, and especially the fear of not fitting in. As a woman, you were odd if you graduated from college without being married; if you were married you were odd if you didn't immediately have children; if you had children you were odd if you also wanted to work. Before the feminist movement, women were treated as second-class citizens whose roles were utterly restricted, and The A Women's Oral History fully explores those roles, the women who lived them, and the women who broke the molds.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Oral History, Feminism, Womens, Historical, American History

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Rebecca Crunden]

⤑ research tag: in an effort to organise my shelves, I’m going to be labelling the books I’m using for study purposes as I tend to dip in and out of these.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed account of what it was like to come of age during the fifties. I have to say I think a lot about this book and how this affected generations of young women. If you are interested in learning firsthand this is the book for you. I can't stress enough how important this book is in feminist history and its evolution. I really like how she separated the chapters by subject for quick referencing.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an overview of what it meant to be female in the fifties. It is written almost entirely in anecdotes and interviews. I was impressed that lesbian and black women's narratives were given a strong focus.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I was painfully aware at times of just how much this book (pubbed in the early 90s) centered and universalized the white upper middle class experience, but at the same time I really appreciated that the author was trying to not do that!! There were some wonderful perspectives from outside that narrower, already well-known, view, and the non-oral-history text acknowledged the statistical differences at play in different racial and class contexts, especially around working outside the home. I particularly appreciated the chapters about lesbian and communist experiences. And the author's experience as a journalist came through in how she provided just enough data about body language, etc, to enhance the narratives, without dampening the voices of her subjects. PS it's also very much not a global history? US only.

[Demetria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christ, no wonder people went crazy in the '60s.

[Corinne Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Over the last several years I have made a specific effort to read about the lives of real women from the past, trying to appreciate their lived experiences and acknowledge the sacrifices their lives often required. When I saw this book at the thrift store I was very intrigued. Instead of a personal memoir, which I usually read, this book is is compilation of oral histories of women who spent their early adulthood in the years just after WWII. Their stories are told in sections based on a theme - sex, marriage, employment, parenthood etc, so you can get an interesting overview of several different experiences with common threads.

This generation of women includes my own grandmothers - two VERY different women who had VERY different lives but who both ended up giving up their careers to stay home and raise children. Throughout the book it is clear that if you were of marriage-able age during this time period, the expectation was absolute: you find a man and you get married and have kids. That is how you be a good citizen and a good human being. If you don't do those things - AND feel happy and satisfied by it - then YOU are the problem.

The book is sometimes a little dry and the focus is for sure on anglo-American women, almost exclusively, but it definitely gave me what I was looking for. It's well researched and all the actual personal experiences are fleshed out with history and context. Not everyone is going to be excited to read a book like this, but for me, it kept my interest up until the last chapter on McCarthy, which got a little boring.

