Making Changes Throughout Generations

by Caroline Williams

Older generations have created a legacy.

As new generations arise, participants in new movements may take inspiration from the past.

Movements of the past have inspired movements of the present day.

Throughout history, different groups of people have united as a result of their common beliefs. The results of the changes that these groups have made can be seen throughout history.

In 1965, the United States was in the beginning stages of a major conflict with Vietnam. As the next few years progressed, the war worsened, causing mass uprisings nationwide. However, these uprisings weren’t just adults of the former generations trying to sway the actions of the government. Instead, a large number of protests against the war were started by a newer generation of young Americans that were horrified by the violence they were seeing. A lot of the anti-war ideologies were even originally spread on college campuses: hubs for the young adults of America. As time progressed, the antiestablishment mindset that this movement displayed became one of the main pillars of the hippie movement.

However, this movement did not just involve spreading the anti-Vietnam War ideology, it also affected the general popular culture of this sector of America as a whole. The anti-war movement was more politically motivated, whereas the hippies were more culturally based. The hippie movement was characterized by their support of the legalization of marijuana, love of rock and folk music, awareness of environmental issues, and even their bright-colored fashion. The influence of this movement spread beyond the realm of just politics.

In today’s times, a lot of people have adopted these cultural aspects of the hippie movement. A lot of modern fashion is inspired by their types of clothing and overall style. Even modernday music festivals, such as Coachella, have a lot of parallels to hippie festivals like the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969. They are sometimes compared for their widely diverse array of fashion, drug usage, and showcasing of different types of music: despite both festivals being decades apart.

Before the hippie movement, there was another lesser known movement that followed a lot of the same ideas as the hippies. Arising in the 1950s, this group of people were named the Beat Generation. They united together under their shared will to reject the concepts of capitalism and materialism that a lot of society followed in midcentury America. Similar to the hippies, they also explored looser ideas of sexuality and drug usage. Despite their similarities, the Beat Generation was a lot smaller and less widespread than the hippies.

However, this is a major example of the ways in which ideologies can pass from decade to decade; the Beat Generation slowly evolved into the counterculture in the 60s.

Despite the 50s, 60s and 70s being known as the decades when antiestablishmentarianism became prevalent, those movements’ roots were set in stone even longer before that. As early as the 1920s, young women who wanted to change their set roles in society were taking on jobs that their husbands had to leave in order to fight in World War I. Women taking over the workforce and wanting to break pre-established boundaries led to the Flapper Movement, where women felt more freedom to express themselves in their sexualities, fashion styles, and general life habits. This movement showed that women, who were commonly discriminated against because of sexism during this time, had their own bodily autonomy and felt more free to rebel against traditional societal

Over the passage of time, more women are realizing this idea of expressing themselves once again. Women are able to express their femininity more especially with the rise of social media in the 21st century.

As the years go by, new generations arise, bringing new ideas to offer to the world. People may recognize their own personal problems with society and unite with others to stand up for what they think is right. Despite the fact that new movements are being created every day, to truly understand what people are fighting for, it is helpful to look back throughout the past to see where some of their ideologies originated and how they have evolved over the years.