what do you know about the 1960s?

Question

okayyy so.
im doing a speech on the 1960s for school and i need some insight if you wouldnt mind.

i would like some information on the beatles. why were they so important? why were they different from all the other bands? what made them so special? ANYTHING you can give me about them would be appreciated.

then the next thing is the counterculture stuff. im not really sure what to put in my speech for that so if you could help me out w/ some info that you think could be valueable that would be greattt.

anddd lastly. im doing a part on the civil rights act. see the problem is the speech is actually just on the year 1964 so im not really sure what to include.

anything you can give me would be awesome!
thanks so muchhh!

Answer 1

The Beattles were important because first, they were what America called "The British Invasion". Their songs were rooted in politics and drugs often. (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds actually is referring to the hallucinogenic drug LSD which was popular at the time)

Counterculture was the beginning of war protesting and the first time people began openly defying the government. Also, the hippie movement began. (Flower Power) These people didn't really have a goal other than to have Love, Peace, and Sex. Of course, they objected to just about ANYTHING the government did whether it was justifiably being objected or because they were too stoned to know what was going on. Also, up until then, women were seen only as housewives and expected to act a certain way. If you look up old issues of McCalls and Good Housekeeping, you will see this frame of mind.

For the Civil Rights Act, so much could be said...but it originated from Brown v. The Board of Education. You can also mention the Central High desegregation that took place shortly after. (my father was there)

Answer 2

If you remember the 60's, you didn't live through them.

This popular adage means that those who truly experienced those turbulent times were probably high. Ironically, the 60's, weren't the 60's at all, but more 1965 to 1975. You can pretty much tie it all to Vietnam starting with the escalation of troops to the American withdrawal.

What this really means is that since your speech is on 1964, you pretty much missed the "good stuff."

http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1964.HTML

This is a timeline of the year and you can pick some topics from it to highlight your speech. I suggest:

Johnson's War on Poverty
Beatles first on Billboard chart & North American debut
24th Amendment (poll tax, can link to voting rights)
Cassius Clay (Ali) heavyweight champ
Ford Mustang
Civil rights act approved
"Mississippi Burning" actual event
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
MLK - Nobel Prize
First Ground Troops involved in Vietnam

You'll note that this is only just the beginning of the Vietnam War and there was no real "counterculture movement" yet.

For fun, you might note that this was also the year Rudolph debuted on TV!

For more information on each of the things you highlight, you can Google them.

Good luck on your speech!

Answer 3

The Beatles John,Paul,Ringo,George they were important because it was the 60's "they spoke the truth" and being political rebels.Being the start of rock and roll and hippies favorite band.If u want to know about the sixties try watching Forest Gump that has a lot of major events in it about the sixties.Major events were that a African Americans could go to school and learn the same studies of whites.Another thing was the Vietnam war.That poor young president died what was his name oh yah John f.Kennedy.The most importent thing and most rembered was it was the hippie decade were they actually stood for something.Thats as much as I know.

Answer 4

Besides the above answers, look into the following:

Woodstock
Moon walk (nothing to do with Michael Jackson!)
John F. Kennedy / Lyndon Johnson
Vietnam

For more, I searched for the term "1960's" and found this website:
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1960.htm
Hopes this helps.

Answer 5

The Beatles were different because they had long hair, they wore suits w/o collars and also wore ties and boots, and they were very polite at interviews. They were cute and they were British! Their songs were catchy and easy to sing. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

There were a lot of hippies or 'flower children' if you will. Drugs and Alchiol was terrible and not very many cops