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The Sixties
Many social changes that were addresses in the
1960s are still the issues being confronted today.
The ‘60s was a decade of social and political
upheaval. Inspite of all the turmoil, there were
some positive results: the civil rights revolution,
John F. Kennedy’s bold vision of a new frontier,
and the breathtaking advances in space, helped
bring about progress and prosperity. However, there
was alot of negative effects: student and anti-war
protest movements, political assassinations, and
ghetto riots excited American people and resulted
in lack of respect for authority and the law.
The decade began under the shadow of the cold
war with the Soviet Union, which was aggravated by
the U-2 incident, the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban
missile crisis. along with the space race with the
USSR. The decade ended under the shadow of the
Vietnam war, which deeply divided Americans and
their allies and damaged the country’s
self-confidence and sense of purpose. Even if you
weren’t alive in the ‘60s, you know what they meant
when they said, “tune in, turn on, drop out.” you
know why the nation celebrates Martin Luther King
Jr.’ birthday. All of the social issues are
reflected in today’s society: the civil rights
movement, the student movement, the sexual
revolution, the environment, and more controversial
of all, Hippies.
The sixties is also known for its rapid birth
rate. Nearly 76 million children were born to this
generation, and for that they are called the “Baby
Boomers.” Suprisingly, even though so many children
were being born, not many parents knew how to raise
them. The parents of the 50s and 60s were so
concerned with the world around them that going to
work was the only image children had of their
fathers. Kids didn’t understand why they worked so
much just to gain more material possessions.
Children of this generation grew up learning just
about how to be free and happy. Most of the time,
when thinking back to the sixties, people remember
hearing about things such as sex, drugs, and
racism.
However, what the often tend to overlook is the
large emphasis freedoms had on the era. This does
not just refer to the freedoms already possessed by
every American of the time. This focuses on the
youth’s fight to gain freedom or break away from
the values and ideas left behind by the older
generation. These fights were used to help push for
freedoms from areas such as society’s rules and
values, competition, living for others first, and
the older generation’s beliefs as a whole.
Including the freedom to use drugs. The younger
generation just wanted a chance to express their
own views rather than having to constantly succumb
to the views of the older generation. In order to
find these unique and different qualities in each
other and themselves, the younger generation turned
to drugs. This was another freedom which they were
required to fight for since the older generation
did not support drug use as a source of pleasure
and creativity. This could basically be considered
an out right rejection of the older society’s
values. Drugs were also seen as a freedom from
reality. Then enable the youths to escape to a
different kind of world. Because of the youths’
great desire to achieve a universal sense of peace
and harmony, drugs were sometimes a very important
part of one’s life. Sometimes, they would plan a
day or evening around the use of a major drug so
they could enjoy it to the fullest extent. This
could almost be considered ironic in the sense that
while trying to gain one freedom, the ability to
use drugs, the youths appeared to have lost another
freedom, the ability to live their own lives. It
seems more as if their lives were controlled by the
drugs and the drugs’ effects than by the people
themselves.
The combination of the defiance, revolution,
and drugs created a major hippie era. Thousands of
hippies would flock to the party capitals of the
world for the high of a life time. Haight Ashberry,
San Francisco, was once considered hippie central
for the world. Here people would just line the
streets with drug use, sex, and wild music. In
1967, came the “Summer of Love.” This period was
not unlike the previous acts of hippies, just more
intense. And to top off the hippie era, one of the
largest concerts in the world took place in
Woodstock, New York. During several days of music,
sex, and drugs were abused heavily, almost to the
point of complete stupor. But even though it may
have seemed like Mayhem, it was one of the greatest
moments of the 60s.
The monumentum of the previous decade’s civil
rights gains led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
carried over into the 1960s. But for most blacks,
the tangible results were minimal. Only a minuscule
percentage of black children actually attended
integrated schools, and in the south, “jim crow”
practices barred blacks from jobs and public
places. New Groups and goals were formed, new
tactics devised, to push forward for full equality.
As often as not, white resistance resulted in
violence. This violence spilled across TV screens
nationwide. The average, neutral American, after
seeing their TV screen, turned into a civil rights
supporter. Black unity and white support continued
to grow. In 1962, with the first large-scale public
protest against racial discrimination, Rev. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Gave a dramatic and inspirational
speech in Washington, D.C. After a long march of
thousands to the capital. The possibility of riot
and bloodshed was always there, but the marchers
took that responsibility of first-class citizens.
When King came to the end of his prepared text, he
swept right into an exhibition of impromptu oratory
that was catching, dramatic, and inspirational. “I
have a dream,” King cried out. The crowd began
cheering, but King, never pausing, brought silence
as he continued, “I have a dream that one day on
the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave owners will be able to
sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
Everyone agreed the march was a success and they
wanted action now! But “now!” remained a long way
off. President Kennedy was never able to mobilize
sufficient support to pass a civil rights bill with
enough power over the opposition of segregationist
southern members of congress. But after his
assassination, president Johnson, drawing on the
Kennedy legacy and on the press coverage of civil
rights marches and protests, succeeded where
Kennedy had failed. However, by the summer of 1964,
the black revolution had created its own crisis of
disappointed expectations. Rioting by urban blacks
was to be a feature of every “long, hot, summer” of
the mid-1960s. About this same time, the term,
black power was coming into use. It meant to infer
long-submerged racial pride in Negroes. Martin
Luther King, Jr. specifically sought to rebut the
evangelists of block power. “It is absolutely
necessary for the Negro to gain power, but the term
black power is unfortunate, because it tends to
give the impression of black nationalism. We must
never seek power exclusively for the Negro, but the
sharing of power with white people,” he said.
Unfortunately, the thing that really moved the
civil rights movement along significantly was the
murder of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in late 1965.
Rioting mobs in the Negro suburb of Watts
California, pillaged, burned and killed, while 500
policemen and 5000 nation guardsmen struggled in
vain to contain their fury. Hour after hour, the
toll mounted: 27 dead at the week’s end, nearly 600
injured, 1700 arrested, and property damage well
over $100 million.
The 1960s could definitely be considered the
most controversial decade of this century. Hippies,
racism, drugs, war, and breaking every rule that
had ever been set gave this time a very deserved
place in history.
Word Count: 1321
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