How to Revise Post-war America — AQA GCSE History
Post-war America is a topic in the AQA GCSE History specification. This guide covers learning objectives, examiner tips, common mistakes, and key terminology to help you revise effectively.
Examiner Tips for Post-war America
- Ensure you can explain how specific groups or developments were affected by key events.
- Be prepared to evaluate interpretations of historical events.
- Focus on the second-order concepts of causation, consequence, and change.
- Use specific examples of key individuals and groups to support your arguments.
Key Marking Points
- Post-war American society and economy: consumerism and the causes of prosperity; the American Dream; McCarthyism; popular culture (Rock and Roll, television).
- Racial tension and Civil Rights campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s: Segregation laws; Martin Luther King and peaceful protests; Malcolm X and the Black Power Movement; Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968.
- America and the 'Great Society': social policies of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson (poverty, education, health).
- Development and impact of feminist movements in the 1960s and early 1970s: fight for equal pay; National Organisation for Women; Roe v Wade (1973); Supreme Court ruling on equal rights (1972); opposition to Equal Rights Amendment.