The Counterculture Movement

While most of the counterculture movement did not identify as communist, some praised the writings of Karl Marx and C. Wright Mills. Those who had opted-out of the political sphere found themselves living in one of the 2,000 communes that manifested in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They rejected both the capitalist society and suburban lifestyle that their parents had preferred. Communal living included shared duties of all community members, who also held their own elections and made their own laws. While communal living died down over time due to exhausted funds, this period of history would be known as the “Third Great Awakening” by scholars (“Flower Power”).
The war in Vietnam was one of the most common targets of the counterculture

Berkley, Jack Weinberg, cautioned his fellow classmates about conforming to their parent’s way of thinking in the iconic 1964 quote: “Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty!” (Kosc). This state of mind carried on into many of Berkeley's many protests and riots. One of the school’s most widespread controversy was the “People’s Park”. Students preferred to turn a vacant campus lot into a park for everyone of all races, genders, and religions to enjoy on campus, and when the land was to made to be a parking garage, 85% of the student body fought to keep the park in a week-long battle. The “People’s Park”, though only a vacant strip of land, was a symbol of the struggles of oppression and the hopes of liberation and the children of the counterculture movement vowed to keep it intact

From the suffragettes to the campaigners of the ‘60s, women were able to gain the rights to vote, equality under the law, as well as increased educational opportunities. However, this does not mean that all women gained these rights automatically; this change took perseverance and the better part of a century, especially for African American women, who were not seen as equals until over forty years after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
It is also important to recognize that while the counterculture movement may not have had many legal footholds, it’s standing effects on modern American life continue to shine through. The counterculture movement’s goals envisioned a peaceful America free of prejudice and injustice, much like its sister movement. The nonconformists of counterculture were the biggest threat to the conservatives of anti-communist America, yet also was the salvation of the equal rights movements to