1960s
Social Change & Counter Culture
Social Change
• Significant improvements in the lives of
– Minorities
• Hispanics
• African-Americans
• Gays
• Women
• Asians
• Native Americans
Mexican-Americans
• LULAC – League of United
Latin American Citizens
– Promoted education fought
for desegregation
– Set up English language
classes in public schools
• La Raza Unida- Helped
promote Hispanic
candidates in local
elections
United Farm Workers
• Cesar Chavez &
Dolores Huerta
Organized Farm
Workers to protest for
• Better working
conditions
• Higher pay
• Social reforms
• Used non-violent
protest & boycotts
African-Americans
• The Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin
Luther King
• Already covered in DETAIL……
Women’s Liberation
• Feminism
– was the belief that
women should have
economic, political, and
social equality with men
• Betty Friedan’s
– Feminine Mystique
• National Organization
for Women (NOW)
– fought against gender
bias in hiring and in the
workplace and pushed
for child-care facilities
Asian-Americans
• Backlash and racism
from the Vietnam War
• Asian American
Political Alliance
(AAPA) was founded at
Berkley which unified
Chinese, Japanese,
Korean and Filipino
activists
• Protested the Vietnam
War and racism
directed at Asians
Counter Culture
Counter Culture
Hippie Culture
Helter Skelter
Charles Manson led a hippie
commune “the Manson
family”
• First through love &
understanding
• Then through LSD &
torture.
• Do not think, only listen
• Committed a series of
murders “Helter Skelter”.
• Did not kill anyone but
went to jail through the
joint responsibility rule.
Actress Sharon Tate & her
unborn baby murdered
by the Manson family
Woodstock
• Set up for 50,000
• 500,000 showed up
• It showcased numerous
bands that were or became
icons in the music industry
• It was a mental and
spiritual escape from the
chaotic decade of the
1960s
• It signified a new
generation taking control.
The Conservative Response
• Nixon, Agnew and J Edgar
Hoover
– expressed anger and concern over
the counterculture
– threat to traditional values
• Many saw the values as
–
–
–
–
immoral,
un-American,
Immature
irresponsible
• Conservatives presented their
own solutions to crime and
lawlessness