mcuhistory

[mcuhistory]

Women’s role In the 1950s were repressive, they had many expectations to be a good housewife and to have a good motherly figure.

The short film of “A Word to the Wives” is about Alice who is showing off her new kitchen to her friend, Jane. Her friends is amazed and loves it, Jane begins telling Alice how she is miserable with her kitchen but her husband, George, won’t give in to buy a new house. George as the male figure does not spend much time around the kitchen therefor he see nothing wrong with his home, which is why he doesn’t see a reason to move, but unlike his housewife deals with all the problems which she is fed up with. Alice suggest to Jane that when she’s gone for the weekend not to leave anything prepared for her family that way George will have to cook and clean, as so, George faces many difficulties with the kitchen. When Jane comes back from her trip, they go over Alice’s house and with great pleasure shows George around making him realize how easy it can be to have all these new and modern kitchen appliances.       

The video goes to show the women of these times and how many ads during the 1950s went especially towards them, making them believe they needed the most modern appliances in order to make their job as housekeepers easier. This ad wants to attract housewives but mostly their husbands who provide the money making a 3-1 (1953) stove, refrigerator, and sink combination allows them only to spend once rather than 3 times as much as the ad describes “save space and dollars.” The ads picture also shows how interested and jealous your friends will be that they will want to buy it next.

Maria Leanos, HIS 275

[mcuhistory]

Production Company: Calvin Corporation

Usage: public domain

Published: 1959

“The Trouble with Women” at first glance might make you think right off the bat that the video is directly geared towards being sexist against women in the workplace. I can tell you it is almost the complete opposite. Yes, the video does center around a man named Mr. Bradshaw and his complaints about having women in the workplace, but the video itself has a great ending and realization towards it. It begins with Mr. Bradshaw complaining about the women in his work place, and brings up several examples to his manager. His manager helps him realize that women are just as good workers as men are, and asks the viewer to explain, “what is Brad’s trouble?”. My response : Brad is a bit sexist. It stands to say that women are just as qualified as men in the workplace and aren’t going away anytime soon. This video I felt was related to the ideas presented in both, “A Word to Wives” and “A Date with Your Family” Although “A word to wives” was more centered around consumerism it did involve “a women’s place”, but it also showed how much power women had in convincing their men to consider buying the things they needed. Towards the end of the 1950′s this video has shown me that women had a lot more power in the workplace in holding a job they knew they could do. Sexism in the workplace is looked at wrongly and It is great to see that. Women have shown what they can do, and after WW2 they have decided to stay and hold their positions. Although the jobs presented in this video weren’t factorial work, they were still jobs men could have held pre-war. Brad’s problem was remembering “the good old days” when there was nothing but men working all the time for him instead of women. Towards the end of the 1950′s things have definitely changed. #ushistory #herstory #women’shistory #femininemystique #americanhistory     

source:  https://archive.org/details/trouble_with_women

George Hernandez his 275

[mcuhistory]

The following advertisement has no title, description, or stated author to induce interest to the public; however, the picture dutifully speaks for itself, subtly publicizing to its best proportions. From the video A Word to Wives, the women enact a sly gimmick to trick the husband—although obvious for the audience— of the unsatisfied wife to supply her wife with better household instruments. The video comes to a conclusion of a convinced husband buying her wife new equipment to both of their content as the male feels less guilty about his wife’s daily, arduous tasks with the new items. The video successfully voices the needs of women and relates much to the wordless advertisement above. The picture can be first easily interpreted as the now happy housewife with a new interior possibly ringing another friend for the same scheme. Although the picture and video have no correlation, the picture implements many points from the video. A smile just as bright as the décor, the foremost point of the picture shows pleasure from the women. What also makes the picture potentially more appealing than the video is simply the gleaming colors—in particular, the color red.  Maybe just a camera trick at the time to express the colors, the amount of red can also hold a deeper meaning. Wealth, well-being, and good finance are couple examples of the meaning of red clearly shown in the picture. It may as well be no coincidence that her dress, counter-top display of an apple, and flower are red. The vibrancy shows content woman in the household advertisement. The color can also describe the women as passion, stress, or determination, all of which are shown in the video and the picture (as big as the smile is in the picture may be).

