A Brief history of Hippies
April 4, 2013
In the mid 1960s, a never before seen counter-culture blossomed
throughout the United States, inciting both the Flower Power movement as
well as the general revulsion of more straight-laced, Ward
Cleaver-esque Americans. No longer wanting to keep up with the Joneses
or confine themselves to white picket-fenced corrals of repressive and
Puritanical sexual norms, these fresh-faced masses would soon come to be
known as Hippies.
Originally taken from ‘Hipster’, the term “hippie” was used to describe beatniks who found their technicolor heart in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco; children of the road who believed they should make love, not war. Their vocal opposition to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and the increasingly rocky road to shared civil rights among all Americans led to this new, alternative form of activism.
Donning psychedelic floral clothing and growing beards that rivaled Rasputin’s in length all became part of the evolving counter-culture. With this also came a new epoch of fashion, film and literature; one which would grow out of the San Francisco valley and spill into the daily lives of the masses at home and abroad within the span of a couple of years.
But the Hippie movement wasn’t just about experimentation and trouser flares. As mentioned previously, the concept of Flower Power also emerged as a passive resistance to the Vietnam War during the late 1960s. The beat poet Allen Ginsberg coined the expression in 1965 as a way for people to turn war into peace.
Originally taken from ‘Hipster’, the term “hippie” was used to describe beatniks who found their technicolor heart in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco; children of the road who believed they should make love, not war. Their vocal opposition to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and the increasingly rocky road to shared civil rights among all Americans led to this new, alternative form of activism.
Donning psychedelic floral clothing and growing beards that rivaled Rasputin’s in length all became part of the evolving counter-culture. With this also came a new epoch of fashion, film and literature; one which would grow out of the San Francisco valley and spill into the daily lives of the masses at home and abroad within the span of a couple of years.
But the Hippie movement wasn’t just about experimentation and trouser flares. As mentioned previously, the concept of Flower Power also emerged as a passive resistance to the Vietnam War during the late 1960s. The beat poet Allen Ginsberg coined the expression in 1965 as a way for people to turn war into peace.
To give physical meaning to one poet’s vision, hippies cloaked
themselves in floral fabrics and would dole flowers out to both the
public and soldiers alike. Through this, they became known as flower
children, singing and smiling activists who used props to turn anti-war
rallies into guerrilla street theatre across the States. The most famous
demonstrations were carried out by the Bread and Puppet Theatre
Company, whose members crafted elaborate costumes for the rallies.
Perhaps one of the most poignant moments of the movement was on October 21st, 1967. 100,000 hippies, liberals and others marched peacefully on the Pentagon in an attempt to levitate it. They were met with a human barricade of 2,500 soldiers surrounding the Pentagon. And soon enough, violence erupted when the more radical protestors clashed with US Marshals. The protest lasted for almost three days before order was restored.
To further promote their pacifist cause, some placed flowers in the barrels of the soldiers’ guns while others made daisy chains. Clearly, the recent words of activist Abbie Hoffman remained in their consciousness. In a May Workshop in Nonviolence magazine, she wrote: “The cry of ‘Flower Power’ echoes through the land. We shall not wilt. Let a thousand flowers bloom.”
But by the mid-1970s, the hippie movement began to slow. After all, the US was out of Vietnam, civil rights had at least formally been acquired, and, well, the yuppies had arrived. Young urban professionals who wanted to make a career for themselves began to occupy more national attention and thus the social libertarianism of the hippies took on a more symbolic role.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/a-brief-history-of-hippies
Perhaps one of the most poignant moments of the movement was on October 21st, 1967. 100,000 hippies, liberals and others marched peacefully on the Pentagon in an attempt to levitate it. They were met with a human barricade of 2,500 soldiers surrounding the Pentagon. And soon enough, violence erupted when the more radical protestors clashed with US Marshals. The protest lasted for almost three days before order was restored.
To further promote their pacifist cause, some placed flowers in the barrels of the soldiers’ guns while others made daisy chains. Clearly, the recent words of activist Abbie Hoffman remained in their consciousness. In a May Workshop in Nonviolence magazine, she wrote: “The cry of ‘Flower Power’ echoes through the land. We shall not wilt. Let a thousand flowers bloom.”
But by the mid-1970s, the hippie movement began to slow. After all, the US was out of Vietnam, civil rights had at least formally been acquired, and, well, the yuppies had arrived. Young urban professionals who wanted to make a career for themselves began to occupy more national attention and thus the social libertarianism of the hippies took on a more symbolic role.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/a-brief-history-of-hippies
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