Geraldine Connolly & Emma Cook

Mr. Kennedy
June 4 2014
Period 6 APUSH
Process Paper
When choosing our topic, we wanted to consider a turning point that we both
were interested in, but also had a significant impact on The United States history as a
whole. We also wanted to pick something that we had not gone into too much depth in
school, so we could learn more as we worked. After debating between three different
topics we made the decision to focus on the dramatic switch of womens lifestyles from
the 1940s to the 1950s. We specifically focused on how the shift of careers, or lack their
of, was caused by the return of soldiers from World War II. Therefore, we narrowed our
topic down to the specific turning point; women shifting their lives from factories to
suburban houses due to return of soldiers from war.
Although we had some prior knowledge about this turning point, we needed to do
a lot of research to make our argument clear and factual. We started to get inspiration
from the propaganda of the 40s and 50s. Some examples of the propaganda we used are
The Good Wifes Guide from the 1950s magazine Housekeeping Monthly. We also used
the iconic Rosie the Riveter images, this propaganda served as primary sources for our
argument. Using the online resources our school library offers we were able to access
databases and found the Gale Group very helpful in our research. We also used books in
our research such as The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 40s. By
Susan M. Hartmann. The databases and books we used were helpful in giving us insight
as to the reasons behind the lifestyles, so we were able to define the reason for the shift.
We also analyzed the images we found, which allowed us to understand the opposing
thoughts of society during the two time periods. Each resource we used gave us another
piece of information, allowing us to accurately describe and understand the shift of
womens place in society from the 1940s to the 1950s.
One challenge we had was choosing what type of project we would create in order
to most accurately represents the turning point. We were originally going to create an
exhibit, but ended up making a website. We thought the website was the better choice
because it was easier to work on separately, and allowed us to evenly split up the work.
We were also excited to utilize an aspect of technology, which is new to us. A website
also allowed us to easily have multiple pictures with the use of slideshows. We even
added a video to our project, and organization was much easier because we used tabs and
sub tabs.
Our topic relates to the theme because the change in womens lifestyles from the
40s to the 50s is a turning point, which led to a lot of other major events in history. Some
examples are the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, and the more liberated
atmosphere of the 60s. The turning point represents the effects of war, and sparked the
need of some women to have freedom and individualism.