The 1960's: Week 8 Homework

I am a child of the 21st century. I once saw a teenager post that read, "I have lived in three decades, two centuries, and 2 millenium, and I haven't even graduated high school yet." It is true. But, as a young adult of the 21st century, I don't know much about the recent history of my own country. Most people know the stereotypes about the 80's, all disco and crazy fashion, and the 70's were groovy. However, the 60's isn't really that well known, it doesn't even have a stereotype. In fact, the 1960's were a turning point for the whole country, and greatly influenced in our culture, even now we still can see the effects of the 1960's in our culture. The best way to learn about this time period isn't through books, movies, or even the music, but rather through the eyes of people who grew up during that time.

I was able to interview two people from my life who lived during the 1960's: Doug Dahl and Pastor Emmanuel Malone. They were both teenagers during the decade, and both had unique experiences. Pastor Malone was a young african-american who dreamed of being an engineer. Doug Dahl was young in 1960, and eventually ended up fighting in the Vietnam War. While I talked to them, what they said was different, but the underlying idea was very similar; The 1960's were a time of change, both good and bad.

(A video of a famous Beatles song, Here Comes the Sun, along with pictures.) 

Emanuel Malone is the pastor my church, All Nations Baptist, and was 15 in 1960. When I asked him what he remembered from that time of his life, what events that were going on, he first commented music changed. "There is a dramatic shift in terms of music...and that was very, very big. Because the music addressed kind of what teenagers were going through." Music changed in the 60's, with the Beatles and The Beach Boys. The style became known as Rock'n'Roll. He then continued, saying that, while the launch of Sputnik happened a little before the 60's (in 1957), the space race, really influenced his life. At the age of twelve, he decided he wanted to be an engineer, and that dream carried him for the next few years. He said that because of the that dream, he stayed back a little bit from the civil rights movement. He described to me that there were really two sides of the movement, the non-violent side which really was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and the violent side, which involved groups like the Black Panthers. He mentioned that he lost two friends to the Civil Rights Movement. One died at a riot, the other, a friend from college, hijacked a plane to Cuba. "That really affected my thoughts on Radicalism," Pastor noted. Finally, he mentioned the drug culture as something that he really remembers from that time. "It was very, very evident and apparent."

Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is leading the group. 

Doug Dahl is my grandpa, and was 11 in 1960. I asked him the same question as Pastor Malone; what experiences did he remember from the 1960's? He said that he first remembered three, "horrific" assassinations: John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert Kennedy. And second he remembered the Vietnam War. "The war touched everything—people who went and didn’t come back; people who went and came back physically or psychologically damaged; people who didn't go, but lost family members or friends; people who protested, went to jail, or left the country." The Vietnam War lasted for twenty years and really was the second of two wars in Vietnam. America started fighting in the war with the intent of preventing South Vietnam from becoming Communist. It was a bloody war resulting in the death of 58,220 Americans. My Grandpa actually fought in the Navy in this war.

Protesters against the War.

One of the other questions I asked both of Pastor Malone and Grandpa Dahl was, if they had to describe the 1960's to someone who knew nothing about it in a paragraph or so, what would they say? My Grandpa, in his response, told me that his son (my uncle) once asked him, if he could describe his generation in three words? "Self-absorbed morons," was his quick reply. I have included both of their full responses to this question at the end of the post.

The 1960's was a time of great change, both good and bad. Music changed, which spurred the sexual revolution. There was the civil-rights movement, three assassinations, and the Vietnam War. I wish I was able to do justice this dramatic time period, but in only one small essay, I found there just couldn't be enough room. :) I was blessed by getting to talk to these two people and even briefly learn about the decade that forever changed the direction of our nation.

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I am putting copies of the answer of one question I asked: In paragraph or so how would you describe the 60's to someone with little context.

Doug Dahl:
Wow. Where to begin? The 1960s were a tumultuous time from many directions. The summary description a lot of people use is “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.” That’s not far off. Besides the Viet Nam War, with all its implications, the country was undergoing a sexual revolution. That great liberator of womankind, the birth-control pill, hit the market. Marijuana and LSD became very popular, and a lot of my contemporaries followed Dr. Timothy Leary’s admonition: “Tunein, turn on, drop out.”

The college campus became the perfect venue for these social contortions to take root. College enrollment exploded, largely because college provided an escape from the military draft. People had money to spend and time on their hands. It was a time for casting off social restraints: religion, tradition, patriotism. Suddenly, life was all about my desires, my goals, my fulfillment, my “self-actualization.” The term “Me Generation” fits aptly. Several years ago, Caleb, breaking away from a conversation with some of his friends, challenged me: “Describe your generation in three words.” My immediate response: “Self-absorbed morons.” In truth, the self-absorbed morons were the minority. But they were a substantial minority, and they got all the press. They now control all of our cultural institutions, and the results aren't pretty.

Pastor Emanuel Malone: (A follow-up email he sent to me.) 

The 60's were more than a decade (1960 - 1969). It was a movement of radical cultural change that swipe the nation from 1955 - late 1970's. Key events 1955, Rosa Parks, her arrest launched the Civil Rights movement, 1957 Russian launch of Sputnik, launched national promotion of science and engineering, 1960 Democrat Convention riot, the Vietnam War, rock music and drug culture (Woodstock, 1969), riots in major US cities with the chant - "burn baby burn", and student protests on American college campuses that continued into the 70's. I remember all those events from the age of 10 (1955) and later.