Putnam City High School Class of 1970
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Putnam City High School Class of 1970
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FACTS ABOUT THE DECADE OF
THE ‘60’s
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Population
177,830,000 ·
Unemployment
3,852,000 ·
National
Debt 286.3 Billion ·
Average
Salary $4,743 ·
Teacher's
Salary $5,174 ·
Minimum Wage
$1.00 ·
Life
Expectancy: Males 66.6 years, Females 73.1 years ·
Auto deaths
21.3 per 100,000 · An estimated 850,000 "war baby" freshmen enter college; emergency living quarters are set up in dorm lounges, hotels and trailer camps. Class
of ‘70 Comes of Age in the Turbulent 60’s
The sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children from
the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. The movement
away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in
revolutionary ways of thinking and real change in the cultural fabric of
American life. No longer content to be images of the generation ahead of
them, young people wanted change. The changes affected education, values,
lifestyles, laws, and entertainment. Many of the revolutionary ideas that
began in the sixties are continuing to evolve today. The Civil Rights movement made great changes
in society in the 1960's. The movement began peacefully, with Martin
Luther King and Stokely Carmichael leading sit-ins and peaceful protests, joined
by whites and Jews. Malcolm X preached black superiority, and by the end
of the decade the Black Panthers were advocating black separatism, violence and
anti-semitism. The Presidential Commission of the Status of Women (1963)
presented disturbing facts about women's place in our society. Betty
Friedan and Gloria Steinham (National Organization of Women) questioning unequal
treatment of women, giving birth to Women's Lib, and discovered the "glass
ceiling." The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to
include gender. The birth control pill became widely available and
abortion for cause was legalized in Colorado in 1967. The Supreme Court decided in 1962 that
prayer in the public schools was unconstitutional. As the 1960's
progressed, many young people turned from mainstream Protestant religions to
mystic eastern religions such as Transcendental Meditation or Zen Buddhism.
Respect for authority declined among the youth, and crime rates soared to nine
times the rate of the 1950's. Marijuana use soared. The hippie
movement endorsed drugs, rock music, mystic religions and sexual freedom. They
opposed violence. Many hippies moved to Haight Ashbury or New York City lived
in communes. Youth
Drove Fads of the ‘60’s
Youth
predominated the culture of the 1960's. The post World War II Baby Boom had
created 70 million teenagers for the sixties, and these youth swayed the
fashion, the fads and the politics of the decade. California surfers took to skateboards
as a way to stay fit out of season, and by 1963, the fad had spread across the
country. Barbie
dolls, introduced by
Mattel in 1959, became a huge success in the sixties, so much so that rival toy
manufacturer Hasbro came up with G. I. Joe, 12 inches tall and the first
action figure for boys. Another doll, the troll doll, was a good
luck symbol for all ages. Music
of the ‘60’s: From Elvis to The Grateful Dead
In
1960, Elvis returned to the music scene from the US Army, joining the other
white male vocalists at the top of the charts; Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Jerry
Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, Del Shannon and Frankie Avalon. America, however,
was ready for a change. The Tamla Motown Record Company came on the scene,
specializing in black rhythm and blues, aided in the emergence of female groups
such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and
Aretha Franklin, as well as some black men, including Smoky Robinson, James
Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Temptations. Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk
music revival, along with Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary. The Beach
Boys began recording music that appealed to high schoolers. The Beatles,
from England, burst into popularity with innovative rock music that appealed to
all ages. There
was a major change in popular music in the mid-1960's, caused in part by the
drug scene. Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead grew out of the
counterculture in 1967. The musical phenomena of the decade was Woodstock,
a three day music festival that drew 400,000 hippies and featured peace, love,
and happiness...and LSD. Top Songs in 1969-70
American
Bandstand Watched by Teens from Coast to Coast
Radio continued to be the
primary means of listening to music. The major development was a change
from primarily AM to FM. Radio was supplemented by American
Bandstand , watched by teens from coast to coast. They not only learned
the latest music, but how to dance to it. When Chubby Checker introduced
the twist on the show in 1961, a new craze was born, and dancing became an
individual activity. The Mashed Potato, the Swim, the Watusi, the
Monkey and the Jerk followed the Twist, mimicking their namesakes. Each
new dance often lasted for just a song or two before the next one came along. Eventually
the names and stylized mimicry ceased and the dancers just moved however they
wanted. For those who preferred watching the dancers, Go-go girls, on
stages or in bird cages, danced above the crowd. Movies
& Theatre
Academy
Awards - 1970
Tony
Awards - 1970
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