The 1960sA Cultural Revolution

The Student Movement

• Generation gap…blaming parents for the ills of society– Baby boomers around 15

years old in 1960– Between 1960 & 1970 number

of Americans between the ages of 15 to 24 increased by 50%

• Movement begins UCLA Berkley– Mario Savio– https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhFvZRT7Ds0

• 1965 similar events take place across the U.S. on college campuses

The Counter Culture

The Hippy Movement• The term “hippy”

comes from being hip. You were either hip or you were a “square” or a “pig.”

• Hippie were looking for an alternative way to live life.

• Most hippies valued freedom, nature, intimacy, peace, sharing, and spirituality

Way of Life• Hippies wanted to

distance themselves from mainstream ways of life…”doing your own thing”

• Shock older Americans• Public displays of nudity,

use of profanity

• Discard material possessions and often lived in parks or campsites in the woods.• Between 1965 and 1975 –

10,000 communes established

Drug Culture

• Drugs like marijuana and LSD were a big part of the hippy/counterculture movement

• Using drugs made hippies feel like the were rebelling from mainstream society

• Timothy Leary (a Harvard professor) was an advocate of LSD

• LSD was created by a Swiss scientist, used by the CIA, and tested for use by psychiatrists before it became illegal.

Fashion

• Hippies distanced themselves from mainstream culture by their dress.

• Colorful, flowing clothing, beads, headbands bellbottoms, and tie-dye were popular.

• Men wear their hair long and beards long or in afros.

• Hippies were often called “longhairs”

Pitfalls of the Counter Culture

• Experimental era comes with a price– Drug addiction– Sexually transmitted

diseases– Women perceive this

sexual freedom as another way for men to take advantage of women

San Francisco & Haight Ashbury • birthplace of the

counterculture/hippy movement

• By 1965 hippies had taken over the Haight Ashbury district

• Haight Ashbury district contains Golden Gate Park home of the Trips Festival and “be-ins”

• Harsh, urban neighborhood troubled by crime

"Summer of Love" in 1967 Hippie Love-In demonstration, Golden Gate Park SF 1960S

Charles Manson

• convicted serial killer who has become an icon of evil

• late 1960s, Manson founded a hippie cult group known as "the Family" whom he manipulated into brutally killing others on his behalf

• Inside the Manson Murders– http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQcBFIdiZNM

Changing American Society

Rise of counterculture reflected the doubts of many citizens (young) held

about the direction of American society

Religion• 1957 poll – more than 80%

believe that religion can answer society’s problems

• 1969…70% say that religion is losing its influence– Not lacking spiritual faith – Lost confidence in

established churches– Search for alternative

answers– Growing interest in Eastern

religions• Zen and Buddhism

The Arts• Criticism that arts catered to the upper-class• Pop Art…appeals to popular tastes– Inspired by advertising, celebrities, comic

books, movies– Andy Warhol

• Film…broadened content matter, censorship ignored– New ratings from G to X– Adult audience films draw larger crowds

Six year old Ruby Bridges being escorted to school in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKyQV0-z6HE

Sounds of the 1960s

The British Invasion!

The Rolling Stones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEjkftp7J7I

The British Invasion!

The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsUWfwUQd5I

Folk’s Rebirth

• 1930s – Woody Guthrie– used folk to point out

flaws in American society (disappeared in the 1950s)

– I Ain’t Got No Home• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfMzsa03E3E

Folk’s Rebirth

• 1960s Joan Baez & Bob Dylan…lyrics that send political messages to listeners– Performance at March

on Washington 1963• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLwHnNybADo

Bob Dylan“How many years can as mountain exist before it’s washed to the sea?Yes, ‘n’ How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?Yes, ‘n’ How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see?The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the windThe answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwgrjjIMXA

Bob Dylan and “Hurricane” Carter

"Hurricane" • protest song• about the

imprisonment of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

• Compiles alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction– https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng3cWnB8MZE

Motown and Soul

• Berry Gordy & Motown Records

• Country’s most successful African American businesses– How it all began

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOMEnykYvck

Motown and Soul

• The Supremes– http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=23UkIkwy5ZM

• The Temptations– http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=RfyFI-4ZsaE

• The Jackson 5– http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT586E9OUfg

Motown and Soul

• James Brown “Godfather of Soul”– https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWcT3V15ZEc

• Aretha Franklin “Queen of Soul”– https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYbs_O_iMfU

Psychedelic Rock• Most popular music of the

time• Jefferson Airplane

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0

• The Jimi Hendrix Experience• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjwWjx7Cw8I

• The Grateful Dead • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=671AgW9xSiA

• ….played free concerts at Golden Gate Park

• Concerts and be-ins were places for hippies to protest, socialize, dance, or take drugs

• Beatles “Lucy in the Sky”• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-nnR3ojRU

Woodstock• Celebration of an era and marked the

high point of the counterculture movement

– August 1969…400,000 young people…rural upstate NY for 3 day celebration

– Woodstock was not just a music concert. “For thousands who couldn’t even hear the music” it was a “profound religious experience.”

– Meager resources were shared with everyone, concert remained a peaceful event

– Many people at Woodstock used illegal drugs

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecUS7iDVPU