Tahsinur Rahim, Grade 12
UWC-USA
If a time machine popped in the middle of my living room, and I had the chance to travel to a particular year I would go back in time to 1969. Why? During the 1960s there was a particular cultural revolution going on, and that was called: The Swinging Sixties.
According to Historic UK, “By the 1960s, the first teenage generation free from conscription emerged in Britain. Young people were finally given a voice and freedom to do what they wanted.” Teenagers no longer had to worry about being enlisted for the army and being sent halfway across the world to fight another army, harming innocent civilians, and risking death in warfare. Furthermore, the parents of those teenagers fought in the second world war and wanted their kids to enjoy their youth unlike what they had to go through. So teenagers were given the freedom to express what they wanted to do. Hence a culture shift happened during that era.
Although 1969 would be the last year of that era, it is the one year where a lot has happened, and it is a good year to look back at the decade itself. One place I would stop by in 1969 would be London, UK, where I would stop by the Apple Records building to watch the Beatles Rooftop concert that happened on the 30th of January. That would be their last live performance ever and signalled the end of the ‘British Invasion’ and ‘Mersey Beat’. That performance was impromptu and it caught every pedestrian by surprise. People would look up at the roof of the Apple Records building and would see the most influential band, and arguably the best, of all time perform on the rooftop, their last time together as a band. Eventually, the police came in to stop the performance but they even enjoyed watching the band perform! (Historic Newspaper).
Another event that was influential that year was the Apollo 11 moon landing. That summer concluded the space race between the cold war nations and deemed the United States the winner of the space race. I would visit the Kennedy Space Centre and watch the scientists and engineers behind the computer screens help the astronauts on Apollo 11 land on the moon. I could only imagine the jubilation that ensued when the astronauts landed on the moon. In the grand scheme of things, this would be the biggest technological advancement in that decade, and maybe still is the biggest technological achievement ever to this day (Historic Newspaper).
Finally, an event I would love to see in the year 1969 would be the Woodstock Music Festival. At the time, the United States was still engaged in the Vietnam war, and a lot of the youth at the time were very much opposed to the war. So people would use music as a message for peace and love and protest against the war in Vietnam. That’s why, around 400,000 attendees went to the Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, New York. Famous artists and bands were there, like Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, Jefferson Airplane and many more! Eventually, there would be some chaos. Two concertgoers would die. But regardless, this was still a famous moment of that decade, where it demonstrated the youth’s frustration with the war in Vietnam (Historic Newspaper).
Bibliography
Newspapers, H., 2022. Timeline of 1969 Events - Historic Newspapers. [online] Historic Newspapers. Available at: <https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/blog/a-year-in-history-timeline-of-1969-events/#January> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Watson, K., 2022. The 1960s, The Decade that Shook Britain. [online] Historic UK. Available at: <https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-1960s-The-Decade-that-Shook-Britain/> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Evra, J., 2022. Woodstock at 50: fascinating facts about the weekend that defined a generation | CBC Radio. [online] CBC. Available at: <https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/blog/woodstock-at-50-fascinating-facts-about-the-weekend-that-defined-a-generation-1.5245497> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Image Courtesy: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/music/woodstock-1969-memorabilia.html
According to Historic UK, “By the 1960s, the first teenage generation free from conscription emerged in Britain. Young people were finally given a voice and freedom to do what they wanted.” Teenagers no longer had to worry about being enlisted for the army and being sent halfway across the world to fight another army, harming innocent civilians, and risking death in warfare. Furthermore, the parents of those teenagers fought in the second world war and wanted their kids to enjoy their youth unlike what they had to go through. So teenagers were given the freedom to express what they wanted to do. Hence a culture shift happened during that era.
Although 1969 would be the last year of that era, it is the one year where a lot has happened, and it is a good year to look back at the decade itself. One place I would stop by in 1969 would be London, UK, where I would stop by the Apple Records building to watch the Beatles Rooftop concert that happened on the 30th of January. That would be their last live performance ever and signalled the end of the ‘British Invasion’ and ‘Mersey Beat’. That performance was impromptu and it caught every pedestrian by surprise. People would look up at the roof of the Apple Records building and would see the most influential band, and arguably the best, of all time perform on the rooftop, their last time together as a band. Eventually, the police came in to stop the performance but they even enjoyed watching the band perform! (Historic Newspaper).
Another event that was influential that year was the Apollo 11 moon landing. That summer concluded the space race between the cold war nations and deemed the United States the winner of the space race. I would visit the Kennedy Space Centre and watch the scientists and engineers behind the computer screens help the astronauts on Apollo 11 land on the moon. I could only imagine the jubilation that ensued when the astronauts landed on the moon. In the grand scheme of things, this would be the biggest technological advancement in that decade, and maybe still is the biggest technological achievement ever to this day (Historic Newspaper).
Finally, an event I would love to see in the year 1969 would be the Woodstock Music Festival. At the time, the United States was still engaged in the Vietnam war, and a lot of the youth at the time were very much opposed to the war. So people would use music as a message for peace and love and protest against the war in Vietnam. That’s why, around 400,000 attendees went to the Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, New York. Famous artists and bands were there, like Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, Jefferson Airplane and many more! Eventually, there would be some chaos. Two concertgoers would die. But regardless, this was still a famous moment of that decade, where it demonstrated the youth’s frustration with the war in Vietnam (Historic Newspaper).
Bibliography
Newspapers, H., 2022. Timeline of 1969 Events - Historic Newspapers. [online] Historic Newspapers. Available at: <https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/blog/a-year-in-history-timeline-of-1969-events/#January> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Watson, K., 2022. The 1960s, The Decade that Shook Britain. [online] Historic UK. Available at: <https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-1960s-The-Decade-that-Shook-Britain/> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Evra, J., 2022. Woodstock at 50: fascinating facts about the weekend that defined a generation | CBC Radio. [online] CBC. Available at: <https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/blog/woodstock-at-50-fascinating-facts-about-the-weekend-that-defined-a-generation-1.5245497> [Accessed 5 August 2022].
Image Courtesy: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/music/woodstock-1969-memorabilia.html
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