In the 1950's, many new ideas and products appeared for the first time in America. This decade represented the beginning of modern American culture. After the war, although there were some challenges, many things changed for the better, in all aspects of American lives. Three of the most important changes was the suburbs, rock n" roll, and President Truman's support of Civil rights and the racial integration in society. .
President Truman was different from other presidents before him; he strongly and openly supported civil rights. "I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings and if that ends up in my failure to be reelected, the failure will be in a good cause", Truman stated. Truman intensely tried to pass many laws for the betterment of colored people, but failed. One thing he did have control over though, was the army. He made sure that in the armed forces there would be, "equality of treatment and opportunity without regard to race, color or religion, or national origin". In sports, racial integration also started in the 50's. Jackie Robinson was the first colored man to enter a sports team of all white men. Before this, there had been African- American teams, but they were segregated from the white teams. Although Jackie Robinson may not have been the best player, he was important in the role of the first example because of his "background beyond criticism- including smoking and drinking", and for his self- control. Jackie Robinson knew, how important this was, "plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin. But I had to hold myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment". Even though African-Americans were still separated in many ways from the rest of America, the 1950's proved that racial integration could be done, and was a step up in civil rights.
Another new idea in the 1950's was the concept of rock n" roll.