Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______#-______

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” Understanding Historical Context

Directions: BEFORE READING ROD SERLING’S “THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET” ON PAGES 666-684 IN THE LITERATURE BOOK, COMPLETE THE PACKET TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE SELECTION.

BEFORE READING • SET A PURPOSE ------

1. What is the purpose of reading the information contained in this packet? ______

2. What should you expect to be able to do after reading the material in this packet?

______

● PREVIEW THE READING

In the space to the right, list anything in this pre- reading packet that might give you a sense of what you can expect to learn.

● PLAN A READING STRATEGY

While you complete this pre-reading packet, you will: ● Define key terms ● Relate personal ● Complete a graphic experiences organizer ● Compare informational text ● Make inferences to a cartoon

Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

------DURING THE READING ● Read with a purpose and look for information to fit your purpose.

Directions: Define the following three bolded vocabulary words found in the encyclopedia article titled “Communism.” Then, identify two words you found challenging. Write the words on the blank and define all words using a dictionary. communism______

______alliance______

______sympathizers ______- ______

______-______

______

Communism

The Cold War

After World War II, the and the Soviet Union competed with each other for international influence and allies in the Cold War. Both countries attempted to gain international power by influencing other governments in their favor, often with military or economic aid.

The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion, and misunderstandings between the two sides. These conditions led to occasional confrontations. For example, both the United States and the Soviet Union supplied military aid to opposing forces in the Korean War. Another confrontation came in 1962, when the United States learned that the Soviet Union had secretly installed missile stations in Cuba that could launch nuclear attacks on U.S. cities. After a week of extreme international tension, the Soviet Union agreed to United States demands and removed the missiles.

Alarmed by Communist expansion in Eastern Europe and in China, the United States and its allies began giving military and economic aid to non-Communist countries. They also pledged to help nations threatened by Communist take-overs. In 1949, Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This alliance provided its members with mutual defense against a possible attack by the Soviet Union or any other aggressor. In 1955, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies signed the Warsaw Pact, a treaty to provide for their common Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

defense. The signers claimed they drew up the pact in response to the creation of NATO. Each side invested in a massive arms race, a competition to acquire nuclear weapons and other arms.

In the 1950's, fear of Communism in the United States led to widespread accusations and investigations of suspected Communist activities. This pursuit of Communists came to be called McCarthyism, after Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican. McCarthy charged that many individuals were Communists or Communist sympathizers, usually with little evidence to support his charges. Nevertheless, many people lost their jobs or suffered in other ways after being labeled a Communist.

Vontz, Thomas S. "Communism." World Book Student. World Book, 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.

Directions: Use the encyclopedia entry to complete the graphic organizer. This should help you organize the most important details of the encyclopedia article “Communism.”

CAUSES OF THE COLD COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR: THE COLD WAR: COLD WAR:

COMMUNISM

from World Book NATO’S GOALS: Encyclopedia

EFFECTS OF MCARTHYISM:

Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

CREATE PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

Directions: Consider a situation where you (or someone you know) have encountered a situation in which a rumor has had a negative impact. Explain your experience.

______

MAKE INFERENCES

Directions: Use Herbert Block’s cartoon and the information from the World Book article titled “Communism” to answer the following questions.

1. List two important objects in the cartoon and describe what each represents. Object Symbolizes

2. What issue or event does the cartoon portray? ______

3. What is the purpose of the text in the cartoon? ______

4. What message is Block communicating through the cartoon? ______

5. What groups would have agreed with the cartoon’s message? Why?

______

Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

Directions: As you read the essay, “America’s First Teenagers: Youth in the fifties,” by Barbara Diggs, complete the t-chart. Identify details from the article that characterized life for teens in the 1950’s in the column labeled “1950’s.” Then, use your personal experiences and knowledge to list details about teenagers today in the column titled “Today.” Be sure to list a minimum of five (5) details in each column.

1950’s Today

An Excerpt from “America’s First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties” Barbara Diggs

The term “teenager” was scarcely heard at the start of the 1950’s, but by the decade’s end, the word rolled off every American tongue with ease. The teens of the ‘50’s were the first teen-aged youths to stand out as a distinct group with interests, fashions, musical tastes and economic power of their own. Their rise to prominence was largely because, unlike the youth of previous generations, the youngsters of the were unencumbered by responsibilities brought by world war and economic depression. In the 1950s, America was as prosperous as it ever had been; the morale of the white middle-class was high, and parents, smilingly indulgent. For the first time, young people had both the money and the freedom to do what every generation of teens since has expected as its right: have fun. And fun, they had.

Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

The average white middle-class teen in the 1950’s often engaged in the type of wholesome activities for which they are so well remembered. They hung out with their friends at malt shops, “necked” at drive-in movies, and gathered around the television with their families – only one set per household in those days – to watch respectable programs such as “I Love Lucy” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Teenage boys – from slick-haired “greasers” to cardigan-wearing preppies – spent ample time salivating over the increasingly sleek and sporty cars that were being churned out each year. Girls swooned over pin-ups of teen idols like Troy Donahue and Fabian, and consulted newly inaugurated teen magazines for advice on dating or fashion. Perhaps if the teens of the ‘50s had gone no further with their exploration of fun, perhaps the world would be a different place. But America’s first teenagers clearly wanted more than wholesome fun. And when rock ‘n rollers such as , Little Richard and Elvis Presley burst onto the scene, teens were ready. They latched onto rock ‘n roll’s reckless, thrilling beat and refused to let go. With the advent of rock ‘n roll, and a spate of movies featuring disaffected teens (most notably being James Dean in “Rebel Without A Cause”), America got its first taste of teenage rebellion. Most parents were appalled. Rock ‘n roll, with its powerful beat, gyrating singers, and suggestive lyrics, was considered to be utterly unsuitable for children. The fact that such music also had strong roots in the African-American blues and gospel traditions made it all the worse. It was denounced by conservatives as “jungle music” or “Satan’s music” – which made the teenagers, in true teenage form, crave it all the more. Record producers were happy to oblige them. Teens flocked the record stores, dropped millions of dimes in the jukebox, and joyfully jitterbugged away in thousands of high school gyms across the nation. And as the song goes, rock ‘n roll was here to stay. Naturally, life in the ‘50s wasn’t one sock hop after another. Teens spent most of their time in school, and were constantly pressured to conform to society’s extremely conservative standards. One such method of pressure was the frequent showing of “mental hygiene” films in schools. These 15-minute films (with titles such as, “Keep off the Grass”, “Are You Popular?” and “Safety or Slaughter”) attempted to steer – or frighten – young people away from drugs, [relations with the opposite gender,] slouching, speeding, or anything that might render them socially unpopular. The consequences for teens that veered from the norm were severe: an unwed pregnant teen would quickly find herself a pariah; homosexuality could result in a jail sentence; an interracial relationship would practically guarantee ostracism from everyone, including your own family. But, overall, Happy Days wasn’t outrageously far off the mark. Few teens stepped far beyond their social boundaries, and life for a white middle-class teen was good fun. The average black teen, although painfully aware – and often brutally reminded – of the pervasive racism in America, had their own happy days. Like their white counterparts, black teenagers of the ‘50s, laughed with their friends, wore saddle shoes, penny loafers and swing skirts, listened to 45s, and watched wholesome sitcoms with their families. They danced at parties, took “home economics” or “shop” in school, and a small percentage applied and went to college. was well-liked among black teens, but many teens, especially those in big cities, often preferred the smooth, harmo nious sounds of black “doo-wop” groups such as the Clovers, the Platters or and the Teenagers. Doo-wop was a recent permutation of rhythm and blues, a form of music that originated in the black Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

community and had been long enjoyed by parents and kids alike. However, doo-wop in particular was a teenage thing, as it began with groups of young inner-city black males gathering on street corners or on front porches to make up songs and sing a cappella for their friends. Although white and black teens shared many similarities in pastimes, fashions

and musical taste, the two situations were not “separate but equal.” The ‘50s are often characterized as an age of ‘youthful innocence’, but black teenagers were all too aware of their vulnerability to the ugliness in the world. Fourteen year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered and mutilated in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. Nine courageous teenagers endured taunts, violent threats and gobs of spit, for daring to be the first blacks to integrate an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Popular dance programs, such as American Bandstand and the Milt Grant Show, would not, at least initially, allow black and white teens to dance in the same studio. Black teenagers could not help but be aware that white America considered them vastly inferior, and that straying over racial boundaries could have humiliating and/or devastating consequences. Nevertheless, a flutter of rebellion was growing in

the hearts of many black teens. And in the sixties, this rebellion would converge with the discontent of white middle-class teens, to explode into a revolution that would alter the course of America’s history.

Diggs, Barbara. "America's First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties." America's First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties. N.p., n.d. Web. Dec. 2012

RESPOND TO THE READING

Directions: Answer the following prompt in a complete paragraph. Cite facts, examples, and/or details from the essay, "America's First Teenagers: Youth in the Fifties," and the t-chart in your response.

How was life for teenagers in the 1950s compared to today?

______

______

______

______

______Name: ______# ____ Period: ____ Date: ______

------AFTER READING

● Pause, reflect, and look back to See if you found information to fit your purpose.

Can you explain how the Cold War led to McCarthyism? Are you able to describe life in the 1950s? If not, you must go back and reread.

● Reread to find things you may have missed the first time.

Have you answered all of the questions? If not, take a second look at the text and skim for key words and phrases. Review your responses.

● Remember what you have learned.