Days of Hope, Days of Rage: Panthers, Leftists and Hippies in the1960sI. The Sixties’ protest movements - two phases1) “Hope” – reformist, positivea) Want to fix the broken parts of Americab) Still believe in the American Dreamc) Similar to the New Deal or the Progressive movement2) “Rage” – bitter, cynical, sometimes violenta) Things pushed for in the hope phase aren’t being carried out (US troops still in Vietnam)b) Believe things need to be torn down and rebuiltII. Civil Rights – From “We Shall Overcome” to “Black Power!”1) Starts out “tame” and non-radicala) legal phase – Brown v. Board, etcb) nonviolent protest phase2) The turn towards radicalism - born of frustration and white violence a. Stokely Carmichael becomes the leader of SNCC, kicks out whites, renounces nonviolence, and adopts black power idealsbecomes the Black Panthersb. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)/Black PanthersIII. The New Left1) College-oriented reform group – very optimistic2) Protests at democratic convention3) Begins bombing ROTC buildings4) New Left critiques of American society/culture/politicsa) Racism, poverty, “inauthentic” suburbiab) “The Establishment”1i. Government, military, corporations, universities – all working together to get and keep power1. The falseness of “liberalism”ii. The unity of all problems1. Vietnam War – the ultimate symbol and expression of The Establishment’s corruption5) Protesting Vietnama) Marches, teach-ins, etc.b) Fighting the Draft6) The turn towards radicalisma) Democratic Convention – Chicago, 1968i. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)- petition gov’t, hold sit-ins, burn draft cardsb) The Weathermen (1969)i. Violent, revolutionary (at least rhetorically)ii. Become communists; plant bombs in gov’t buildings; adopt Marxismiii. Disappeared in the early 1970s, like the Black PanthersIV. The Counterculture and the Hippies 1) Not the same as the New Left!2) Hippies generally white, middle-class, college kids who are disillusioned by American society, so fight it by not being a part of ita) Center of hippie-domSan Franciscob) Timothy LearyJohnny Appleseed of Acid3) Protested “corrupt” America by refusing to take part – “dropping out”a) “life as politics” – dress, drugs, sex as protestb) Communes – hippie utopias?2c) Yippies – cynical version of hippies, fighting the system through mockeryii) Abbie
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