Hippies started to form during the early 1960s in the United States of America. Hippies were a part of a youth movement who were mostly between the ages of 15-25 years old and were mostly of white race.
The reason for this subculture was as the same as the bohemians and the beatniks they rebelled against established institutions, they criticised middle class values and opposed the Vietnam war.
Hippies most often had long hair for both men and woman. They wore brightly coloured clothing which contained unusual styles usual inspired from the Native Americans, African and Latin American motifs. They would make their own clothes to protest at western consumer cultures. They wore head scarves, headbands, long beaded necklaces and sandals on their feet.
The type of music they listened to was Psychedelic Rock, Blues, Traditional Eastern music and folk music such as people like Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan was an artist in the early 1960s mixing folk, country, blue and rock together to make inspiring songs to the Hippies. Bob Dylan real name Robert Allen Zimmerman was born on the 24Th may 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota in the United States. Other people Hippies listened to were the Beatles, they were a very famous band at the time containing John Lennon who played the guitar, George Harrison who also played the guitar, Paul McCartney who played the bass and Ringo Starr who played the drums. The Beatles first song hit the charts in 1962 and was called "Love Me Do".
Hippies most often type of transport was the VW Bus which would often be painted with graphics, they called this modern day art. They most often replaced the Volkswagen logo with a peace symbol. The reason they used this type of transport was that the Van was cheap to run.
Some of the conflicts were the Vietnam War because Hippies were against "political and social orthodoxy" choosing instead a gentle way of life. Hippies were often accused of verbally attacking soldiers returning from duty in Vietnam.
Hippies used many different types of drugs such as Cannabis, hallucinogens such as LSD,Psilocybin and Mescaline. The use of these drugs for some hippies became part of their daily routine.Hippies also had lots of negative publicity towards them because people thought they were dropping out of society to seek the changes the sought.
Hippies flaunted societal prohibitions against interracial dating and marriage - with their emphasis on free love. They promoted the same beliefs as the early Beat Generation. They also fought for people to except people who were homosexual and bisexual members of society.The arts they used were original symbols such as the symbol for peace. Their arts were on the expresment of things they believed in such as Peace, Love and Personal freedom.
Cheryl Logan
Hippie Subculture
Standard Grade English
Dunoon Grammar
