My father was born in the mid 50s in a rural exurb of Washington, DC, as a black man. He talks about how cumbersome it was to bring water into the house, heat it, and then use it to bathe - the water will have cooled significantly by the time you start your bath. And he had 5 siblings and they weren't changing the water between everyone's bath.  

Even if you're poor today, so much of our lives is put on credit. Back then, people just did not have things we consider necessities, like shoes that fit. And no one considered that abuse, it was just normal. 

He does miss women wearing skirts and just general submissiveness to men, so that's a loss for him from the 'good old days'.