strikes, riots, and violent confrontations with the police. The violence of racism would claim the lives of young and old African Americans. Some Restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, public facilities, and school systems were still segregated. The African-American community, being the minority, depended on the support of the white population. Those caught up in the hippie movement racial justice and equality to the heart, and then put it into action. Protests soon were being held everywhere.Who are these hippies and what do they all want? It all happened really fast. Suddenly young men were wearing long hair and growing beards. Young women were dressing like peasants and wearing psychedelic colors. Everyone just seemed dirty. They were dropping out of college, starting up rock bands, living in communes, and traveling to the far reaches of the planet. To many it was frightening and mystifying, almost surreal even. Hippies believed that the world was a beautiful place. That they were surrounded by love, and believed that love could conquer all. They were engaged in a period of the sexual revolution. This was a period in which morals were left up to the individual, and individual pleasure was what they wanted. The sexual revolution of 1967 was more about instant sexual gratification. Birth control pills, then a new thing, quickly became extremely popular among many young girls. It was a year of all kinds of experimentation.One of the major social changes brought about by 1967 was the widespread use of illegal drugs, mostly hallucinogens, marijuana and LSD. Before this time, jazz musicians and people mostly on the streets used marijuana. The people trying to copy the jazz musicians began using marijuana, and drugs were starting to be used in poems, novels, essays, and in popular protest songs. LSD, which was unknown to American society in the early sixties, gained widespread recognition. By 1967, marijuana and LSD use was common across the coun...
