American Counter Culture Movement In The 1960s

The 1960s was a decade full of cultural, political, and social change in the United States in which activism in the areas of civil rights and anti-war became widespread. It is remembered as a time where many ideas about counterculture permanently changed. It was the decade where African-Americans passionately fought for equal recognition, where young Americans who did not want to conform to the ideals of their elders created their own culture, and where average Americans began standing up against what they believed was an immoral war. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, and the Kent State massacre are often discussed events from the 1960s and early 1970s. However, one area of American

This can be said about any movement which seeks to gain acceptance by the majority of society, including the gay rights movement. Alternative media is an essential part of modern social movements because it spreads ideas and information which are typically ignored by mainstream media. The information it presents pushes against the status quo and calls for major change in widespread social thought and action. Alternative media consists of newsletters and magazines, the main methods used in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as modern methods such as independent online news outlets which are disseminated through social media. These outlets for information are vital to social change due to the fact that the voices and issues of the oppressed and marginalized are often ignored by mainstream, commercially owned

Like the gay and lesbian publications from cities such as Boston and New York, Kansas City’s main publications became records of the changes within the gay and lesbian populous as well as its relationship with the general Kansas City community. Without the support of mainstream news networks or other local allies, the publishers of these newsletters and magazines connected local gay residents and formed a strong alliance of gay and lesbian Kansas Citians. These periodicals consisted of newsletters from the local organizations the Women’s Liberation Union, the Gay People’s Union, and Gay Community Services as well as local magazines Kansas City Coming Out, Spectrum, and Calendar. The advertisements, design, layout, and content of these six periodicals reflect changes in Kansas City’s gay and lesbian demographic throughout the 1970s, and when examined chronologically they tell a story of the changes which occurred within Kansas City’s gay and lesbian community. During this time, the city’s gay and lesbian residents became an active sub-culture which demanded its own advanced form of communication that reflected changes in alternative media across the United