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From large suburban housing developments, television, Elvis Presley and rock-and-roll to the civil rights movement and the Cold War, the 1950s were a time of societal changes and musical revolution. Clashes between communism and capitalism dominated the decade that led to open hostilities on the Korean Peninsula. Along with increased testing of nuclear weapons and the start of the Space Race a politically conservative climate dominated.

The period is also marked by the beginning of de-colonization in Africa and Asia that accelerated in the following decade. Sales of TV sets rose in the 1950s and Americans began to devote their free time to watching television broadcasts. Television led to a drop in the number of radio listeners. On campus, academics continued to thrive as Marian Hall opened along with the first on-campus student residence—Julie Hall.

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The Beatles invaded, Martin Luther King had a dream, the U.S. landed on the moon and Emmanuel women stood at the heart of second-wave feminism. The period saw relaxation of social taboos, such as divorce, dress, drugs and homosexuality. There was a continued emphasis on civil rights through protests, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act. The period also saw increased distrust of government due to the Vietnam War. On campus, St. Ann, St. Joseph and Loretto Halls opened as student residences and the College dedicated the Cardinal Cushing Library.

• View Yearbooks, Newspapers and More from the 1960s.

On a campus of empowered, educated women, the cause of feminism continued to stand strong while the Vietnam War, disco and Watergate raged. The economy was affected by a decline in manufacturing industries leading to increased unemployment paired with high inflation, a situation known as stagflation. In addition, oil shortages, high interest rates and poor stock performances added to a sense of financial instability.

Television under went a Renaissance with more urban and edgy settings, and replaced the popular rural/country wholesome look of the previous decades, seen as outmoded and unable to connect with young, educated, urban audiences. This particular trend was known as the rural purge. The women's movement ushered in a slew of programming featuring strong, independent females as central characters. Most notable was The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Wonder Women. Shows featuring minorities as main characters, such as Sanford and Son, Maude, The Jeffersons, and Good Times featured prominently during the 1970s.

In the halls of Emmanuel, students took part in the anti-war movement, teach-ins, and the College initiated their continuing education program.

• View Yearbooks, Newspapers and More from the 1970s.

From the yuppies, to big hair and acid-washed jeans to the fall of the Berlin Wall, alumnae of the 1980s navigated economic recession to find their place in an increasingly globalized economy with advances in technology that led to the creation of cell phones and the World Wide Web. The decade of transformation in television with the launch of MTV, CNN and the growth of prime time soap-operas and cable across the country. On campus, Emmanuel College hosted the 1984 Democratic presidential primary debate on women’s issues.

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The 1990s saw advances in technology, with the human genome project, the mass adoption of personal computers and the cloning of Dolly the sheep. As Apartheid ended in South Africa, new ethnic conflicts emerged in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Signs of any resolution of tensions between Israel and the Arab world remained elusive while The Troubles in Northern Ireland came to a standstill in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement.

Culturally, the period saw fashions that ranged from Dr. Martens shoes, flannel shirts, sideburns and slap bracelets for children. The beginning of reality television began on MTV with the premiere of The Real World; this would grow in importance in the western world into the next decade. In addition, the late 1990s also saw the evolution of prime-time game shows, popularized by the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Students turned to the World Wide Web for research as grunge and hip hop ruled the music scene. President Sr. Janet Eisner, SND initiated the Colleges of the Fenway Consortium while the campus celebrated its first Founders’ Day in honor of the SNDs and St. Julie Billiart.

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In politics the decade opened with the September 11th attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. This action prompted a United States-led coalition invasion of Iraq, known as the "War on Terror" that led to the end of Saddam Hussein's rule as Iraqi President. Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist militant groups performed terrorist acts that ranged from the 2004 Madrid train bombings, London bombings in 2005, and the Mumbai attacks in 2008. 

The world economy was challenged by two economic crises, the Dot-com bubble burst (2000), caused by financial speculation in web based companies that did not have the a long term business plan or economic capital to sustain themselves. By 2007, a housing bubble developed in the United States and after a rise in interest rates there was a wave of loan payment failures in the U.S. The subsequent mortgage crisis caused a global financial crisis as subprime mortgages had been sold to international banks and investment funds. Despite the extensive intervention of central banks, including partial and total nationalization of major U.S. and European banks, the crisis of sovereign debt became particularly acute. 

Culturally, the 2000s, saw fashion trends that ranged from velour tracksuits and skinny jeans for young women and men. "Emo fashion," was also popular, and commonly identified with wearing black/dark colored skinny jeans, T-shirts bearing the name of emo music groups and long side-swept bangs, often covering one or both eyes. Finally, "Geek chic" was a minor fashion trend that was identified by stereotypical "geeky" fashions, such as oversized black Horn-rimmed glasses, suspenders/braces, and highwater trousers. The glasses—worn with non-prescription lenses or without lenses—quickly became the defining aspect of the trend.

The 2000s were a time of great change on campus, with students taking to social media and the College welcoming its first coed class. The College opened the Jean Yawkey Center and Maureen Murphy Wilkens Science Center, and the restored Roberto Clemente Field, home field for the Saints.

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The decade began amid a global financial crisis and subsequent international recession dating from the late 2000s. The resulting European sovereign-debt crisis became more pronounced early in the decade and continued to affect the possibility of a global economic recovery. Economic issues, such as austerity and inflation were associated with this period. Unrest in some countries – particularly in the Arab world – evolved into socioeconomic crises triggering revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain as well as civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen in a widespread phenomenon commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Shifting social attitudes saw LGBT rights and female representation make substantial progress during the decade, particularly in the West and parts of Asia and Africa.

In the United States, the first African-American President, Barrack Obama, managed to unveil universal healthcare to all Americans, though it led to increased opposition between political parties on most issues that led to a government shut-down in 2013.This period also saw the end of the Space Shuttle Program, exponential growth in the use of smartphones and Virtual Reality and the development of Black Lives Matter, a campaign against violence and racism towards people of color. Fourth-wave feminism emerged around 2013 and is identified by the idea of intersectionality, which argued that women's experiences differed radically based on the impact of their other identities, such as class, ethnicity or sexual orientation. It was paired with the emergence of the "#MeToo Movement" as a protest against sexual harassment.

Cable providers saw a decline in subscriber numbers as people switched to lower cost online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. The advent of streaming services has allowed for more serialized television content to rise in popularity which allows for more complex and longer storytelling.

The 2010s saw the continued development of tablets and smartphones that connected society and facilitated the sharing of ideas. During this period, the College saw the renovation of the Administration Building and the development of the Notre Dame Campus, the former home of the Society of St. Margaret’s Convent.

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The College enters its second century.

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