Youth Culture of the 1960s

hi everyone

i'm mr irvin and today i'm going to talk

to you about the youth culture that

developed in the united states during

the 1960s

today's lecture we are going to look at

the growing political activism of young

americans

as well as the counterculture that

developed around them

so we should probably begin by defining

that term counterculture

a counterculture is a cultural movement

that defies the established norms of

society

there have been many examples of

countercultures throughout us history

think

like the lost generation in the 1920s

and the beatniks of the 1950s

however the counterculture of the 1960s

that developed around

america's youth at that time is by far

the most famous

sure so in order to understand woodstock

and the counterculture we need to

backtrack a little bit to the 1950s

so we can understand understand what

mainstream culture in america looked

like

at that time period so in the years

following world war ii

the united states had gone through a

period of significant economic growth

many americans coming back from the war

use the gi bill

to go to college and earn degrees that

would land them better jobs

other americans used the gi bill to buy

a home for the first time

as a result there was a massive

migration of americans to the suburbs

for many returning veterans of world war

ii it was cheaper to buy a suburban

house

as opposed to rent an apartment in the

city these suburban houses were ideal

for starting a family

and the move to the suburbs was

accompanied by a baby boom

which was a huge explosion in the birth

rates within the united states

between 1945 and 1950 50 million babies

were born

in the united states so

the culture that emerged in the suburbs

of america was one that was both

conservative

and also driven by consumerism in the

1950s televisions became affordable for

the average america

this ushered in the golden age of

television which was marked by tv shows

like the honeymooners

and i love lucy however it also proved

to be a golden age of advertising as

well

with companies being able to market

their products through tv commercials

the increase in advertising coupled with

the economic prosperity of many

americans led to a new consumer culture

within the united states across the

country many americans rushed to buy the

latest products

to fill their new suburban homes however

this new consumer culture

also encouraged conformity the houses

being built in levittowns

across the nation were all the same

americans were tuning into the same

three channels watching the same three

shows

and being indoctrinated into the same

middle class

idea of the american dream the 1950s

proved to create

stability yes but it also led to

restlessness

which was especially evident in

america's youth so the baby

boomer generation or the generation born

after world war

ii grew up believing that they could

change the world for the better

however the 1960s which was the decade

that that generation came of age

proved to be one of the most turbulent

times in american history

it was the era of the civil rights

movement the growth of feminism

and it was also a time of political

turmoil created by the controversial war

in vietnam

many young americans became

disillusioned by the continuing racism

sexism and support for warfare that

existed within american society

these young americans began to question

traditional american values

and the institutions institutions that

supported them

such as churches schools and parents

the youth of the 1960s increasingly

looked at authority figures

with suspicion and mistrust a popular

slogan for example the 1960s stated

trust no one over 30. so skepticism of

authority created a cultural divide

between younger americans

and the older generations many young

americans became part of the growing

counterculture movement of the 1960s

the counterculture rebelled against

mainstream society

by challenging traditional styles of

dress

music living conditions and views on sex

and drugs which had long been

established in the 1950s and even before

that

so these hippies or flower children as

they were sometimes called

rejected their parents clean cut look

and instead don

long hair beards beads and jeans

outraged by the vietnam war many

middle-class children participate in

organized protests on college campuses

others turned to mind-bending drugs

which

like included lsd the soundtrack of the

counterculture

was rock and roll and included bands

such as the beatles rolling stones and

janice jocklin

folk music with its prost ruth its

protest lyrics

was also popular and the music of joan

baez and bob dylan

gave voice to the counter culture

movement even views on sexual expression

were changing

the counterculture coincided with the

sexual revolution in america

which changed attitudes about

pre-marital sex it helped usher

in the beginnings of the gay rights

movement in 1960 the introduction of the

birth control pill

reduced the number of unwanted

pregnancies and made casual sex more

socially acceptable

within the united states meanwhile new

gay rights organizations were being

created to demand greater sexual

tolerance

the medicine society had been created in

1951 and used non-confrontational

methods

