Counterculture

Hippies

“Massive black rebellions, constant strikes, gigantic anti-war demonstrations,

draft resistance,Vietnam, the rising of women, disobedience and

sabotage, communes & marijuana: amongst this chaos, there was a generation of

youths looking to set their own standard - to fight against the establishment,

which was oppressing them, and leave their mark on history”(Memoirs of an ex hippie – Seven Years in the Counterculture, Robert Roskind). These kids were

known as the hippies. There were many stereotypes concerning hippies; they were

thought of as being pot smoking, freeloaders, who were trying to save

the world. As this small group of teenage rebellion rose out of the suburbs,

inner cities, and countryside's, there was a feeling that the hippies

were dangerous and users of drugs, and rock music, but this idea could have never

been more wrong.

In a time where technology and machines were a must for everyday life, the people of the counter-culture believed in living just as they are. The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were extremely patriotic, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed