I was trying to write a quick synopsis of the sixties for a new piece of fiction I started, so I quickly knocked one out as an example for the rough draft I was submitting to the writing group. It may work, but it certainly got me remembering and thinking about what the world was like for my younger self.
Here's a new version, that's more inclusive, of some events that took place between 1960 and 1969:
The birth control pill was approved. The Soviets send the first man into space. A CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace. Sit-ins began in Greensboro, N.C., helping to launch the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Act was passed. JFK was elected president. The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Peace Corps is established. The Bay of Pigs Invasion takes place. Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. The Berlin Crisis. The Viet Nam War begins. OPEC is formed. John Glenn orbits the earth. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. The SDS is formed. Marilyn Monroe dies of an apparent overdose.The March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech. Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. The Beatles arrive in the U.S. Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison. The Tonkin Gulf incident. President Johnson proposes the Great Society reforms. The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Anti-war marches begin. Voting Rights Act. Higher Education Acto. Malcom X is assassinated. Miniskirts scandalize the country. The Watts Riots in Los Angeles last for six days. The Black Panther Party is formed. Mass draft protests. NOW is formed. Muhammad Ali declares himself as a conscientious objector. Detroit race riots begin the "Long Hot Summer of 1967" when there are race riots in across the country. Che Guevara is killed. The first heart transplant is done. Stalin's daughter defects. Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The Summer of Love happens in S.F., with over 100,000 young people arriving in the city. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated two months later. The My Lei Massacre. A nerve gas leak in Utah kills 6,000 sheep. The Zodiac Killer makes his first appearance. The spy ship USS Pueblo is captured.The Tet Offensive begins in Viet Nam. The Civil Rights Act of 1968. Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. Anti-war protesters fight with police at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Richard Nixon is elected president.The Stonewall Riots in NYC are the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement. Senator Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge in Chappaquiddick, killing a girl. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.The Manson Family murders occur. Yassar Arafat becomes the leader of the PLO. Woodstock rocks the nation.
I wonder if history seems as changeable and complex to the young people today. When I graduated from high school, I could only see the world as a dangerous carnival of smoke and mirrors. The community I was raised in was immersed in treacle sit-coms, and trying hard to maintain a fifties set of expectations. I never once in my life fit into that reality.
If I had to pick one word to represent the experience of growing up in the sixties, it would be exhilerating.
Peace, Love, and Flowers.
Here's a new version, that's more inclusive, of some events that took place between 1960 and 1969:
The birth control pill was approved. The Soviets send the first man into space. A CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while in Soviet airspace. Sit-ins began in Greensboro, N.C., helping to launch the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Act was passed. JFK was elected president. The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Peace Corps is established. The Bay of Pigs Invasion takes place. Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. The Berlin Crisis. The Viet Nam War begins. OPEC is formed. John Glenn orbits the earth. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. The SDS is formed. Marilyn Monroe dies of an apparent overdose.The March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech. Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. The Beatles arrive in the U.S. Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison. The Tonkin Gulf incident. President Johnson proposes the Great Society reforms. The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Anti-war marches begin. Voting Rights Act. Higher Education Acto. Malcom X is assassinated. Miniskirts scandalize the country. The Watts Riots in Los Angeles last for six days. The Black Panther Party is formed. Mass draft protests. NOW is formed. Muhammad Ali declares himself as a conscientious objector. Detroit race riots begin the "Long Hot Summer of 1967" when there are race riots in across the country. Che Guevara is killed. The first heart transplant is done. Stalin's daughter defects. Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The Summer of Love happens in S.F., with over 100,000 young people arriving in the city. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated two months later. The My Lei Massacre. A nerve gas leak in Utah kills 6,000 sheep. The Zodiac Killer makes his first appearance. The spy ship USS Pueblo is captured.The Tet Offensive begins in Viet Nam. The Civil Rights Act of 1968. Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. Anti-war protesters fight with police at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Richard Nixon is elected president.The Stonewall Riots in NYC are the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement. Senator Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge in Chappaquiddick, killing a girl. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.The Manson Family murders occur. Yassar Arafat becomes the leader of the PLO. Woodstock rocks the nation.
I wonder if history seems as changeable and complex to the young people today. When I graduated from high school, I could only see the world as a dangerous carnival of smoke and mirrors. The community I was raised in was immersed in treacle sit-coms, and trying hard to maintain a fifties set of expectations. I never once in my life fit into that reality.
If I had to pick one word to represent the experience of growing up in the sixties, it would be exhilerating.
Peace, Love, and Flowers.
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