to try to educate the public on gay

issues throughout the 1950s

and the 1960s additionally one of the

most significant events in the gay

rights movement occurred

at the stonewall inn in new york an

attack on gay men

by off-duty police officers led to the

stonewall rebellion in 1969

which was an uprising in support of

equal rights for gay people

the rebellion proved to be a turning

point in the gay rights movement

and led to a rise in activism within the

gay community

which included the creation of

organizations like the gay liberation

front

so most historians agree that while the

sexual revolution

probably did not radically change the

sexual behaviors of americans

it was significant because it made

americans more likely to openly discuss

issues of premarital sex contraception

abortion and homosexuality

and it paved the way for new civil

rights movements

within the united states another major

characteristic of the youth culture of

the 1960s was increased political

activism

concerned over the nuclear arms race and

alarm by continued racial prejudice at

home

many middle class children participated

in organized protests on college

campuses across the nation

the political activism of the

counterculture originated in 1960 with

the students for a democratic society

or sds organization which was formed by

two

university of michigan students tom

hayden and al

haber two years later hayden organized a

meeting in port huron to lay out the

goals of the organization the result was

the port huron statement which became

the manifesto

for sds and called for political reforms

racial equality and greater rights for

american workers

the port huron statement marked the

emergence of a larger

liberal political movement known as the

new left

so the new left is the term that we use

to describe the political activism

of members of the counterculture and it

does not represent a single agenda but

rather a collection of liberal movements

including the civil rights movement the

anti-war movement

feminism and gay rights that were

growing in power and influence in the

1960s

the new left became popular within the

youth culture of the 1960s because it

appealed to their idealism

the baby boomer generation was jolted

out of their

political complacency by civil rights

demonstrations

such as the greensboro citizens in 1960

as well

as president john f kennedy's calls to

serve in the peace corps

so one of the first major protests of

the new left

was the sit-in demonstrations which

occurred at uc berkeley

in the fall of 1964. student activists

returned to campus that fall after

having spent the previous summer

working with the student non-violent

coordinating committee or snick

in mississippi to register

african-americans to vote

as part of the freedom summer campaign

their participation

in freedom summer inspired them to push

for changes on their college campus

but they quickly faced resistance from

school officials

who did not want any political

demonstrations on the university's

grounds

concerned that their voices were being

silenced by the school students at uc

berkeley created the free speech

movement

in order to fight for their first

amendment rights

led by mario savio the free speech

movement staged a sit-in

at the administration building on the uc

berkeley campus

and over a thousand students occupied

the building peacefully

eventually the police were called in to

end the sit-in protest

and over 800 students ended up being

arrested despite the arrests the

university eventually gave

in to the students demands and allowed

political activities on campus

so the success of the uc berkeley

citizens was influential on young

political activists

the ideas and strategies of both the

students for a democratic society

and the free speech movement spread to

other college campuses in the 1960s

and student protests were used to make

changes regarding mandatory rotc

programs

dress codes curfews and dorm policies

now as the war in vietnam escalated the

new left became

closely associated with the anti-war

movement

the vietnam war was being fought

primarily by young people

and while college students were given a

deferment that allowed them to postpone

their military service until after they

graduated

the threat of being drafted to fight in

an increasingly unpopular war

was always looming over the heads of

many young americans opposition to the

vietnam war

generated widespread protests both

on and off of college campuses and

numerous rallies took place throughout

the 1960s

where young men burn their draft cards

in defiance of the us government

as the 1960s progressed groups like the

sds became increasingly more militant

in the early years of the new left tom

hayden and other leaders had advocated

for civil disobedience and non-violence

however the war in vietnam pushed young

activists to become more radical and

confrontational

in their attempts to challenge authority

figures

perhaps the climax of the

confrontational politics of the new left

was at the democratic national

convention in chicago

in august of 1968 as the democratic

party prepared to nominate its candidate

for the presidency

thousands of anti-war demonstrators

flooded into the streets of chicago

to protest the vietnam war and the

political status quo

