Counterculture in the 1960s
How it affected American society in the 1960s
in the 1960s, many young people started to challenge traditional values and become activists and hippies that were members of the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War movements. This also included radical changes in many people's appearances and views of sexuality. Also Left Wing political groups rised during this period, including Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) that challenged traditional political and university rules and norms. As a result of this, The Free Speech Movement formed in 1964. In 1965, anti-draft protests began.
the rise of hippies and Woodstock
this time period also marked the unofficial rise of "hippies". These were mostly middle class whites without any political ambitions or aims that wore nontraditional clothing and had a lifestyle that emphasized drugs and sexuality. It is usually considered to have started in San Francisco in the mid 1960s. One of the most famous and best known counterculture event was the Woodstock Festival in 1969 in upstate New York where its promoters expected 300,000-400,000 people to attend; despite the large crowd that wasn't as large as expected, the three day event actually went on with little problems other than occasional drug overdoses.