Joseph Joo HIS 275, Fall 2015

Source: http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/oy9rgoasvfj2vg.jpg

[mcuhistory]

Photo: “Westinghouse Laundromat and Clothes Dryer”

Published By Stan Ekman

Dated: 1954

The Twins

 Following the events of World War II, the American household returned to a model that reflected that of the one which existed in the century prior. While this model did not encompass all family units, many households were subject to the new criteria of the “housewife”. The housewife was the position given to the woman of the house, typically the wife. It was her duty to fulfill a role that coincided with the title of “housewife”. This career was one in cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children.

During this time, consumers were given access to new and exciting appliances. These electronic gadgets were to make the housewife’s work much easier and to make her life simpler. Advertisements of the period (The early 1950s) show the way in which these appliances affected the family. Not only did the promotional ads express how they could make ones life easier, they also shed light into the dynamic of the family, and of the role of a housewife.

 Upon reading Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique, one discovers her meaning of the phrase, “A problem that has no name”. Friedan’s 1963 non-fiction explained this problem in great detail. The problem was an illusive horizon that could never be reached, and yet was pursued by countless women. This vanishing horizon was the establishment of a role, which left women subordinate (to their male-counterparts) and oppressed; this role was to be called, being feminine.

 Advertisers soon caught on to this widespread epidemic of the mind and capitalized on the ideal itself. In this advertisement for Westinghouse, one can easily see how this has been done. As seen in A Public Service Announcement of its time called, “A Word To The Wives”, the role of a housewife was not only to care for her children, it was to care for her home. What is so striking about this ad is that it utilizes this dynamic, by spinning mother’s maternity into a need for a washing machine & dryer combination. In this way the appliances take on a human role, that of a child. In the P.S.A. one also notices how the husband and wife have to work in communion in order to achieve perfect harmony in the home; if they break their respective gender roles, the home is to fall apart. This is seen in “The Word to The Wives” when one of the women leaves her husband at home without her support, left to his own devices. Without the wrangler of the kitchen (the wife), her husband is left in a chaotic environment. It is displayed that the man of the home is to bring in resources and guide his wife in using his money. In the Westinghouse advertisement, one sees this in the way the man has given the appliances to his wife. The ad perpetuates the belief that the housewife is to act as an ambassador of the home, while the husband pulls all the strings and acts as the actual leader of power.  Without this relationship, without adherence to these roles, the family will fall apart (or at least that’s what they were led to believe).

 This advertisement is a transparent example of the issue women faced, and still face today. The fixation of a static role is detrimental to the evolution of an equality of the sexes. By associating assumptions of titles in the home (which the ad above has done), men and women are left with the prefixes of their name, and nothing more.

Ryan Nourai History 275

[mcuhistory]

Photo: “Everything comes clean, with an RCA Whirlpool” http://www.plan59.com/decor/decor055.htm

Published by: Stan Ekman

Produced: 1959

The advertisement pictured above was published by Stan Ekman in 1959, with the intention of selling an RCA Whirlpool washing machine using the slogan “Everything comes clean with an RCA WHIRLPOOL”. To the right of the picture is the said RCA WHIRLPOOL washing machine, colored in a shiny, bright yellow further emphasizing the luxury of having a new, automatic washing machine. The women in the poster is wearing an apron and is shown putting a little boy’s dirty clothes in the washer. It can be assumed that the women is the mom of the little boy and she is cleaning up after her son’s mess with a bottle of jam. The apron that the mother is wearing portrays the idea across that she is in charge of not only cleaning her son’s mess, but doing the laundry as well as any other household work, giving her the stay-at-home-mom title.

The idea of the stay-at-home-mom can also be seen in the propaganda video titled “A Word to the Wives” produced by Telamerica, Inc. in 1955. The video, set in the 1950’s, illustrates a women’s quest to convince her husband that they need a new kitchen. Not only does the video describe the woman as spending most of her time in the kitchen an doing house work such as cleaning dishes, doing laundry, and cooking food, but it also makes it appear as if a man doesn’t know his way around a kitchen, further emphasizing the idea that the men are the breadwinners and the women are stuck doing the just as important, yet less respected job of tending to the house.

