Honors AP Language and Comp

Chase DeLunas

Honors AP Language and Comp

Mr. Jennings

May 11, 2014

Civil Rights, Counterculture and the 1960’s

In America in the 1960’s, the emerging counterculture and increasing civil rights movements paved the way for the forms of equality and freedom we have in our nation today. Many of the things that we consider ‘normal’ today were strange, if not taboo back in the sixties. People began defending themselves and standing up for their beliefs concerning just about anything they deemed not equal, or unjust. While many freedoms are not completely won today, our society is abundantly more progressive in its thinking and accepting of aspects of our culture.

Peaceful protests were the most prominent form of civil rights activities during the sixties, and often proved successful, given time. “Peaceful but relentless protest was more effective than violent action” (Lindop 30), the legendary civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. argued. One form of this protest manifested itself through James Farmer, who formed the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE for short), conceived the brilliant idea of Freedom Rides. Going through much of the deep-rooted and segregated south at the time, young white and black men would use the opposite restrooms and things of the sort, for instance a black man would use a ‘white only’ drinking fountain and a white man would use the ‘colored’ drinking fountain. These brave people stood their ground when confronted with violence and vowed to use the tactic given by Farmer called “jail not bail” which meant that instead of paying for bail, the protesters would go to jail, “Fill up the jails… fill them to bursting if we have to” (Lindop 31) states Farmer. He knew this genius tactic would gain the favor of many supporters. Together they pushed the government to make changes and on November 1, 1961, a federal law came into place which made it illegal to segregate interstate bus facilities. This fight for equality had to happen sometime, and we can thank the individuals who enacted this for a slight piece of freedom we have today.

Feminism also saw a large rise in popularity in the sixties. An excellent example of this was the protesting of the 1968 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City New Jersey. The contestants of this pageant did not anticipate for this protest but carried on anyway, all the while the women protestors were holding up signs depicting women being ‘auctioned’ such as cattle. Robin Morgan, a strong willed feminist of the sixties, argued that the pageant only exploited women and treated them as symbols of sex. Outside the hall where the pageant was going on, Robin and one hundred other feminists shouted and voiced their opinions, and even held their own makeshift in which a sheep was crowned ‘Miss America’. A sheep is judged, by farmers, on the quality of their wool, and these feminists believed women were being judged in this pageant by their looks. Quickly, an irritated (mostly male) crowd assembled and overwhelmed the protesters with their own hatred and they were dispersed. It was acts like this which, years earlier, allowed the Equal Pay act of 1963 to be passed which was supposed to end sexual discrimination with regards to pay and the hiring of women. To this day, there is no true equal pay between sexes, but the situation has improved drastically.

The struggle of homosexuals to obtain civil and equal rights gained its most notable accomplishments beginning in the sixties. The Stonewall Riot incident of 1969 is a result of counterculture building up earlier in the sixties, and the growing voice of many minority groups andthose without equal rights. On June 27, 1969, the customers of the gay bar Stonewall Inn saw the police close in on the building for their normal raiding and arresting of several men. However, this time they decided to react by throwing trash and bricks at the police. These police, seeing the angry crowd, had to request aid from an antiriot squad which settled the situation down. The next night proved to be more of a challenge, as a large crowd of angry men and women had formed chanting “Gay Power” (Lindop 66). The police were not able to bring peace to the situation but instead let the protesters carry on. The situation died down after several days. On that night, gay men had the courage to stand up for themselves; and this gave many other LGBT teens and adults a catalyst to begin work on gaining their equal rights.

Hippies in the 1960’s were radical and free-spirited, and their shredding of older customs created some of the normal aspects of life we take for granted today. For example, back in the sixties, it would have been considered wrong for a woman to have sex before marriage. Doing so would taint their reputations as good girls and risk having an unplanned child. With the invention of the birth control pill, hippies began to toss out those old ideals and could now have sex before marriage. Playwrights also decided to produce shows which represented the counterculture and civil rights issues. On Broadway in 1968, Hair debuted, which was openly about hippies, sex, and drug use. New York citizens were prepared for this show, but many other cities refused to have it shown in their theatre. Boys in the Band, shown in 1969, dealt with homosexuality, an almost untouched topic for playwrights at the time. Lastly, Blues for Mister Charlie (1964) focused on racial prejudice and hatred in a rural southern town. These playwrights served as inspirations for the radical youth and raised awareness for each of their causes and concerns.

The 1960’s were, without a doubt, a time for the advancement of modern ideals and customs strongly present in America today. Fights which no one wanted to be fought had to be done, and the brave people who took on these tasks have shaped us a nation today. Aspects of our society which contain many freedoms today have large parts of their roots in the sixties. The counterculture advocated a change in youth, and prompted them to speak up for themselves and not be ruled solely by society and the government, but to have a sense of self-importance and dedication and to pursue their own individual goals and create unique identities. The civil rights movements made large advances and created hope for individuals of separate races, sexualities, and genders. The 1960’s were a vast leap towards modern times in America.

Works Cited

1) Lindop, Edmund, and Margaret J. Goldstein.America in the 1960s. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2010. Print.

2) Lescott, James.the 60s (A photo journey through the swinging sixties). Bath: Parragon, 2009. Print.

3) Winterbottom, Tom. "Stanford professor traces roots of the psychedelic '60s to postwar America."Stanford University. Stanford Report, 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 May 2014.

4) Harlin, Ken. "The Stonewall Riot and Its Aftermath."Stonewall 25: Cases 1-2. Columbia University, 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 May 2014.

5) Sink, Nancy. "Women's Liberation Movement."Women's Liberation Movement.N.p., 1 Dec. 2008. Web. 12 May 2014.