Have you ever wondered why some elderly say “If only you were raised in my day,” or they talk about how society is not the same as it was “back in the day”?

Society is a place where people form together to make one. People change, and this causes society to change. Over the last 50 years, society has changed a lot.

A look back in time – 50 years to be precise – at the United States finds the nation in the aftermath of multiple assassinations including that of President John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down by Lee Harvey Oswald in November, 1963 and civil rights leader Martin L. King Jr., who was shot down by James Earl Ray in March, 1969, as well as having the first ever sit-in that took place in North Carolina, and, finally, to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Life was different. Things took time, important information was sent through the mail, people actually read newspapers, and families were different. The image of the times is that people were raised in a certain way, and people came together as a family in a community where everyone knew one another.

Society 50 years ago was much different for people in many ways, though, especially for African-Americans. My grandfather states, “As a kid, fun was limited. We had to get in the house early since African-Americans were targeted at night.” Even though the prices for things were very low, such as a sandwich costing 15 cents, there was segregation and serious lack of civil rights. Segregation meant having to sit in the balconies at movie theatres because blacks were not liked, having separate bathrooms, and not being able to dine in a restaurant but having to pick your food up from the side or main entrance and leave. Flash forward to today and you see some racism, but no segregation. Races go to school with one another, schools are very diverse, and all people have equal access to education, transportation, and other important elements of society. Junior Gabriel Payne believes things have changed. He states, “We have made tremendous progress, and we are now able to make something out of ourselves such as graduating from college.”

Families and communities were very different. Fifty years ago was a time when the family sat together at the dinner table every night. Households actually talked to one another. My grandmother states, ‘Society isn’t the same as it was back then…I don’t even bother to try to communicate with my family anymore; if something needs to be said, I just text them.”