In both the video and advertisement poster, women, wives specifically, are made to seem like they are the sole keepers of the kitchen and house, sentenced to doing these less looked upon jobs, while the husbands get all the glory of earning a living for the entire family. This notion that women spend most of their time in the kitchen is a hot topic for discussion, equally as relevant in the 1950’s as it is in today’s world. Tending to a house and raising children is arguably one of the most important jobs that one can have, yet for some reason it was, and still is sometimes, looked down upon, when in comparison to having the paying job that brings home money for the family. Wives should not have been made to stay in the house by default, and nor should men be the automatic bread winners. Women may not have had the same opportunity back then with gender inequality in the workforce, however they had just as much potential as men, if they were to only be given a shot.

Tyler Rayman HIS 275

[mcuhistory]

The purpose of the Advertisement “Kitchen Planning: Practical Dream” 1957, is for women to have a kitchen of their own choice. It shows ways to have a kitchen set up according to the women’s choice which comforts them as well as their family: their husband and children. The whole idea of the advertisement is to make women believe that they can have “their own kitchen” as per their liking. Not only did housewives inevitably love their housework, but they were aware of the fact that they were expected to be at home. This stems from the Advertisement video stating that a woman's purpose is simply to be a good mother or wife, which creates a contrast between them and their male counterparts who have the misfortune of having to search for their life's meaning. Since society had already laid out a woman's way of life and career, women did not have the freedom to choose their work that was to be carefree, fun, and easy as portrayed in such advertisements. Therefore, instead of leaving her castle for a paying job or enduring the labor of making a daily commute, the wife stayed comfortably at home where she could perfect her domestic role. Similar to A word to the Wives, this ad too shows all the traditional molds. She is delighted in her purchase, well dressed with her heels, a modest dress, and perfectly coifed hair, and has children almost as put together as she is and certainly well-behaved. Through this advertisement, the women tries to get a clear picture of all the best products for her House, especially her kitchen. So, for young girls, this is the ideal image that they are expected to desire: married with children and a lifestyle that can fund purchasing all the newest, most efficient appliances and products for her workplace: the home. The most common thing seen in all the three advertisement is, the wife or the girl loves her kitchen and finds a pleasure to keep it beautiful as well as modern, to show off in the society  as well as  feel better as kitchen is their department and feel proud of it.

JAYETA BISWAS HISTORY 275

[mcuhistory]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XtPOu2IC7c)

The Family Life (1949) is about how the Miller family is having trouble with each other always fighting. Mrs. Miller figures out a way to solve their family problems, she decides to run the family by using a list: Schedule, Responsibilities, Privileges and Finances. Mr. Miller like the idea and suggested to talk about it next Monday after their dinner to see how much they spend and all the other matters. The whole family agrees on this list. There a scene where the Miller family are having breakfast by following a practical morning schedule they are ready for school and work. Each is responsible for being considerate for others. Both kids do their assign jobs like clean their room or iron their clothes. Before this list the mom would do their job and wouldn’t be on time to make dinner. This is how the Miller family use “good management” to achieve a happier life. This video relates to “A Date with Your Family”, one example is when the son is responsible for getting his homework done and help share the little brother Jr responsibilities for keeping their room in order and keeping Jr. in order as well as for the daughter helping the mother with dinner. In “Family Life” both children have their responsibilities and get them done. Both videos talk about financial matters. The videos are trying to tell us that having good management around the house can help keep families happy and always have things on schedule.

Wendy Gaeta History 270 Fall 2015

[mcuhistory]

Word to the Wives and Hamilton

The 1950s saw especially traditional gender roles in a sort of backlash to the wartime employment trends. Housewives and stay at home mothers were the norm. All you need to do is to take a look at some advertisements from the era to see these ideals reflected.

A Word to the Wives is a short film produced by the National Association of Home Builders and the Woman’s Home Companion magazine in 1955. The setting is an updated kitchen in a 1950′s suburb. Housewife Alice is showing off her new appliances to her friend, Jane. Jane longs for an equally updated kitchen, so they come up with a plan, to convince Jane’s husband, George, to buy a new home with a new kitchen.

The plan is to leave for the weekend and have George fend for himself and their son while Jane is away. George soon realizes that he is incapable of simmering rice, refilling the ice tray, and taking out the trash without spilling it everywhere.

Finally, George sees the light and buys a new house with a new Kitchen, just like Jane and Alice had planned. It is implied, cheekily, that they tricked him into buying a new kitchen.

The kitchen is seen as the woman’s place. The husband, George, was only made aware of the poor state of the kitchen when his wife unexpectedly left him with no choice but to occupy her space. His failure to do simple tasks says more about traditional gender roles than it does about the outdated appliances.

Similar to Word to the Wives, is an advertisement found at http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/household-ads-1950s/6 . The ad was published in 1959 by Hamilton Manufacturing Company. In the ad, a woman and her husband are posed three different ways next to their new Hamilton Washer. The first frame shows the woman reading while her husband gets ready for work. The middle frame shows the man reading the newspaper while his wife refills his coffee. The final frame shows the woman kissing her husband goodbye as she does the laundry.

Both of these ads embody traditional gender roles perfectly. Kitchen and cleaning appliances are of no concern to anyone in the family other than the mother. Hundreds of ads depicting similar situations proves that the women are meant to stay home, keep the house, tend to her husbands needs, and the men are off to do the bread winning.

Sarah Kitchens HIS 275 Fall 2015

[mcuhistory]

How to be a Good Wife 1954

The following image shows a wife serving her husband, which conveys the notion that women were suppressed.  At the time, women were submissive to all of their husband’s commands.  From my observations, I can imply that her husband had just returned from work.  She is welcoming him with a warm smile and a hot plate of food.  Since men were the ones who took the dominant roles of the family income, women had their duty to keep the household running in shape.  She is a role model of a good wife that is following the ideal picture of a perfect family, “Most men are hungry when they come home and should be attended with a hot meal.”

The video “A Word to the Wives” begins with two women. One has a more modern kitchen, described as a “Dream Home,” and the other does not. In order for women to provide better service for their husbands, it is necessary for them to have all the proper equipment. Jimmy, a character in the video, is left all alone with George, proving a point that men cannot cook at all. It shows George trying to create a lemonade, but he fails. This goes back to the idea that women are the ones who should be kept in the kitchen cooking. There is an occasion when George cannot open the kitchen cabinet, and his son comes to his rescue by helping him open it.

In a “Date with your Family,” it describes the concept of an ideal family. For instance, a daughter had the obligation to attend her responsibilities which were to practice the domestic duties in the household. A girl was expected to look charming at all times, and not spend too much time on the phone. Both the son and daughters have to attend their priorities first before beginning any other activities. The older siblings are supposed to take of the younger ones. All of the family is expected to be civil, especially by the manner in which they ate. During dinner they should not discuss unpleasant topics, because the table was considered a place of content. They had the following ideal, “Treat all your family members with respect; be yourself, your best self.

Both relate to the image because they promote the idea of being our best selves. According to society, men cannot cook, which is why she is the one with the apron on. According to both of these videos, the home is supposed to be a pleasant place, where the family is pressured to be their best selves. In order for women to make their husbands proud they were expected to look charming as well as put their best efforts at all times. Her smile demonstrates how common it was for them to be happy and serve with a willing attitude. They were to not disappoint their husbands and they always had to be formal as well civilized. The women in the picture is similar to the one portrayed in the videos because she is a representation of “The ideal wife.”

Patricia Orellana History 275

http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/thirdsight/2013/04/12/support-troops-the-role-of-the-housewife-in-the-1950s/

[mcuhistory]

During this time women were expected to do many chores throughout the house. Fortunately for women, they started to be able to join the work force to earn money for themselves. This women is very excited about their new opportunity to show that women are useful and capable of working hard for multiple hours. She is thrilled to be able to say that she has scrubbed 1600 sinks in her full year of working because she has accomplished something to earn herself money that she can spend as she pleases. The second part of this photo is her saying that she is proud of her pretty hands, this shows that women can not only work hard doing labor, but they can also stay feminine and pretty while doing it. This was important for women to do as well because they still need to be beautiful for their men. If the women get too into the work they did and forgot about their feminine side then that could cause different problems for their social lives.

#us history #herstory #womenshistory #femininemystique #Americanhistory

Samantha Martinez  

[mcuhistory]

In the 1950s women were always caught up doing housework. This add is directed at women who are working in hte households. They are trying to get women to buy these dixie cups in order to help them make cleaning a little easier for themselves. As you can see in hte add, it sates, "No more piled-up counters and stinks, no more between meal dishwashing." This add is directly telling owmen they will not be washing dishes as often as they usually did. In the add you notice how nice the woman's hands are. Her nailpolish is done neatly and her hands look very soft. A woman who has been washing dishes would have scratched and chipped nailpolish as well as wrinkly hands. In the video "word to the wives" it starts off with a women in hte kitchen. As it proceeds on theres a man named george in the kitchen. He was supposed to be making food and getting drinks togeather, but he was struggling. This video to mean that the kitchen was not really a man's place in the 1950s Angelica Ochoa HIS 275 http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/household-ads-1950s/2#adc500849obfidpe

[mcuhistory]

Most of the women in the 1950s were just housewives. Also they would be trying to see that the children would we be very well taken care of. The mothers are so much good housewives. It relates to the a date with your family because many of the mothers were  only there to do work in the house and also not to try and not do things outside the house. Maybe some of the fathers would help with cleaning, but mostly it was a housewives job. This pictures shows house women were made to just work in the house , and take care of the children and do  all of the domestic house work. this does show the dad/ husband is  washing the dishes, but he is probably doing it since he sees that his wife is busy feeding their youngest children. None of the men would be feeding the children since it seems that in the 1950s many of the women were the nurtures and the men would be trying to provide for their families so that the mothers could just stay and home and not worry about the bills being paid. it also seems that the mother and the husband are very much happy and the father is so happy and he is smiling which is exciting because some people were not excited  about staying home.

Kristina Gee, History of Women of U.S. Fall 2015

[mcuhistory]

The time after the World War II is a really important period of American history, especially for women. Men returned from the war and came back to their jobs, which were occupied by women. Furthermore, this era considers as a baby boom. For these reasons, females had to turn all theirs power toward the home and family. We know 1950s and early 1960s as a happy time after war that associates with suburban life, perfect wives and happy kids.

But how this stereotype was created? What gave a start to these ideas of the “perfect wives and families”? Through strong propaganda of the mass media, people had clear image of white middle-class housewife, who spent the most of the time at home caring for children and cooking for husband.

That’s why, females again became just mothers and domestic caregivers, but not a workers, who can do the same work as men do. The best place for them is at home and we have thousands of the advertisings, which prove the fact that women should spend most of her time in the kitchen. Both of the videos “Word to the Wives” and “A Date with Your Family” and the poster that I chose also shows this propaganda to us. Housewives were very important, because they were responsible for not just managing house, but also for creating next American generation. For these reasons, propaganda paid that much attention to women’s place in society. For example, tutorial movies showed people how they should act: in the “A Date with Your Family” we can see, that women’s place is the kitchen, even if males helped them. On the other hand, in the  “Word to the Wives” movie suggests us that men cannot do the traditional domestic women’s work. Although, the male character tried to cook, clean dishes and care for a small child, he looked very uncomfortable in this traditional woman's role.

Women were main consumers and buyers of the goods. However, men were the ones, who created these products for the market. The poster that I chose shows us a young lady with the beautiful make-up and bright smile. We can assume that again she is able to be a “perfect women” in the kitchen, because of the Mornidine. If a pregnant wife did not fell good enough to make a breakfast to her husband, men assured new medicines such as Mornidine, which used to be a prescription drug that was able to relief the morning sickness. But in the 1950s propaganda in the advertisings was a promise that wives will be able to do their part, because they should cook and look perfect even in the early mornings, but not lying in bed sick while carrying child.

