Vickie Rozell

Director/Dramaturg, Author, Editor

The late 1940s and early 1950s were a time of change in America. The country embraced new inventions including Frisbees, microchips, Barbie dolls, and Hula Hoops, and both the “Peanuts” comic strip and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland premiered. Men returning from World War II displaced the women who had left the home to work supporting the war effort. For African Americans who fought in the war, homecoming meant a return to the segregation and racial prejudice that made them second class citizens in their own land.

As the World War ended, the Cold War began. Joseph McCarthy brought the House Un-American Activities Committee to the televisions of America in 1954, turning neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. Fears of Communism crept into American homes and bomb shelters appeared in the nation’s backyards.

In this swirl of change was a booming younger generation looking to make its mark on the world. The radio airwaves were dominated by “white” music, which featured crooners like Perry Como and Patti Page singing safe ballads and comedy songs. Radio stations were as segregated as the rest of the nation and African American or “race” music was played only on a few specifically black stations and was considered “improper” by white America. Much of this rhythmically exciting and sexually suggestive race music was “covered” by white performers, who re-recorded it to be less threatening and more palatable to white audiences—even though the covers bore little resemblance to the original songs. Tempos, rhythms, and even lyrics were changed to keep from “corrupting” white youth.

In the early 50s, a few DJs, including Alan Freed and Dewey Phillips, dared to give Black music air time on white stations. First called Rhythm and Blues (R&B), it eventually was dubbed “Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Freed and rapidly became a huge hit with teenagers of all races looking for a music to call their own. Parents called it communist, subversive, and obscene, but found that their teens didn’t care what color the artist was, as long as they could dance to the music. By 1952, Freed was able to host what is considered the first Rock ‘n’ Roll concert, which was overwhelmed by 25,000 predominantly white teens eager to hear the music of predominantly black performers.

The advent of Rock ‘n’ Roll on the airwaves by no means eliminated racial strife, but it was a step on the path toward desegregation. It would be 1955 before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus and the Civil Rights movement became front page news. The country still had a long way to go. The Korean War would claim 34,000 lives, James Dean would become a household name before his fatal crash, Dick Clark and American Bandstand would become a nationwide hit, and Eisenhower would be elected and serve two terms as President before the Civil Rights act was passed in 1964. Still, the amount of change in the decade immediately after World War II was staggering, and the social and artistic phenomenon of Rock ‘n’ Roll was an important part of that change.

© Vickie Rozell, All Rights Reserved

Reproduction only with permission