[Zachary Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Although it is essentially a work of oral history it takes a somewhat different approach than a reader of books by Studs Terkel (for example) might expect. If in Terkel each voice is typically given a stand-alone chapter (or in some cases multiple chapters if the speaker's narrative spans multiple organizational themes), here Harvey takes the approach of writing expository chapters framing the social concerns faced by women in sociological/political terms (dating, sex, reproductive rights, workplace participation, education and academia, professional development, motherhood, marriage, homosexuality, political activism, etc.) and then judiciously selects excerpts from different women's narratives and embeds these excerpts within a broader prose framework, juxtaposing contrasting experiences or complementary experiences in a very smooth thematic order. This is effective because Harvey draws on the experiences of a diversity of voices, not all of whom speak to the same thematic concerns (so for example one would not expect a narrator speaking to the matter of female homosexuality in the 50s to have many thematic overlays with the matter of motherhood or marriage, although in at least one case there is a very tragic narrative that does cross themes). By my best count there were approximately 70 different women who gave voice to at least some component of the oral histories gathered here. Some women's voices unfortunately appear more frequently than others and not all women are given equal space to articulate their voices (for example the narratives of Claire Lassiter and Carol Freeman appear over and over while many women's voices and names appear only once). Also, despite the abundance of different women's names represented in the book, I had a nagging feeling that the sample set Harvey drew from was somewhat overrepresented by well educated white women geographically living in the northeastern United States. The frequency of and prominence given to narratives by women who were enrolled in colleges in the 1950s was no doubt important for Harvey to assemble voices that could speak out on the existence of a professional glass ceiling and on the social pressures of female students to conform to societal demands for role fulfillment - in terms of picking a course of study, defining relationships with the opposite sex and satisfying expectations to marry and bear children after graduation. But it also leaves the reader with the distinct impression that female attendance in colleges was common or normal in the 1950s when in fact it was not. Less than 10% of 25 year olds had finished college in the 1950s and the majority of these college graduates were men. In 1947 there were only 523,000 women enrolled in college in the US and although it crept up through the 1950s it did not really explode until the 1960s. This space allocated to voices of narratives by women who either graduated from college or enrolled but dropped out in the 1950s comes at the expense of missing narratives of the vast majority of young women in the 1950s who never made it to college because of class pressures or ethnicity pressures. While there are a handful of narratives of black women especially regarding work-home balance and speaking to the greater likelihood of black wives and mothers to continue as wage earners compared to white wives and mothers, overall there were many parts of the black woman's experience of womanhood in the 1950s that felt missing from chapters (for example) about courtship, dating and teenage sexual activity and feelings of homosexuality or workplace empowerment in lower education working class and service sector jobs. Of course the oral historian's job is limited by the availability of source narrators and Harvey's ability to gather a network of narrative voices may have been conditioned by the particular networks she tapped into to collect her stories - that is understandable and can be forgiven. But it is also surprising - and one can only speculate - what she might have chosen to omit in terms of editing her source informant narratives in order to fit the thematic mold that she was pursuing. This is especially the case for informants whose names and voices only appear once or twice in the whole book - it left me wondering whether those informants had something to say about other topics as well and why those parts of their narratives - if they did have something to say - were editorialized out of the book by Harvey. I guess a last fault I found (which was minor but just a personal opinion) was that Harvey does not present much data regarding the informants' ages when they tell their stories or what part of the Fifties those stories occurred during. Informants who were speaking to teenage matters like high school courtship had their narrative excerpts mixed in with informants whose sexual awakenings clearly must have taken place in the Forties because they were speaking to the experience of being mothers and wives in the very early 1950s - I could not help but sense that there may have been an interesting qualitative difference between the experience of full grown womanhood in 1951 and pubescent sexual awakening in 1959. But such possible insights into differences were submerged and obscured by the limited age and year data provided by Harvey. Overall, however, I found this book to be an admirable contribution to the social scientific tradition of oral history, with a well-conceived, well defined and compellingly fascinating scope. I came away from this book as a man born after the 1960s with a profound appreciation for the precious, fragile accomplishments of women in the Second Wave of feminism and how critical it is not only to protect these advances (which are always under attack by those who would have us go back to the gender conditions described in this book) but to continue the struggle (because there is so much that still continues to weigh down disproportionately and unjustly on the Herculean women of our society even today). Overall a great book to read - especially for a man (like me) who will never think the same (hopefully) about the complexity of tensions and cruelties embedded in the "given" socially reified female gender roles in our culture - both 60 years ago and today.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an insightful account of the 1950s as told through women's own voices, divided into chapters about sex, marriage, motherhood, career building, lesbian life, and communism. I found the two chapters on abortion and McCarthyism to contain profound and heartbreaking accounts of struggle, but there are stories of joy and accomplishment in the book as well.

Since entering adulthood, the lives of my grandparents have intrigued me, and I've started paying attention to narratives about the 1950s over the last ten years. In my childhood, when I wasn't paying close attention, the story of the 1950s came through in pop culture as a decade depicted in a bright, shined-up, nostalgic lens. In my grandparent's lives, their economic status shows its face more than the pop culture; there isn't a poodle skirt or brand-new appliance to be found in their stories. And here in this book I got into topics I've never broached with my family.

It's a bit sad to read this book 30 years after its publication and compare to the changes that took place in the thirty years between 1963 and 1993, when the book was written. Society has obviously progressed in so many ways, but in others, like women's bodily autonomy and abortion rights, we have sadly backtracked. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the massive gender norm psyop from the 40s-50s post-WWII. A lot of heartbreaking first-hand stories, lives never lived, or ones that were met with constant opposition. It ties in gay and political struggles as well, the intersection at which all things meet; anything that opposes the patriarchal, Christian principles that "founded" the US needs to be stamped out at all costs. Good thing that doesn't happen anymore, right? The difference is there's a self-awareness to present day gender-based oppression that just didn't seem to exist in the last mid-century, at least not at the scale it does now. Still, the problems persist. An essential reference for the dawn of the nuclear family.

[Apryl McLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book so much I want to read more of Brett Harvey's work. I loved reading about the 50s because it is such an interesting decade, really special in that it was after a major war, after the depression and before a lot of liberation for women on a personal front. The 50s was a period of growth for women before they really branched out into the world. It was strange and interesting with all the suburban houses and everyone in them just buying buying all the new technology of the time. It was also a time of a lot of oppression for women that thankfully has changed in some ways. All in all it was a great book, I'd like to read more about the 50s.

