1. The Counterculture
Chapter 17 Section 1

2. Lecture Focus Question
How did trends within the counterculture contribute to its downfall?

3. The Counterculture Rises
Rooted in events of the 1950s
Beat movement
Civil Rights Movement
Questioned traditional boundaries and expectations
Heightened distrust of authority
Don’t trust anyone over 30!

4. The Counterculture Rises
Hippies: members of the counterculture
Valued youth, spontaneity, freedom of expression
Promoted peace, love, and freedom
Experimented with new styles of dress, music, open sexuality, and recreational drug use

5. The Sexual Revolution
Rejected many traditional restrictions on sexual behavior
Wanted to separate sex from traditional family life
Did not oppose premarital sex
Communes: small communities in which people have common interests and share resources

6. Haight-Ashbury
The Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco became a center of counterculture
Political Radical Timothy Leary preached that drugs could free the mind
Many were critical of the lifestyle Haight-Ashbury encouraged

7. Woodstock
Woodstock Festival: 1969 music and art festival in NY set up to promote peace
Joan Baez, Santana, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead performed
320,000 hippies were in attendance
Drugs, sex, and rock and roll

8. The Generation Gap The Silent Generation
Heavily influenced by Great Depression and WWII
Learned to live frugally
Sought stability by conforming
Married young
Listened to big band music
Valued loyalty and authority
Had respect for military and veterans

9. The Generation Gap The Baby Boomer Generation Grew up in prosperity
Rejected tradition and authority
Favored individuality
Embraced activism
Wore symbols of peace (ie: flowers – “flower children”)
Listened to rock and roll
Valued freedom of expression
Disgusted by the military and war veterans

10. The Counterculture Ends
Many became disillusioned with excesses of the counterculture
Drug addictions and deaths from overdoses rose dramatically
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin
Violent incidents overshadowed main message of peace and love
Hells Angels stabbed a black man at Rolling Stones Concert

11. The Counterculture Ends
The movement’s values became increasingly shallow and self-centered
Most hippies melted right back into the mainstream