1960s Culture
Books & Literature
 During the 60s, authors strived to relate their stories to the struggles and
successes of the public. These struggles and successes included poor
race relations, gender issues, feminism, and society roles.
Books and Authors of the 1960s
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)- Struggle between races and social
status
• Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)- Centered on the growth,
emotions, and change of children
• The Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)- Brought about the environmental
movement of the 1960s
• In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)- One of the first books with graphic
details and suspense based on facts and real events
• The Feminine Mystique (Betty Friedan)- Discusses the unhappiness of
women of the time and sparked a second round of feminism
Music & Radio

Music in the 1960s was marked by the “British Invasion”, the Motown record company, the
“culture of drugs”, and the “peace and love” songs. Many of the songs became tunes for
popular dances such as the Twist, the Mashed Potato, the Watusi, and the Swim.
(*Woodstock)
 The British Invasion: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, The Dave Clark Five,
The Kinks
 Motown: The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Diana Ross &
the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix
 Drugs, Rock, & Roll: Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Steppenwolf, Simon & Garfunkel,
Mamas and the Papas, ELVIS PRESLEY!!!
 Folk Peace and Love Songs: Peter, Paul, and Mary “Blowing in the Wind”, Jackie
DeShannon “Put A Little Love in Your Heart”
POPULAR SONGS OF THE 1960s: Chubby Checker, “The Twist”, The Beatles, “Hey
Jude”, The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”, The Four Tops, “I Can’t Help Myself”, Elvis Presley,
“It’s Now or Never”
Woodstock
 Known as one of the most pivotal moments in
music history, Woodstock was a Music Festival in
1969 in which more than 500,000 people
attended. The event took place on a dairy farm
in New York. Thirty-Two bands and individuals
performed over a span of four days. Woodstock
signified peace, cultural expression, and youth.
Performers included: Jefferson Airplane, Jimi
Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Janis Joplin
and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Movies & Television

Movies and television in the 1960s reflected the many social changes and cultural movements of the decade.

There were only three channels on TVs- ABC, NBC, and CBS. Most shows were family oriented and upheld good
morals. Most families only had one TV per household. TV was used for advertisement, and certain shows were
played at specific times to reach the appropriate audience. For example, cartoons were shown every Saturday
Morning for kids.
Popular TV shows:
-American Bandstand, Batman, Bewitched, Gilligan’s Island, Leave It to Beaver, Lassie, The Andy Griffith Show,
Popeye

Movies were based on realism and honesty. Many Broadway musicals were made into films including The Sound of
Music and My Fair Lady. Morals were ignored, as sex, language, and violence became more involved in films.
Actors, Actresses, and Movies:
- Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole
-The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Oliver, West Side Story, Goldfinger
Sports

Three Olympic Games were held in the 1960s. America claimed many gold medals including:
-Muhammad Ali was a gold medalist boxer in 1960.
-Wilma Rudolph, and African American woman, who was not supposed to walk again
after being ill as a child, proved everyone wrong by winning three Gold Medals as a runner.
-The U.S. Ice Hockey team defeated all odds by winning the Gold Medal in 1960.
-The U.S. Men’s Basketball Team collected Gold at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics

Baseball player, Roger Maris, set a home run record that was not broken until 1998 by Mark
McGwire

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1962

The first Super Bowl was played by the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1967. The
Packers defeated the Chiefs.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a NBA game, setting a record still unbeaten.
The Mods
The Bikini
The Miniskirt
Jackie Kennedy
HAIRSTYLES
CHIGNON hairstyle
PIXIE and SHORT Hair
BANGS and LONG hair
Bangs and long straight hair was considered
“sexy” during the 60s. Younger women and
teenagers were going for this look.
MALE hairstyles
Men living in the 60s were influenced by
the shaggy hair of the British boy band,
The Beetles.
Square toed shoes became popular with
the colors red, white, and blue.
The 1960s were a time of
colorful clothing.
Bright colored shoes were
thrown together
with bright color outfits.
The shoes always
matched the purse.
Chunky heels with big buckles and extravagant ties were worn by women.
Bright colored stockings were worn with bright
colored shoes and mini skirts.
It was not uncommon to see designed
stockings coming all the way up to the
woman's knee.
Go-go boots became popular after movie star Honor
Blackman, as Cathy Gale and Diana Rigg, as Emma
Peel in The Avengers, were seen wearing knee high,
black leather go-go boots. Boots became a trademark
of the show world. However, it was Nancy Sinatra's
1966 hit, "These Boots Were Made For Walking" that
captured the public imagination and launched the
boot on its road to hipness.
They started off ankle-high and
moved up to knee-high by 1966.
The Mini Skirt
The mini skirt created by Mary Quant
became a high fashion trademark during the 60s.
The Bikini
Bikinis made their appearance in the 1960s with bright colors
and patterns.
They did not show as much skin as
they do today because they were hip riding
bikinis that gave
a baby
doll look.
Suits
Suits were worn by both men and women and were popular in the
60s; however, they were mainly popular and worn by men.
In the 1960s suits changed from bland colors to extravagant colors
with patterns such as plaid. With extreme versions of ties ranging
from really wide to really skinny.
s
London Modernists known as “Mods”
were the fashion drivers of the 1960s.
They were the production of the baby
boom and quite different than the
generation of fashion seen in the 50s.
They had a modern approach to fashion
by redefining clothes using bright
colors and lots of geometric patterns
rather than pastel colors. They also had a
modern approach to makeup use by using
bright colors and more makeup such as
eyeliner
and fake
eyelashes.
Late 60s
Tie-died shirts, headbands, beads, bellbottoms, sandals, buck-skin vests, Mexican peasant blouses, scarves, and
being in public without a bra and no shoes were the fashion trends of the late 60s.
SOCIETY roles
-Women
During the 60s women from WWII baby boom were beginning to enter the work
force at higher numbers than ever before demanding equal rights and equal
pay. There were problems with sexual harassment and unequal and
discriminatory actions against women in the workforce.
Since the federal government approved birth control in 1960 over 80% of women
were using the contractions. This affected the rate of child birth significantly as
less children were being born.
SOCIETY roles
-African Americans
African Americans were still being treated unfairly, although in
the 60s a number of legislations were passed to help them out
including the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, that banned
discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin
in employment practices and public accommodations, the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, that restored and protected voting
rights, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, that banned
discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African
Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the
country young people both white and black were inspired to
action.
Religion
 The mainline Protestantism no longer
represented all of society's spiritual interests in
the 1960s because the baby boom produced a
large population that had different ideas and
opinions which gave birth to more complex
diverse religious groups and practices. There
was an increase in the belief of separation of
church and state.