HIPPIE HISTORY

     World War II brought death and destruction.  According to the Washington Post  407,000 Americans died, 671,278 were injured,  125,000 had post-traumatic-stress syndrome.

     People tried to make sense out of the senseless.  The World-War II Generation, the "Beat" Generation had lived through the Great Depression and a World War by the time they were 25 years old.

     The post-war generation wanted to do things differently.  The "Boomers" questioned authority and wanted to be free of authoritarian constraints.

     They searched for the truth and sought meaning in life.   They did this through protests, music, art, literature, creativity, self-expression and spirituality.

SOME INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF THE LAST CENTURY INCLUDED:

• Sarte - Existentialism
• Camus - Absurdism, Existentialism, Nihilism
• Jack Kerouac and the "Beat" generation - "On The Road", counterculture, freedom, self-expression
• Lawrence Ferlinghettis - Featured speaker at the "Gathering of Tribes: Human Be-In" San Francisco, Jan. 67 
• Martin Luther King
• Harry Belafonte
• Gloria Steinem
• Betty Friedan - "The Feminine Mystique"
• Noam Chomsky
• Howard Zinn - "A People's History of the United States"
• Jimi Hendrix
• Joni Mitchell
• Bob Dylan
• The Who
• Gayle Delaney PHD - "Dreamwork"
• M. Scott Peck - "People of the Lie"

1960s HISTORICAL EVENTS:

• Freedom Riders 1961
• Civil Rights Act 1964
• Summer of Love 1967 (Haight Asbury)
• Poor People's Campaign 1968
• The Stonewall Raid July 1969
• Woodstock August 1969
• Roe v. Wade 1970 
• Environmental Protection Agency 1970

HIPPIE MUSICALS:

•  HAIR
• TOMMY by the Who
• JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
• GODSPELL 

Hippie symbols: The Peace Symbol, The Peace Sign, The Power Sign, Flowers: Sunflowers, Daisies, Patouli, Lavender, Colors: Psychedelia, Purple, Lavender, Rainbow, Tie Dye.  Cars - VW Bugs, VW Buses, Painted Buses, Retro Campers.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME "HIPPIE": A West African word meaning "In the know", "Being informed", "Being up-to-date", "Being Hip"