You will be asked to examine and post responses to a question regarding this unit (chapters 38-39). Then you need to REPLY to two different posts from within you assigned question. In total you will be creating THREE posts. In each case you need to follow the usual rules of posting (do not repeat information, build off of one another’s posts) and be sure to include a link or video that reinforces your evidence.
Consider the domestic political and social turmoil of the sixties, brought on by the social and cultural upheavals as well as Vietnam. Point out the deep polarization of American society, as evidenced by the turbulent events of 1968.
Contrary to the conservative 50’s, the 60’s was an era dominated by the youth. The 60’s was the age of the youth, as the youth practiced a “counterculture” against the 50’s. Society in America began to change dramatically in its beliefs, it had revolutionary ways of thinking and caused a real change in American life, the norm was now changed in the sixties. The youth in America began to experiment with sex, drugs, and defiance. And a hippie culture was born in the 60’s, a sort of relaxed unconventional way of life that involved drugs and music as well as a belief in peace as the Vietnam War was going on. This hippie culture and the youth began to largely deal with drugs, as “psychedelic drugs” began to emerge in America. LSD became a highly used drug along with marijuana and other drugs. These drugs in a sense had advocates for them like Harvard Professor Timothy Leary and artists like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones. Who were also bringing large publicity to drugs to the youth as well. The U.S. government also began to us LSD and other drugs as truth serums, and in 1965 the U.S. government found LSD to be illegal and asked its manufacturer to stop the production. Drugs greatly changed America’s society as uses of LSD, Peyote, Mushrooms, MDA, and Marijuana created a subculture in America that influenced art, philosophy, music, and fashion. With the experimentation of new things in America, society did suffer as American values, ideas, and beliefs were weakened.
ReplyDeleteLSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a Psychedelic drug which grew in popularity during the Sixties. Like Alex mentioned it became illegal in 65 but still had its advocates. The most famous of which is Timothy Francis Leary a Harvard psychologist who operated under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh Chapel Experiment. Leary believed that LSD showed great therapeutic potential in psychiatry. He wrote and spoke frequently about the Transhumanist concepts related to space migration, intelligence increase, and life extension (SMIILE) that is a direct result of LSD.
DeleteLeary argues that LSD used at controlled dosages in a stable environment could alter the behavior in beneficial ways that could not be achieved in conventional therapy. According to Leary’s biography, LSD was given to 300 professors, grad students, writers and philosophers. 75% of these people said that the experience was one of the most educational and revealing experiences of their lives. Aside from this Leary’s research focused on treating Alcoholism and reforming criminals. The Concord Prison Experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of LSD combined with psychotherapy on rehabilitation of released prisoners. After being guided through the psychedelic experience ('trips') by Leary, 36 prisoners allegedly repented and swore to give up future criminal activity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icM4t9A7Q-A
The birth of the hippie culture in the 1960's which Alex mentioned played a major during the decade. The summer of 1967, or the Summer of Love, brought the movement to light. These young people known as hippies gathered in major cities all across the nation. San Francisco, which had the greatest turnout with somewhere around 100,000 gathering in the Haight-Ashbury area of the city, quickly became the center of the movement. The summer was filled with music, drugs, and politics. This signified a major cultural shift in the United States as the hippie movement gained recognition and their lifestyle including ideas about communal living and free love spread.
Deletehttp://www.summeroflove.org/gallery.html
Alex mentions music in his post and i want to expand on that. During the 60's, the Beatles were a very popular music group. People all around the world were being influenced by these British boys. Young boys were getting hair cuts to look like this band and listening to their music all the time. These haircuts were also bringing around discrimination towards homosexuality. Some people automatically thought that if someone had long hair, they were gay. This showed how people discriminated and hated the new youth of America.
