The 1960s
A 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=PhFvZ
RT7Ds0
• 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=JQc
BFIdiZNM
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/watc
h?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/wa
tch?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/wat
ch?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 wind
The 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/w
atch?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/w
atch?v=23UkIkwy5ZM
• The Temptations
– http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?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/wat
ch?v=cYbs_O_iMfU
Psychedelic Rock
• Most popular music of the time
• Jefferson Airplane
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA
NNqr-vcx0
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjw
Wjx7Cw8I
• The Grateful Dead
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=671A
gW9xSiA
• ….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=yZnnR3ojRU
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