Flower power
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flower power was a slogan used by hippies (aka Flower Children) during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and non-violence ideology.[1] It is rooted in opposition to the Vietnam War.[2] The expression was coined by the American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965 to encourage war protesters to enact a non-violent revolution.[3][4][5] Followers dressed in clothing with embroidered flowers and vibrant colors, wore flowers in their hair and embraced hippie culture.[6] The term has become generalized as a modern reference to the hippie movement and a culture of drugs, psychedelic music, psychedelic art and social permissiveness.[7]
Flower Power was originally conceived as a symbolic action of protest. In his November 1965 essay titled How to Make a March/Spectacle, Ginsberg advocated that protesters should be provided with "masses of flowers" to hand out to policemen, press, politicians and spectators.[8] A Pulitzer-nominated photograph (with the same title) by Washington Star photographer Bernie Boston has been a classic image of the Vietnam War era protests.[9] The photo, taken at the October 21, 1967, "March on the Pentagon", showed a young, long-haired man in a turtleneck sweater, placing carnations into the rifle barrels of military policemen. (The young man has been identified as George Edgerly Harris III, an 18 year old actor from New York who was on his way to San Francisco and later performed there under the stage name of "Hibiscus". [10].)
The iconic center of the flower power movement was the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco, California.[11][12] By the mid-1960s, the area, marked by the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets, had became a focal point for psychedelic rock music.[13] Musicians and bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin all lived a short distance from the famous intersection. During the 1967 Summer of Love, thousands of hippies gathered there, popularized by hit songs such as San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair). A July 7, 1967, Time magazine cover story on "The Hippies: Philosophy of a Subculture," and an August CBS News television report on "The Hippie Temptation"[14] as well as other major media interest exposed the hippie subculture to national attention and popularized the flower power movement across the country and around the world.
[edit] References
- ^ Stuart Hall, "The Hippies: An American Moment" published in Ann Gray (Ed.), CCCS Selected Working Papers, Routledge, (December 20, 2007), p.155 ISBN 0415324416
- ^ Chatarji, Subarno, Memories of a Lost War: Amercan Poetic Responses to the Vietnam War, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.42 ISBN 0199247110
- ^ "Allen Ginsburg", American Masters, Public Broadcasting System, pbs.org, retrieved 30-04-2009
- ^ [ "Guide to the Allen Ginsberg Papers: Biography/Administrative History"], The Online Archive of California, Stanford University, 2009
- ^ Tony Perry, "Poet Allen Ginsberg Dies at 70", Los Angeles Times, April 06, 1997
- ^ Rennay Craats, History of the 1960s, Weigl Publishers Inc., 2001, p.36 ISBN 1930954298
- ^ Heilig, S., "The Brotherhood of Eternal Love-From Flower Power to Hippie Mafia: The Story of LSD Counterculture", Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2007, Vol 39; No 3, pages 307-308
- ^ Ginsberg, Allen, "Demonstration or Spectacle as Example, As Communication, or How to Make a March/Spectacle", Berkeley Barb, November 19, 1965, republished in The Portable Sixties Reader, Ann Charles (Ed.), Penguin Classic, 2002, p.208-212 ISBN 9780142001943
- ^ Bernie Boston, "Flower Power", The Washington Evening Star, October 21, 1967
- ^ "Flowers, Guns and an Iconic Snapshot" Washington Post, March 18, 2007; Page D04
- ^ Anthony Ashbolt, "Go Ask Alice: Remebering he Summer of Love", Australasian Journal of American Studies, December 2007, p.35-47
- ^ Mandalit del Barco, "Haight-Ashbury a Flower-Power Holdover", Morning Edition, National Public Radio, July 2, 2007
- ^ Charles Perry, The Haight Ashbury: A History, Wenner Books; Reprint edition (30 Mar 2007), 320pp , ISBN 193295855X
- ^ Harry Reasoner, "The Hippie Temptation", CBS News, August 22, 1967
[edit] Further reading
- Bennett M. Berger, "Hippie morality—more old than new ",Society, Volume 5, Number 2 / December, 1967
- Stuart Hall, "The Hippies: an American 'moment'", CCCS selected working papers, Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Routledge, 2007, ISBN 0415324416
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