DeleteThe Beatles, as Sara mentioned, became one of the biggest bands in America and quickly rose to fame. The Beatles were to the 60’s to what Elvis Presley was to the 50’s. They had millions of girls screaming for them and they rose to be one of the greatest bands of all time. They stood for what the youth was and came to grow tremendously as Beatlemania struck the United States. They’re coming to the United States was a part of the British Invasion, a cultural time where rock and roll and pop artist from England came to great fame in America. In one of their songs, which was in Sara’s video, they proclaimed “We do what we want, we say what we want, and we wear what we want” as well as saying “it’s time for the whole world to know that we won’t conform to the rules”. And describes exactly what the youth did in the 60’s, they did as they pleased. Bands like The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Troggs, and Donovan and many others followed in the British invasion. And like in any other generation music was very important to the youth. The Beatles music greatly shaped America’s culture as they influenced rebellion, drugs and later on peace.
DeleteThe new Hippie culture embodied the 1960’s. In the 1950’s kids were taught to not do drugs, sex, and obey all the rules that were given to them. Not only did the Hippies not obey these teachings but they gave a new meaning to “Fighting the Man”. They questioned the federal government at places such as Woodstock. The Hippies believed in less government. They thought that the less the government tried to enforce laws on the people the better they would be off. The more the government got involved then the more the Hippie movement would advance. In instances at Kent State and Jackson State where Hippies died it only caused unrest amongst everyone else and the movement only attracted more people.
DeleteAs Alex has already mentioned, the berserk sixties were an absolute contrast to the conformist and conservative fifties. The youth of this decade began to voice their opinions and decided that authority was not always right. Beginning the rebellious protests of students was the “free speech” movement in 1964. This Californian protest sparked a “domino effect” in other campuses. Meaning that other students from colleges all over the nation began to protest about current issues, ranging from the Vietnam War, to women's rights, and racism. The students that were active in organizing protests and disruptive activities were known to pertain to the SDS, Students for a Democratic Society. When the police became involved in these rebellious protests, the number of students grew and they became even more incorrigible. These students began to destroy everything that was in their path such as college campuses, buildings, and offices. The rebellion of the youth was so bad that many university campuses found themselves in a position where they HAD to shut down. Even though the approach these students took in protesting the current issues was undeniably destructive, their opinions on the current issues of the corrupt United States would have great importance. As mentioned earlier, the police attempted to handle the disruptive and destructive protesting. Their efforts in doing so was not enough and sometimes national guard troops found themselves involved in trying to control these students. The reaction of authority to the protesting varied, some officials even handled the riots with violence resulting in injuries and sometimes death.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, the students wanted to amend the nation's society. They believed they were a voice for those who were oppressed. For Caucasian students the biggest issue was the Vietnam War since college students were deferred from the draft and they were told to research weapons. For Black students, the civil rights movement was where their interest was geared towards. Turmoil throughout the sixties continued as students continued to protest over the increasing number of drafted troops and the violence in the civil rights movement. The phone numbers of police and fire stations were being dialed more than ever because of student protestors and the destruction they caused. Students viewed the police and firemen negatively and believed they were the enemy. This was especially due to the fact that the police reacted aggressively towards protestors. In 1968, the turmoil had reached its peak. In Chicago, innocent people lost their lives during a national convention in what is know as the “police riot”. MLK Jr. was assassinated that year along with Robert Kennedy which reiterated the corruption in America. Additionally, the sixties left an impact on college life for students which still is in effect today. Students are more restricted and students are expected to conduct themselves due to the past events of the sixties. The sixties brought lasting changes to American society and American History. The sixties will always be known as a decade of youth rebellion and social and political turmoil.
As Brenda mentioned in her post, the youth in the 60’s established various protests. The youth felt that they spoke for those who were suppressed and wanted peace and justice. The youth used their voice powerfully now and influenced many protests to occur. The protests were made for civil rights, freedom, jobs, and most importantly peace. Protests for peace in Vietnam were immensely large as, parents, kids, men, women all gathered for peace. And it could be said that for such reason later on America bakes out of Vietnam, because of its protests. Johnson could no longer send more troops since he saw that America did no longer want war but its young men back home. Defiance was major in the society as Americans began to fight the military police as more protests grew. America wanted peace and that was the one of the most important things in America in the 60’s. Society joined for peace in Vietnam, men, women, children, adults, black, white, it did not matter, peace and freedom was the only thing that did.