Mass media propaganda had a significant influence on the creating of female’s identities at that period of time.

 http://vintage-ads.livejournal.com/88173.html Yana Maltseva |HIS 275| 

[mcuhistory]

Photo;  file.intageadbrowser.com/bqc1ol0x31f65k.jpg

webpage;  http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/household-ads-1950s/2

Published by; Benjamin Moore Paint, 

Produced;1956

Benjamin Moore published the paints advertisement above in 1956; the image shows multiple women and one man using the paints and enamels to improve the looks of household items. Towards the bottom of the advertisement in bold the add reads, “Moore paints and enamels do more jobs easier”, which shows that the company is trying to make house repairs easier for men and women. However, this image shows signs of the old-fashioned gender roles stereotypes that plagued women throughout the 1950′s. 

On the left side of the advertisement there is a woman who is painting a dining room styled chair. The woman is lying next to the chair while she is wearing a housewife’s clothes. Her body language shows that her life is easy as she can lay down in the comfort of her own home as she works to repair the chair. The idea of being a housewife was seen as an easy job in the 1950s culture, yet most housewives often felt empty in their own personal lives. Also, the chair is most commonly associated with being around the home without being able to move freely. Next, the chair, like the housewife would be used to support the family. A housewife is linked to the cultural belief that a married woman should belong in the house, as she will be less likely to be able to move freely outside of the home. Then in the adjacent depiction, there is a man repainting a bike. 

The bike symbolizes many masculine ideologies of the 50′s era. The man is standing with his back bent over the bike as it rests on a small table, indicating that the man has a harder and more physical task than the women painting the chair. In this image, the bike represents the ability to move freely from the home and out into society, which is what the men in the 1950′s culture could easily accomplish. The bike can also go wherever it is needed, though a bike like a man of the house should not operate indoors. The next two images are of women who are painting kitchen cabinets and the walls of a bathroom. In both images, the women are standing, which indicates that they will have a harder time with their tasks. The woman who is painting the kitchen cabinet is in her societal role as a housewife since she is repainting her kitchen. Lastly, the woman who is painting the house’s interior wall shows that she cannot leave as she is trapped within the walls of her home. The woman is taking care of her home and it’s internal issues by repainting the wall, and she is the one that is responsible for mending the more private affairs of her family’s life within the home.  

Although this was a paint and enamel company’s advertisement, it held key depictions of stereotypical roles that a housewife and husband would be seen as in 1950′s culture. In today’s society there have been many cultural changes that have occurred over the years that caused these stereotypes to change. Although stereotypes of either ender are wrong, they are still prevalent in today’s media, though they glorify other things besides 1950s housewifery. 

Robbie Dunst  | His 275  | Fall 2015

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Intimate Secrets of the Ivy League published on May 19th, 1956 by The New Yorker. Image were we see a female laying down under 4 flags that say Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and Gantner and there is a man who appears to be very educated holding a book and wearing glasses. 

The main point that is trying to be proven in this image would be the main difference between a women and a mans education. We see that the woman seems to be laying down on the floor underneath the flags because women during this time did not seem to go to college or known to have an education. We see the man to be set as a man who is good looking and is heading towards a good education in either of these schools but also making it seem that he will have a flock of women behind him because of his attractiveness and smartness. The main conflict that I see that is being subjected is the fact that women will always have to rely on a man for every aspect and he just being in the back and appearing to be attractive for him and to be almost as if his last priority is all that she can really do, simply wait for him until he is ready. Another idea that relates to this would be the fact that the man has all the “freedom” to do as he pleases to do for the simple fact he is able to go out and explore. The women in the videos express strong feelings towards them not being able to have freedom because they are not able to go out and explore. In addition, those who go out to get an education seem to be a bit off because that is not women like since that was a duty of men to do as providers.  This image also relates during the time because women were now being seen to do some of the mens job and many wanted t be viewed as strong but the women was still viewed as weak. Another point would be the title of this image, The Ivy to me seems to be the meaning of the women because then it reads Established Man In The League almost as if it said that women are in the mans league just being there to keep them company. 

