Native American Inspirations

Hippies and the Counterculture Movement of the 1970’s

Presenter: Joshua Montes

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 19-20

Semester: Spring

Department: Native American Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1GQGmfOjZEn-QclAr2vykYP_8P7omqCDt

Abstract:
With the turn of the decade into the 1970’s, the state of America was in turmoil. The Vietnam war was raging on, leading many people to doubt the wisdom and ethics of the government. The newly implemented draft had sucked a young and energetic generation into a battle overseas. This war, which was framed by ideas of communism brewing in a country halfway across the world, failed to find any relevance to America’s youth. Frustrated by the lack of control in their own lives, many of these youngsters turned away from the mainstream culture built by their fathers. They would search for new meaning in life in which peace, respect and acceptance was the ultimate value. This new movement against the establishment would become known as the counterculture and many of its flag bearers would be known colloquially as Hippies. While the movement was new, the ideas themselves were old. In fact, some of the principal ideas of the counterculture were far older than the United States itself. Namely, the Native Americans and their spiritual philosophies would become the primary inspiration for the counterculture of the 1970’s.

When people try to imagine the stereotypical hippie, people often think of the words “peace love and unity”. How did this association begin? How did the world’s leading military superpower give birth to such an influential subculture focused on peace?

Sources:

Deloria JR., Vine, “God is Red: A Native View of Religion” (1973), North American Press, 2nd Edition

 Snyder, Gary “Turtle Island” New Directions P. (1974) Pg.105

Taking Hippies and Indians Seriously (Smith's Hippies, Indians, and the Fight for Red Power) Brian D. Haley, Current Anthropology 2013 54:3, 391-393

Tom Laughlin, Billy Jack, warner bros, 1971

Gibson, James W., “A Reenchanted World” (2009) Henry Holt and Company, Pg. 29

Steelhammer, Rick "Back-to-the-Land Movement." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 16 December 2010. Web. 06 May 2020.

The Hippie Movement "Make love not war", Stockton.edu https://blogs.stockton.edu/hippiemovement/make-love-not-war/

Maryam, "70's-Hippie-fashion", HijabiFashions, https://hijabifashions.com/1970s-mens-fashion/70s-hippie-fashion/