Hippie Origins Legacy Distinguishing Marks Drugs Politics

The term derived from hipster which referred to white people in the US who were 'hip' or became involved with black culture, e.g. Harry "The Hipster" GibsonHarry Gibson ( 1914, † May 3, 1991) was a jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter, known as "Harry The Hipster". He played piano at a speakeasy on 52nd Street, New York run by Leon Enkin and Eddie Davis. Davis taught him jive. He recorded such records. September 6September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). There are 116 days remaining. Events 3761 BC The first day of the Hebrew Calendar. 394 Battle of Frigidus: The Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills the pagan usurper Eugeniu, 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N, marked the first San Francisco newspaper story, by Michael Fellon, that used the word 'hippie' to refer to the younger bohemiansCultural movements Subcultures Though a Bohemian is a native of the Czech province of Bohemia, a secondary meaning for 'Bohemian' emerged in 19th century France. The term was used to describe a group of artists, writers, and disenchanted people of all sor (as opposed to the older Beat Generation). The name did not catch on with the establishment press until almost two years later.

The hippie movement was at its height in the late 1960s. The July 7July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. Events 1456 Joan of Arc is acquitted of heresy (but she had already been executed). 1534 European colonization of the Americas: First known excha, 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio issue of TIME magazine had for its cover story: 'The Hippies: The Philosophy of a Subculture.'

The touristic influx that accompanied the highly-publicized San Francisco Summer of Love did nothing to intensify counterculture. In fact by the time Hippiedom became commercialized, mid-late 1967, being a hippie had lost its real purpose. The last publication of the Diggers was the anthology of street news, manifestoes and articles titled The Digger Papers, that came out in August 1968. Co-published as an edition of The Realist , the Diggers distributed 40,000 free copies.

2 Legacy

By 1970, much of hippie style had passed into mainstream culture, but little of its substance. The mainstream press lost interest in the hippie subculture as such, though many hippies made and have since continued to maintain a long-term commitment to it. Because the hippies have tended to avoid publicity since the Summer of Love/ Woodstock era, a popular myth has arisen that they no longer exist. In fact, they may still be found in Bohemian (or merely openminded) enclaves throughout the world, as wanderers following the bands they love, or elsewhere in the interstices of the global economy. Many have been rendezvousing annually at Rainbow Gathering s since the early 1970s to celebrate and pray for peace. Even today, many still gather at meetings and festivals to celebrate life and love, such as the Peace Fest.

3 Distinguishing marks

As a group, hippies tend to have longer hair and more/fuller beards than has been generally fashionable. Both male and female African-Americans (and a few Caucasians also possessing "nappy" hair) associated with the 1960s counterculture (and the parallel civil rights movement) wore their hair in " afros." Dreadlocks are another type of hairstlye that has been worn (more common among "neo-hippies"; see below). Some people not associated with the counterculture find such long hair offensive, in part because of the iconoclastic attitude it bespeaks, and in part because they see it as unhygienic, or feminine. When Hair moved from off-Broadway to a large Broadway theater in 1968, the hippie counterculture was already diversifying and fleeing traditional urban settings.

Other traits associated with hippies include:

Clothes having bright colors, and certain unusual styles (such as bell-bottom pants, tie-dyed shirts, peasant blouses, and Indian-inspired clothing)
Listening to certain styles of music; psychedelic rock such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin; modern jam band counterparts such as Phish, String Cheese Incident, moe., the Black Crowes, or Goa trance music
Performing music casually, in friends' homes, or for free at outdoor fairs such as San Francisco's legendary " Human Be-In" of January 1967, Woodstock (a famous gathering attended mostly by hippies) and today, for example, the Burning Man festival.
Free love (see also: Sexual revolution)
Communal living
Incense
Using recreational drugs, particularly marijuana, hashish, and hallucinogens such as LSD and Psilocybin. Marijuana was prized as much for its iconoclastic, illicit nature as for its psychopharmaceutical effect.

4 Drugs

In hindsight, people may recall that hippies did not smoke cigarettes made of tobacco, and that they considered tobacco dangerous, but a look through photographs made at the time shows that cigarettes were very much in evidence.

Often, the term "hippie" is loosely used with the pejorative connotation of participation in recreational drug use (at least to the extent of using marijuana) and choosing not to think or care much about work, responsibility, the larger society, or personal hygiene.

5 Politics

Though they were a genuine counterculture movement, the early hippies were not particularly tolerant of homosexuality. They were also prone to what some people would now deem highly unacceptable sexism. This changed rapidly as hippie culture embraced feminism and egalitarian principles.

The term is also associated with participation in peace movements, including peace marches such as the USA marches on Washington and civil rights marches, and anti- Vietnam War demonstrations including the 1968 Democratic Convention. The Yippies represented a highly politically active sub-group.

Hippie political expression often took the form of dropping out of society to implement the changes they sought desired. The back to the land movement, cooperative business enterprises, alternative energy, free press movement, and organic farming were all political in nature at their start.

Philosophically, hippie thought drew upon the earlier Beat Generation.

6 Neo-Hippies

Neo-hippie is a name given to modern hippies, who, while retainging some aspects of the '60s hippie movement, have changed in some areas, for example by embracing punk values of anarchism, anti-establishmentarianism, feminism and acceptance of homosexuality. Dreadlocks, especially with beads sewn into them, are popular among neo-hippies.

7 See also

Subcultures 1960s

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1 Origins