Essay on 1960's Counter Culture and its Saga

Hippies represent the ideological, naive nature that children possess. They feel that with a little love and conectedness, peace and equality will abound. It is with this assumption that so many activists and reformers, inspired by the transformation that hippies cultivated, have found the will to persist in revolutionizing social and political policy. Their alternative lifestyles and radical beleifs were the shocking blow that American culture-- segregation, McCarthyism, unjust wars, censorship--needed to prove that some Americans still had the common sense to care for one another. The young people of the sixties counterculture movement were successful at awakening awareness on many causes that are being fought in modern

Since the Constitution of the United States was written, Americans have practiced their right to freedom of speech as a way to express their point of view on issues facing the country. Over time, voicing one’s opinion went from outspoken newspaper articles to large rallies, and during the Vietnam War, music was a prevalent tool in aiding the protests. Allowing political messages to be shared nationally, the music had touched the lives of the younger generation. Author Jerome L. Rodnitzky explains in his journal, “The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973”, how music was “trying to be all things

As the world’s eyes are observing the United States and President Eisenhower desperate to regain control over the U.S., and Federal Troops were called in to protect African Americans, and Governor Fabus closed the schools in 1958 and 1959. Still, the Movement accentuated the idea of peaceful coexistence and the establishment of legal authority for members of all races. What maybe made the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s so significant is not essentially what battles were won but what training had been done as the decade drew to a close. (Jackson, 2006). If the 1950s were traditional politically, and filled with media images of the perfect family, despite the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1960s were anything but peaceful. The 1960s were especially unique in that so many children had been born in the years after WWII that now, in the 60s, they were becoming of age, thus '' the 60s are also known as the Age of Youth. Several general trends characterize the era: a vast counterculture and social revolution, typically youth rebelling like never before; increased attention to civil rights, feminism, the Vietnam War and the anti-war

In the 1960s, America was in a realm of turmoil and upheaval. During President Kennedy’s term, there was a rise of race riots, sexual and drug revolutions and many anti-war protests. Upon President Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson came into office with a plan to “correct” society. President Johnson constructed programs to help aid the poor and elderly with medical costs, food stamps, along with aid for education which all came to be known as part of the Great Society programs. Though he did join the United States in the Vietnam War and was unable to navigate out of it, his success in dealing with social, economic and political issues are overshadowed.

The rise of counterculture in the 1960s was caused in large part by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, military conscription, and the teenagers of affluent middle-class parents. The teenagers of those families wanted more than anything else to experience life to its fullest, before it was too late. The irony was that “ behaviors by counterculture youth were and are an easy target for criticism, especially on the part of those eager to belittle the decade’s significance ( Morgan; 170). There were two waves of the counterculture (hippie) movement; the first dealt with the shock of JFK’s assassination, government aid to Vietnam, the student sit-ins and the militant stance of the Black Panthers. All of which caused a weariness to hippie-dome

In 1963, when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot in the streets of Dallas, Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected into office. Grief-stricken Americans suffered greatly from Kennedy’s assassination, while Johnson used the shock of tragedy to his advantage. Johnson was extremely crafty, and little to almost none noticed how he used grief to his advantage. Johnson compelled Americans that Kennedy would have wanted the Great Society if he was still president, and people were captivated by his words, and swayed into action. Numerous things, both beneficial and detrimental came out of the Great Society. The Great Society was Johnson’s cure to America’s problems.

Upon Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the white house and was faced with many problems and conflicts throughout his presidency. While the citizens of the United States tried to recover from the loss of Kennedy, Johnson found it advantageous, experiencing varying levels of success and efficacy with his responses between the 1960s and 70s. Johnson influenced America by reporting that Kennedy would have wanted the Great Society, in order to persuade people towards supporting his project. This led them to believe him and therefore support the developing movement. The Great Society was Johnson’s primary method of fixing problems in the United States, including the political, emotional as well as the social problems. Johnson unfortunately entered his presidency facing difficulties such as the Vietnam War, which would later damage his reputation.

The early 1960s was a time of extreme social issues such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; everyone was looking for their own voice in this time of adversity. A young Bob Dylan arises to the spotlight and sings songs speaking of protest and originality, expressing societal dissatisfaction felt by not only himself but by his entire generation. In the 1960s Dylan wrote many protest songs that people of his generation found themselves connecting to, leading way to a counterculture aside from popular music which also paved a way for introspective song writing.

The 1960s was a decade full of cultural, political, and social change in the United States that saw activism in the areas of civil right and anti-war ideals. It is remembered in history as a time where many ideas about counterculture permanently changed. It was the decade where African-Americans were passionately fighting for equal recognition, where young Americans who didn’t want to conform to the ideals of their elders created their own culture, and where average Americans began standing up against what they believed was an immoral war. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the assassination of MLK, Jr., the Vietnam War, and the Kent State massacre are often discussed events from the 1960s and early 1970s. However, one area of American freedom and

Have you ever been dissatisfied with the society growing up? You are not alone. Many youngsters were dissatisfied with the society that they were growing up in. That discontent can turn into a resource and become a basis that fuels progress and innovation. That innovation and change might have been brought in later years, but profound experiences teenagers had during their adolescence shaped their worldviews and made them hungry for a change.

The 1960’s was one of the most controversial decades in American history because of not only the Vietnam War, but there was an outbreak of protests involving civil and social conditions all across college campuses. These protests have been taken to the extent where people either have died or have been seriously injured. However, during the 1960’s, America saw a popular form of art known as protest music, which responded to the social turmoil of that era, from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. A veritable pantheon of musicians, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan sang their songs to encourage union organizers to protest the inequities of their time, creating a diverse variety of popular

In the 1960’s there were two ways of escaping or fighting “The System”, the term used by those in the counterculture to refer to institutions of authority and usually in reference to some part of the government. The first being political activism, in which people would attempt to affect the government’s and society’s actions and attitudes through civic activities, these ranged from petitions to protests. The other however, was through popular music at the time, usually some form of Rock N’ Roll. The interesting thing is that despite these two forces ostensibly working towards the same or, at the very least, incredibly similar goals, often fought each other. The political activists declared that the only way for change to happen was to make

To some people the 1960s were the best of times, to others it was a

To understand the sixties counterculture, we must understand the important role of Bob Dylan. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly hailed as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to allow the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism, war, etc. effect the society in America. To combat this, the youth created their own form of counter-culture to promote a peaceful change within society. Some of their actions include forming anti-war protests that opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporting African Americans/women get the rights they deserve through the Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. Counterculture youth rejected cultural norms of the previous generation and their values and lifestyles opposed the mainstream culture present in the 1950’s. The folk music revival of the early 1960s, as well as the counter-culture movement played an important role in advocating change. Bob Dylan wrote songs that influenced the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, and Anti-War Movement.

Cultural movements serve as massive forces of change for not just the members of those movements, but entire nations. The counterculture movement of 1960s America was a drastic shift in ideals among the youth of the U.S. that paved the way for breakthroughs in American culture. These waves would ripple through the next decades with the young adults and their music as the main carriers of the counterculture message. However, the spark that ignited this giant flame began in the 50s with The Beats: a group of non-conformist poets based in New York. With their unconventional notions about life, sex, and substances, they inspired