Highways

Photo credit: Isaac Brekken for The New York Times

As we discussed in class, highways created a link between declining urban areas and growing suburban areas. Read the "document info" for the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 (you may choose to read the transcript of the act if you like). What other changes or shifts in American life did a national highway system spark?

"You are the Un-Americans"

Biography of Paul Robeson, published by The New Press

Senator Joseph McCarthy's efforts to expose communists within the US reflected the broader national concern over Soviet infiltration of US government and social institutions. At the same time, African-Americans within the US were routinely denied their rights as citizens and faced a constant threat of violence. In his testimony before HUAC in 1956, Paul Robeson spoke against the unequal treatment of African-Americans in the US. Reflect again on the documents of the early Cold War, and consider in what ways did the anti-Communist ideology effect movements for equality within the US?