Captain Sam Wilson (captcommunist) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2017-07-21 14:57:00 |
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Black social history was part of my Masters so I should be able to give a good overview of what shit's gonna be like in 1953. I'd say get a snack and a cup of tea, but I guess MREs and water will have to do.
1953 is right in the height of the post-war years. Social conservatism is big. People like their neighbours to look like them, talk like them and live like them. Lots of nice white people moving out to the suburbs and starting families - the baby boom has been in full swing for a few years and young families are the face of the nation.
A lot of us unfortunately don't fit in that pretty little picture. The Civil Rights Era has not started yet. Forget voting, schools are segregated, Rosa Parks is still traveling at the back of the bus and there are signs telling black people what they're allowed to use in public. No matter how you get treated you're expected to show respect. Yes ma'am, yes sir, etc. Perfect patience. We don't get the luxury of losing our temper. While this mostly goes for us black people, it will probably be expected of a lot of the ambiguously brown ones too. Kamala and Samirah? If you're around, this probably includes you. I'm pretty sure most of the Muslims in this time period are former slaves and there are almost no South Asians around, especially women.
Politeness is a big thing for everyone, actually. You can wear a hat outdoors, but take it off when you go inside or stop to talk to a lady. Give up your seat for a woman or anyone older than you. Stand up if a "social better" comes into the room. Shake hands when you meet someone, even if you've known them for years. All that sort of stuff.
The really big thing someone mentioned (Eliot?): McCarthyism. You might know we were on the same side as Russia in WWII, but if you know anything about US history you'll have heard of the Cold War. This right now is the start of the Cold War. The official line is that they've got nothing against the poor oppressed Russian people, but they hate the Russian government which is forcing them to live under Communism when they just want to be free market capitalists. Communism is a very scary word right now and there are a lot of things that can be used as evidence of communist sympathies. Left-wing social policies like supporting unions or opposing hate groups like the KKK is a big one. Unionists and teachers are very suspicious. Anyone who doesn't go to church? Communist, for sure. Creatives get targeted a lot too - Hollywood had a blacklist for a long time with the names of people who were suspected to be communist subversives - so artists might want to be careful. And never, ever advertise it if you're anything less than completely straight. That makes you a subversive, a sexual pervert and mentally ill.
Honestly, the best thing we can do is establish ourselves outside the town. We want to be considered separate and in charge of our own affairs. Even those of us who look acceptable aren't going to know the nuances of social conventions and suspicion of anyone different in a small rural town in Texas is going to be bad, especially with resources scarce. But we probably will have some contact with them, so anyone who's worried can come find me and I'll try to help you out. If anyone else specifically studied this time period it would be great if you could speak up too.
Apart from that I'm good for patrols, helping to build things, scouting, whatever. I might be able to do up a map of where the birds are finding water in the area, but I can't promise it will be helpful for this many people.