DeleteThis video shows the protest in the 60's and the 70's.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8RGuyEhuc
And these two photos show what America wanted in the protest for Vietnam. Peace.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_tdBBMki3yo/Tl-g4ZJEnfI/AAAAAAAACXM/2gCO8xJvfIk/s1600/Flower+in+gun+barrel+1-22-11.JPG
http://mediastore.magnumphotos.com/CoreXDoc/MAG/Media/TR6/6/4/1/9/PAR37859.jpg
Both Brenda and Alex talked about the anti-war movement by students. The involvement of students makes sense when you consider the fact the one of the only ways to legally get out of being drafted into military service was to attend college. When the draft started college attendance went up so clearly many of the students at the time would be anti-war. Also, it was young men who being made to fight in this war, whether or not they wanted to.
DeleteIn May of 1964 a small group of young men publicly burned their draft cards to show their opposition to the war in Vietnam. As the war dragged on thousands of young men practiced this form of protest, 46 of them were indicted for the practice. In 1965 the first teach-in was organized at the University of Michigan. A teach-in is basically a seminar centered around a political issue with no regard to any specific time frame. These as well as rallies became popular at universities across the country.
http://turningpoints.wikispaces.com/file/view/protest.jpg/30664255/protest.jpg
http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/Draft_burning_285.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Draft_card_burning_NYC_1967.jpg/300px-Draft_card_burning_NYC_1967.jpg
These popular rallies at collages that Erin mentions also turn out violent in some cases. The Kent State shooting being the most famous out of all of them, students protested the involvement of the United States in Vietnam. Kent state made the public outrage on the mistreatment and the murder of the four collage students that were shot during the peace protest. This goes along with the radical new ideas of the young won’t follow the old way. This is also similar to the 1920’s where the youth didn’t stick with the old ways and with heavy drinking a free life style its very similar to the 60’s and early 70’s. The new social turmoil of rebellion has been seen throughout the history of America, so it’s not unbelievable that it would happen again.
Deletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Kent_State_massacre.jpg
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/images/967.jpg
These pictures so the death of one of the protestor of Kent state and the other shows all the youth that were protesting more American involvement in Vietnam. It shows how the youth no longer wanted to be in Vietnam, they just wanted their soldiers sent home.
The “counter-culture” that defined the sixties was not only found in the actions of rebellious teenagers. It can also be seen in literature and films from that period. One of the best examples of this is Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road. It is based on the spontaneous road trips across the heartland of America taken by the author and his friends. This work is often considered to be a defining work of the post war Beat Generation. This is a group of writer who found success after world war two during the fifties and sixties. They are known for the cultural phenomena that was the documentation of their drug experiences and alternate forms of sexuality. On the road expresses a rejection of materialism, and the idealizing of exuberant, unexpurgated means of expression and being, a foundation for thought within the youth of the sixties.
ReplyDeleteIn this post, the use of drugs are mentioned. During the 60's, young people began to experiment with many different things like showing and expressing their emotions, talking about and having sex, and of course, the use of drugs. This behavior would not have been acceptable AT ALL during the 1950's. Some popular drugs during the 60's were LSD and Marijuana. These young people were called called themselves "Hippies". They used drugs in public places to make it clear that they felt that they had the power to do what they wanted, whenever and where ever they wanted. This caused major problems and eventually led to factories being shut down for making LSD. Woodstock is also a great example of this type of movement.
DeleteTo add on to what King Neptune wrote, American literature reflected the political and social turmoil of the sixties. Common themes in American Literature during this time were racism, women, sex, and protests. For example, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird concentrates on the demonstrating the dismcrimination of races and how it influences society.
DeleteAlso, new art forms emerged and began to show a desire for a modern age. Artists were more inspired than ever by what was going on around them and they drifted away from detail. They wanted everyone who viewed their art and to interpret it in the way the viewer wanted. New forms of art were created such as assemblage art, op art, and environmental art. Some of the popular artists of the time were Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, and Marcel Duchamp.
Below is a link of some art pieces of this time.
http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/art/15819/1950s%E2%80%931960s-kinetic-abstraction
To follow up on the idea of “Counter Cultural” film played a major role in this idea during the ‘60s. Movies like Rebel without a Cause starring James Dean were popular movies made during this time period that caused much controversy in the media. Common ideas pushed into the heads of children and teenagers during the fifties were ideas of obedience and religious acceptance along with ideas that alcohol and sex were mortal sins to doom life in the eyes of God. However new films of this time portrayed anti-traditional characters as the heroes of these films. A big example of this is Rebel without a Cause, the main character is a teenage boy who moves to a new town and stirs up a lot of controversy. The teenager, played by James Dean is disobedient towards his parents, disrupts order of the town and falls for a girl he just met. This became a very popular film of the time and many films with similar themes and topics were produced at this time. This shifted balances and the ideals taught in the fifties became the exact thing kids rebelled against in the sixties. The “cool” thing of the 60’s was to rebel against authorities. This brought about the stereotypical “greaser” made famous by movies such as Grease and the novel The Outsiders. The new popular films of the 60’s made rebellion look cool and fun and is a major reason for social change among the youth of this period.
DeleteFollowing World War II American society developed stereotypical ideals for women. Women were expected to simply be homemakers, to be a good wife, a good mother, and keep a nice meal on the table. The 1960’s brought on the second wave of feminism which challenged these ideals. The movement drew inspiration from the civil rights movement which was taking place at the same time. It also went hand in hand with the counterculture movement.
ReplyDeleteThe start of the second wave is usually attributed to the publication of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. The book questioned the roles that women had been pushed into and inspired them to find a new identity in society. Friedan continued to play a major role in the women’s movement. In 1966 Friedan and 27 other women established the National Organization for Women, or NOW. “The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.” Through organizations like NOW women began to protest in large numbers. A famous example is the New York Radical Women’s protest against the Miss America pageant in 1968. The protesters attacked the standards of beauty such pageants created for women as well as the apparent racism and their cries of “No More Miss America!” brought national attention to their cause. Women’s rights activists also used a legal approach. They took many of their arguments to court and through this successfully removed several laws which were unfair to women.
Women’s equality was a major goal. They wanted to be treated the same way as men, to have the same opportunities. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act took them closer to this goal as it specifies that employers cannot discriminate against workers on the basis of sex as well as race, religion, or national origin. Reproductive freedom also became a big part of the movement with women fighting for birth control and the legalization of abortion. In 1965 the Supreme Court did away with a law that prohibited birth control in the case Griswold v. Connecticut. They felt that it invaded one’s rights to marital privacy and the case gave feminists the feeling that they were beginning to have control over their own personal lives. This case and others like it also paved the way toward Roe v. Wade in the 1970s.
By the end of the 1960’s the feminist movement was not yet finished but it had already left a lasting mark on America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9TlSiMSdPk
DeleteOk, so I think that this strike actually took place in 1970 but the point is still the same. Basically, the video shows us what women across the nation were fighting for as well as the varying opinions on the movement.
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DeleteAs Erin had mentioned, Betty Friedman encouraged women to look beyond the role of being a homemaker. Even though women were always in their own way oppressed, there had been attempts in American History to give women equality. What is interesting about the sixties is that the Women's Righs Movement had created a spark in the youth and also in the sexual revoulution. Since women were rebellious towards the sterotypical, male-dominated society they attracted new members, the young middle-class. The women in the NOW were responsible of making aware to other women the reality of their opportunities. The number of members who kept joining was incredible. At first there was 1000 women who were protestors. Four years later the number of women protesting was roughly 15000.
