The Hippie Movement

John Filo's Pulitzer winning, photograph of the Kent State Shooting.


The Beat generation gradually gave way to the hippie movememt, accompanied by a shift in terminology from "Beatnik" to "Hippie".Many of the original beats like Allen Ginsberg remained active participants in the following 60's counterculture. People like Bob Dylan also joined hands with Ginsberg on many occasions. The hippie era was an era of peace, love and LSD. It was a period of revolt through non violence. The hippies of the 60's protested against the Vietnam war through music, poetry,and of course anti-establishment behaviour. It was common to see people snort on LSD or marijuana and just hallucinate. Their world was free, with no hang ups. Some of the best songs in the world were written in that era. There were artists like Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash, Woddy Gouthrie etc. They revolutionized music. The freedom to express was emphasized.

The kent state shooting was one of the most important events in this era. The Ohio national guard shot at several students of the Kent State University. This massacre happened on the 4th of May 1970. Four students were killed and nine injured. The students who were shot had been protesting against the Americans invading Cambodia as president Nixon had annouced on television. There was a great national outcry following the shooting. Hundreds of universities and schools closed down. Photographs of the dead and injured were distributed amongst newspapers and periodicals. John Filo, a Kent State photojournalism student captured with his camera, a 14 year old runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the body of a dead student which later won the pulitzer prize.

The best known response to the Kent State shooting is the protest song "Ohio" written by Neil Young for CSNY. The song talks of Nixon dropping bombs in Ohio. Allen Ginsberg also mentions the incident in his poem, "Hadda be playing' on a jukebox". The anti war movement played a major role in most of the films of the time and the media was filled with protest.

The hippies were known for their politcal rebellion. Summer of love in 1967 is an event which portrays this rebellion with so much precision. !00,00 young people gathered in a neighbourhood of San Fransico and created a phenomenon of cultural and political rebellion. This was a melting pot of music, sexual freedom, psychedelic drugs, creative expression and politics. The young people were determined to bring about change and the government could do nothing to stop them.

LSD is another popular phenomenon of the hippie era. Lystergic acid diethylamide as it is scientifically known is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug, It has unusual psychological effects such as visuals of coloured patterns behind the eyes, crawling geometric patterns and loss of the users sense of identity. This is popularly known as a recreational drug. It is used to supplement meditation, art projects and now illeagal psychedelic therapy.

Allen Ginsberg wrote the poem "Howl" which profoundly explains the era. It is available on http:/ cda.mrs.umn.edu.

I sometimes on a personal note wish that we were born during that era. Life would have been a totally new dimension.