CULTURE AND COUNTERCULTURE

1960S HISTORYSALSBERRY

THE COUNTERCULTURE

WHO: Mostly white, middle-class college youths.

WHAT: A social/cultural movement with the goal of establishing a new society based on peace and love.

WHERE: The USA

WHEN: The 1960s

WHY: These people had grown disillusioned with the war in Vietnam and injustices in America during the 1960s.

Give peace a chance!

WHAT DID THEY BELIEVE?

“TUNE IN, TURN ON, DROP OUT” “Tune in, turn on, drop out” (Dr.

Timothy Leary, Harvard Professor). Leave work, school, home to

create an idyllic community of peace, love, and harmony

Believed the same things as the New Left

Believed society had grown hollow

Influenced by the beat movement of the 1950s

Above: Beatniks of the 1950s

HIPPIES

HIPPIE CULTURE Hippies were members of the counterculture Drugs

LSD (hallucinogenic) Marijuana

Eastern Religion Zen Buddhism – obtaining enlightenment through

meditation Style

Long hair, ragged jeans, tie-dye, love beads, Native American ornaments

Disrespectful?

CAN A STYLE BE DISRESPECTFUL?

COMMUNES

Rejection of conventional home life Renouncement of private property Lived communally in rural areas

Above: Drop City Commune in Denver, Colorado

“HIPPIE CENTRAL”

HAIGH –ASHBURY’ District in San Francisco,

CA The “Hub” “Summer of love” (1967) Played a large part in the

decline of the movement.

“If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”

THE END OF THE MOVEMENT

PEACE AND HARMONY TURNS IN TO VIOLENCE AND DISILLUSIONMENT “Do your own thing” Overdoses and addictions Irony! Charlie Manson murders Kent State Altamont Free Concert

(1969) Moral Panic

Site of Jeffery Miller’s body

LEGACY: A CHANGING CULTURE

ART POP ART

Bright, simple, commercial looking images

Everyday life Made to look mass-

produced and impersonal OTHER ART

Colorful symbols of the counterculture (painted buses, buildings, faces, etc.)

Above: Campbell’s Soup I (1968) by Andy Warhol

LEGACY: A CHANGING CULTURE

ROCK MUSIC “Anthem of protest” Offshoot of African-

American rhythm and blues

The Beatles Woodstock Music and

Art Fair (1969) 400,000 people “3 Days of Peace & Music” Overrated?

Above: Woodstock Poster

THE BEATLES

CHANGING ATTITUDES “Sex, drugs, and rock n’

roll” all becoming more “casual”.

Dress, appearance, lifestyle, social behavior also becoming more casual.

Tolerance Media addressing taboo

subjects. Liberating or morally

bankrupt?

LEGACY: A CHANGING CULTURE

Above: After the Hippie movement, many Americans became “political”.

CONSERVATIVE RESPONSE

THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT: NOT FOR EVERYBODY Decadent Choosing self-

expression over being rational

Morally bankrupt People feared

America was headed towards Anarchy

Not harmonious, violent

Above: The nation was set on amore conservative course, propelling Nixon into the White House.