DeleteAdditionally, women were discrimminated in the workplace. They earned 63% of a man's wage for doing the same work. Simply because they were women they were not given equality in the workplace. Due to the later success of their protesting efforts, state and federal laws were passed that outlawed discrimination in the workplace and education. Women were enthusiastic to know they now had many more opportunities than before.
Below is a link to a picture of a protest during the Women's Rights Movement.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=women+rights+movement+in+1960s+america&um=1&hl=en&safe=vss&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=sVdDue_ZimSWUM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ourvoiceourcountry.org/research/womens-liberation-movement.aspx&docid=E7ay8dZstUPDaM&imgurl=http://www.ourvoiceourcountry.org/img/timeline/Womens-Liberation-Movement-L.jpg&w=217&h=174&ei=82ZsT9LbGuPY0QGbpPT2Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1050&vpy=349&dur=93&hovh=139&hovw=173&tx=109&ty=98&sig=112633982021476462952&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=173&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0&biw=1280&bih=842
The picture that Brenda posted is a great example of the women's rights movement in the United States. this picture captures just how many women went out and represented how they believed they should treated. in the picture you can see the "GWU Women's Liberation" banner. this banner represented the George Washington University group for the liberation of women. they had a great influence on the world of women's rights that you can see from this picture. this university in general was extremely patriarchal at this time and this group spoke out against that. this also ties in with the Civil Rights Movement because GWU was also a leader in that as well.
DeleteThe Counter Culture of the 1960’s was a huge event that not only happened in the US, but all over the world as well. In the US, tensions occurred over many different things such as the Vietnam War, relations, sexuality, women’s rights, authority, and drugs. As anyone could imagine, this stirred up many different problems. One thing that really caught the people’s attention was how young Americans were acting. During the 50’s, sex was not even part of the equation, but in the 60’s, this all changed. College kids were experimenting a lot with sex and sexuality. This is also around the time where birth control became something that young people wanted. They also began taking drugs like LSD and Marijuana. Some schools had closed down because of this uncontrollable behavior. The youth in America also began to question the authority in their lives like parents and police of course. They felt that they should have the rights to do as they pleased. Women were righting for their rights during this time as well. Women felt as if they weren’t being treated fairly and that they deserved more than what they were getting. All of these factors created the Counter Culture of the 1960’s.
ReplyDeletethis video talks a little about the 60's and shows a little of what was going on during this time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxKdx9cMOho
DeleteCounter culture goes against what the kids of the 50’s were taught to believe. Hide their emotions, don’t think about sex. All of the buildup that was acquired in the 50’s unleashed into the 60’s. As Sara said the youth started experimenting with sex, music now was talking about sex. Later such events as Woodstock one huge concert that made all the hippies come together. The Rolling stones said “Woodstock was one of the events that changed rock and roll.” The change of the people went from a conservative communist scared youth to the rebellions to lead change. You can see the youth wanted change by electing John F. Kennedy to president have attracted the youth.
Deletehttp://www.aaanything.net/wp-content/gallery/legendary-woodstock-lineup/woodstock_aerial_shot.jpg
Picture of Woodstock , all the people attending showing how the youth came together.
As Sara and Thomas both mentioned, the Counter Culture was a time period beginning in the early 60's, which greatly changed aspects towards the teen society and their morals. Unlike the 50's or any generations prior, young adults were now being recognized as teenagers; generalized into their own group. With that said, the Counter Culture was mainly made up of the middle-class since economic prosperity gave the middle class teens much leisure time. With tensions like the Vietnam War and the Cold War affecting the view teens had, they believed it was time to live life to the fullest before anything like a Nuclear Holocaust or disaster striking again. Hippies, which Thomas mentioned, were a huge part of the Counter Culture as they rejected mainstream culture and became activists for social issues like Women's rights, Civil rights, and Gay rights. Never before had our country seen such behavior with drugs, sex and rejection of the "norms." As it has been mentioned before, music played a huge part in exemplifying this generation. Some of the most famous artists who we still listen to today would be The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Cream, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd and Joni Mitchell. These were only a handful of the many musicians who were promoting this new life to live. The generation of teens would never be thought of the same as we continued to change and live life to our own expectations.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV3qLXhmSLQ
DeletePeter Coyote talks about the successes of the Counterculture.