the protesters were made up of a number

of different activist groups

most notably the youth international

party or yipi's for short

which was led by jerry rubin and abby

hoffman

the protesters occupied chicago's

lincoln park without a permit

and mayor richard daly responded to the

growing anti-war presence by beefing up

security for the convention

arranging for barbed wire barricades and

calling in thousands of thousands of

police officers and national guard

members

to serve as security hostility grew

between the police and anti-war

protesters as a number of protesters

shouted obscenities

and whole rocks at police officers then

on

august 25th mayor daley ordered the

police to enforce an 11 pm

curfew and break up the protest at

lincoln park in what was

later described as a police riot

thousands of police officers wearing

riot gear

helmets and gas masks attacked

protesters with tear gas and clubs

the chaos of the moment was broadcast

across television networks

throughout the united states and deeply

disturbed many americans

the 1968 democratic national convention

worried many middle class americans

who now believe that america was coming

apart at the seams

it also fragmented the new left and the

anti-war

movement as well some young activists

were appalled by the violence in chicago

and became even more committed to

non-violent tactics

in the pursuit of their agenda however

other members of the new left began to

pursue more extreme tactics

such as the use of violence to end the

war in vietnam

now the turmoil in 1968 caused many

young people to feel disaffected and

abandoned politics

altogether it is important to be able to

separate some of the political activism

of the era

with the counterculture while many

people who were part of the

counterculture were politically active

not all hippies were part of the new

left and vice versa

for those who were part of just the

counter culture the high point of this

cultural revolution was woodstock in

1969

which was billed as three days of peace

and music

woodstock was a free music concert that

took place on a 600 acre farm near

bethel new york

400 000 people converge on the farm

creating a 50-mile traffic jam

and greatly exceeding the expectation of

the festival's promoters

the people who made it to woodstock were

treated to three days of

non-stop music that included creedence

clearwater revival

the who the grateful dead santana

and jimmy hendrix just to name a few for

many people woodstock was much more than

a rock concert

the 1960s had created an enormous amount

of division within american society

especially between the older and younger

generations

many older americans had come to look at

america's youth with not only mistrust

but also disdain for conservative

americans the counterculture represented

the end of modern civilization as they

knew it

mainstream americans were becoming

increasingly alarmed by extremists

within the counter culture

who are willing to use violence to

protest against vietnam or

other issues and many americans were

turned off by the support of socialism

by some of its members

yet for the supporters of the

counterculture woodstock represented the

best qualities of the movement

for three days half a million people had

gathered on a farm to listen to music

the event had been peaceful and

demonstrated unity among the baby boomer

generation

would come together in opposition to war

racism

and poverty unfortunately the spirit of

peace that inhabited the woodstock

festival was short-lived

after 1969 the movement and the

counterculture began to wane

as some of the movement's ideas became

counterproductive for example the sexual

revolution of the 1960s with its

emphasis on free love

would give rise to new health concerns

in the decades that followed over the

risk of sexually transmitted diseases

and the aids epidemic which swept

through the united states in the 1980s

more significantly however was the fact

that by 1971

the new left was no longer considered a

legitimate political movement

the new left had been destroyed by its

growing radicalism and the abandonment

of some of its original pacifist

principles

many americans found the emergence of

violent groups such as the weather

underground especially

alarming the move towards extremism by

some members killed much of the early

idealism of the counterculture

and the new left what's more a great

deal of campus activism disappeared

altogether

as the united states began to gradually

withdraw from vietnam

in the early 1970s so as the hippies and

flower children of the counterculture

grew older and had children of their own

many of their causes were left

unfinished in the 1970s the

counterculture generation became

more concerned about finding jobs of

their own and settling down

however the cultural and political

revolution that they created still

shapes our values as americans today

their fashion music emphasis on

individuality and social consciousness

are still very important parts of our

current society and the counterculture

gave birth to

entirely new movements such as the

modern feminist movement

and the lbgtq movement even the

environmental movement

which would gain momentum in the 1970s

can be attributed to the youth culture

of the 1960s so