[William Guerrant · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd book. It isn't history per se, and it doesn't pretend to be social science. It is essentially just a collection of reminiscences of life in the 50s. The stories are interesting but almost all of the women interviewed were affluent and highly educated--certainly not a representative sample of Americans, making dubious the attempt to extrapolate their experiences (or the author's interpretation of those experiences) onto the population as a whole.

[WSO · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book help me understand the forces that shaped my mother and shaped me as I grew up in 1950’s. I was raised in 50’s and came of age in 1960’s. I was not prepared or skilled to be a woman of 1970’s. It took until I was 40 to figure out the ‘answer’ was ME not a man. Wish I could have this book in my 30’s. Thank you Brett for covering such a wide range of topics on this subject.

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful oral history on the lives of women who lived through the fifties. This isn't quite on the level of Studs Terkel, but there are moments here of true pain and grief that remind us of the gains we've made in the last sixty years.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book here: https://onemorepage.blog/2019/11/18/n...

[Juliette Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my research for a theatre role, but I soon realized that I was reading it for myself as well.

[Lo Celeste Riddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really wonderful collection of oral histories from women who lived through the 1950s. Will definitely be referencing in my own work in the future

[Lula Duda · Rating 3 out of 5]

finished last week for foundation seminar

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some excellent narrative non-fiction--the kind that feels like fiction. I kept wanting to return to the "characters," who of course aren't characters at all; they're real women. I found the chapter about women and work particularly interesting--it seems like it must have been more than just a couple of generations ago that women were made to quit working when they got married, openly harassed by their male supervisors, or refused admission to graduate school in male-dominated fields just because of their gender.

Overall, it was a fascinating look at the realities of a time that even those of us who tend to be cynical about such things often view through an agreeable haze of nostalgia.

[K Kriesel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible, personal stories of women who wove their ways through the 1950's, from vamps to naive virgins, from traveling workers to domestic socialites. As someone who was raised, in the 90's, to redeem the conservative-straight-white-Christian housewife "ideal," this book resonated very strongly for me.

However, I found the book to be rather straight-washed and white-washed. Where are the Native American women? The Asian women? The Latinas? Racial differences were acknowledged and a few Black women told their stories, from smooth to rough. Queer women were a small afterthought. I understand that this was how the 1950's were, but I think it's unfortunate that this book includes tokenism.

[Glorianne Roccanova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the idea that I take away most from this book, is that no matter what time period women were born...we still want and feel the same things....sometimes I think the 50"s time period was stiffer than the Victorians.

I like hearing first hand accounts of what these woman went through and felt...
one of the things that I found most profound hat after all these years we're still fighting for our vaginas.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a student were to study this topic, this would be good to accompany Friedan's A Feminine Mystique. I can recall Friedan's work sounding accusatory, whereas this book stated the facts and used oral histories. I liked how Ms. Harvey explored every aspects of being a woman in the 1950s, not just being a housemother, but also being a lesbian, a professional woman, a political activist and more.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent discussion of life for a group of women, which includes gay and African American voices, in the 1950s: the drive to get married, and have kids; giving up any plans for higher education or careers for your husband; and the fact that no one could conceive of anything being different. It is absolutely insane to my single, childless, educated self, like another planet completely.

[Linda Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've come a long way, baby! Very interesting to read, especially when we're getting close to electing the first female president! I though about my mom a lot while reading this. She and my dad raised 4 very strong females and we are fortunate to have so many more choices and opportunities than her generation of women had.

[Angi · Rating 5 out of 5]

every woman should read this book. you will get angry, but you will be thankful for how far we have come. All the glamourizing of the poodle skirts and sock hops will piss you off after reading this book.

[Alice]

For some reason I labeled this book "NR"--probably because it reminded me of a textbook i would have read in college.

[AAUW · Rating 4 out of 5]

“While of course I know intellectually how many barriers women had in the 1950s, reading personal narratives helped reinforce my knowledge and made it more real.” - Holly

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this I was so glad I wasn't alive in the 50's. Attitudes about most things back then seem to have been just bizarre and misguided.

[Dianamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an, often uncomfortable, eye opener for those of us who came of age during the fifties. It helps to understand what we were "all about". Glad I read it - sorry I lived it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were fascinating, but the writing and organization frustrated me. I wish another author had compiled the same stories.