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March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Among the most famous protests in U.S. history is the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organizers described this event as a “living petition.” The day is perhaps most remembered for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. -
Protests
San Francisco, New York, Oakland, and Berkeley were all demonstration hubs, especially during the height of the war in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But Washington, D.C. remained one of the most visible stages for this mass dissent of the government’s decisions regarding the war. For example, the White House response that the war was going well after the Tet Offensive in 1968 began to be doubted. -
Hippies
Hippies often let their hair grow long, and many men had facial hair. The title track of the musical Hair, first performed in 1967 -
Woodstock
Music festivals helped fuel the counterculture movement, most famously Woodstock, a three-day 1969 extravaganza in upstate New York that featured bands and artists such as the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. An estimated 400,000 people attended the event. -
March on the Pentagon
In 1967, opposition to the Vietnam War was growing, especially among the counterculture movement. The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organized a protest march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon. -
Columbia University
On April 23, 1968, protesting Columbia University students took over Hamilton Hall, and over the next few days, occupied three more Columbia buildings and the President’s office. -
Stonewall uprising
Today, the First Amendment protects gathering and expression for LGBTQ+ people just like everyone else. But in the 1960s, there were laws that made it hard for gay people to gather. -
Greenwich Village
On March 6, 1970, a bomb went off in the basement of a Greenwich Village townhouse killing three members of the Weather Underground. Two others, including Wilkerson, emerged from the house only to disappear. -
Kent state shootings
Four students at Kent State University died and nine were hurt when they were shot by Ohio National Guard members during a protest of the Vietnam War. The incident shocked people and showed divisions over the war. A photograph of the aftermath won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize. -
The Mayday Protest
The Mayday Protest in 1971 is a prime example of how citizens used the nation’s capital as the ground on which to stage their disapproval. Activists planned to shut down the city completely, handicapping the government and making it impossible for it to function. Protesters camped out in masses on the edges of downtown Washington on May 2, 1971.