After I read what this image really meant I figured that I was partly wrong but in a way was correct. This image is actually one that is selling the men the underwear and the reason why they use school names and a women is to make the man thing that men who wear those underwear is one that is confident and has women down to his feet. This image also down plays the women to be used as what is known as a sex symbol for the sex appeal of this image. The image states, “Mr. Nype, the theater’s elegant and able Eastern college man, wears short-cut boxers,” meaning even that important man wears them why don’t you wear them. This image s selling both the women and mens clothing but mainly is praising the man to be an intelligent man who has an education while the women just seems to be the follower of his. 

Women History and role today has changed because there are many young women who are getting an education for themselves but there are still some standards that society seems to have on women who try to make a difference.Today the women is still viewed as a sex symbol in propaganda but the difference is that today women are doing it for their own and no longer standing behind the mans shadow. 

Veronica Mendoza|HIS 275| FALL2015

[mcuhistory]

Who's Boss?

The educational short film of 1950 "Who's Boss?", based on Henry's Bowman book "Marriage for Moderns", is meant to instruct people of that time to keep the balance between the gender roles in the family.

The main conflict of this "tutorial" is led between the spouses Jenny and Mike, whose marriage is about to break. The couple has a competition of interests. Jenny likes to have a job, but Mike wants her to stay at home and take care of him and their house. In addition, Mike is outraged with the fact that women get over the men at the jobs. He thinks that wives are not enough respectful to their husbands, and they should wash the dishes, and the occupation takes their time. Seems like Mike felt the same way as the character from "Word for Wives", who could not cope with the simple cooking while his spouse was away, which brings the idea that women were the hosts of the kitchen, and if they would be somewhere else out of home, the household would be defeated.

After another scene and spending the night in the hotel room by himself, Mike thought out that he could accept his wife working, and he makes up with her next morning. In fact, such a deed shows his real power, because we see that Mike is able to cool his pride and selfishness down for someone else. Man's step brings the spouses together again, but the disagreements are still appearing.

However, the couple has the same dream of having a nice house and kids. Jenny and Mike start to plan the budget and they decide to cut all the personal desires in order to reach the common goal. Eventually, the couple became parents. Mike does not mind to do "woman's work" anymore, he changes the diapers while Jenny is working. The family is happy in the new house with the children, this is their mutual credit.

As well as the other educational video of 50s "A Date with your Family" which is about having the bright family dinner in the evening, "Who's Boss" is claiming the same idea of respecting each other, and learning to handle difficulties, because people have to be comfortable together at home. This video would be relevant even today for some families' who's members show aggression at home. It has a deep and important message: "both, men and women, could do whatever they want to do." The marriage should be a partnership without a boss, focused on reaching some mutual goal, not on the battle.

Anastasia Larina | HIS 275 | FALL 2015

[mcuhistory]

Alice Baugh is an ex slave who at the time of the interview was 64 years old. She was very young and only remembers her mom telling her stories about them as slaves. Her mother and mother’s brother belong to Master. 

David Hinnant where they lived in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Alice explains how the son of the master, Master Charlie got married and soon left their old town. Master Charlie and Ms. Mary were good to the slaves, Alice says. She says that they would give them good houses, good food, and good clothes. Fun was also given to the hundreds of slaves. This was very rare at the time because slaves were not seen to have these privileges. The slaves had more access to the bit of freedom that other slaves did not have. Slaves even had their days off which were Saturday till Monday. The master always gave them a paper so that they show the patrollers will not get them. 

What I find interesting about the interview was that, although the master was nice to the slaves, the master even participated in Alice’s parents wedding. Master Charlie even danced with her mother. It shows how well the master and the slaves got along. Later on the interview, Alice says how her mom died at the age of 106. She remembers that her mom would tell her that when the Yankees would come, the slaves would cry of fear. Alice says that her mom told her that she would do the work because she loved it, not because she was being forced to do it. This interview shows the connection of how slaves and their masters had. Not all slaves had bad experiences and were not happy with the fact that they had ti be freed. 

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage

Jennifer Cardenas / HIS 275 / Fall 2015