As everyone has mention above there was major social upheaval during the 60's that changed the way people thought women and civil rights movements, the new defiance of the youth, who better to appeal to the youth then the Kennedys. John F. Kennedy being the youngest elected president to sit in office and his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy who was appointed Attorney General. The new younger adminstration appeal to the rebelling youth and if had time might have made a new outlook on the 60's more than a rebellious time period. The politics of the time was no better than the social aspect. Turmoil arose from the assination of John F. Kennedy on November 22,1963. Kennedy radical and reasonable ideas of change. Robert F. Kennedy was more radical then his brother and a big believer in civil rights often felt that there should be no segregation in America including the white house. Robert F. Kennedy demand reform of the white house to include african american workers. Robert F. Kennedy left the cabinet when his brother died and became senator of New York. Running president five years later he base his poitical platform on non aggressive forgien policy and racial and economic justice for his social policiesy. Being a civil rights leader he met Dr. Martin luther King Jr. several times went to meet Dr. King several times to discuss his struggle for equality.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW9gwhJ6YJQ&feature=related This link shows how we all need to be equal and treat other with the respect that all human deserve. Kennedy was a active member in politics. Being a counselor to his brother during such events as the cuban missile crisis, The six day war being a 6 day war between Israele and Egypt , Jordan and syria. In the six day war Kennedy didn't give much support to the iraelites and this lead to his assination one year later. One year later after winning the California primary , he gave his winning speech and was assinated by Sirhan Sirhan. Overal the influence of the Kennedy brothers prevent world destruction. Socially Robert did more than John in terms of civil rights and John did more politcally.
ReplyDeleteJohn F Kennedy was a great president he did a lot for our country. But on Friday November 22, 1963 he was shoot and killed. When he was killed it was a very dark time for our country. He was shoot and killed at 12 30 in Dallas Texas. The country was shocked, there was mass confusion many people thought it was the soviets or another communist country. A lot got cleared up when they found the suspected killer Lee Harvey Oswald. To this day no one knows if Oswald was a lone gun man or if he acted alone. So many questions had to be answered so it looked they would all be answered in the days after but they couldn’t. While Oswald was being moved under custody he was shot by Jake Rudy. Rudy was a night club owner. He was just a citizen who was devastated by the president’s death. He took the law into his own hands and killed Oswald. This left so many questions no one knew who and why this man was who just killed the most famous man in America. The craziest part about this was it was all caught on camera and was on TV and in people’s living rooms immediately. This was the first time ever people got to see a murder on TV. First seeing the president get shot and now his killer being shot all on TV, people where no use to seeing this. These events shock the social mind set of our country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55PYQbu2iXs
DeleteThis video shows that perfectly. The people of the country are devastated. It is a scary thing to think the president being killed and it must have even been scary then. No one has ever seen anyone killed before and now the most famous person in the world was killed and everyone saw it.
http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/nhhs/project/rfk.htm
DeleteDuring the 1960’s, Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy, helped with the Civil Rights Movement. Robert Kennedy’s involvement started after the assignation of his brother, when he became a senator from New York in 1964. He wanted to keep order of the FBI and wanted to get information on African Americans voting. He created a bill that stated that African Americans were allowed to take stand in court which went against the Fugitive Slave Act. This bill was passed on October 29th, 1964. Robert F. Kennedy had a good reputation with whites who lived in the south thanks to the Rackets Committee and he hoped that the reputation could extent to black voters. He fought for Civil Rights until he was assassinated on June 5th, 1968.
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