The Woodstock Festival 1969

When Mrs. Lawson assigned this research project I was torn between the two topics of Factory Farming in the 20^th century or the Woodstock Festival of 1969. The Saturday after we were assigned this project I went to Birmingham to see a Bassnectar concert with a lot of friends. After having a great time down there I became even more interested in concerts and wanted to know more about them. I then decided to go with my coice of the Woodstock Festival of 1969.

Authentic photo taken of the miles
long traffic jam outside the festival

To start my research I decided to look in our textbook, American History by Alan Brinkley, on pages 854-856. This is a great secondary source because a professor who teaches history at Colombia University wrote it. His soul purpose in writing this book is to educated students with factual information about history; therefore I trust what he has written. Here I was surprised to find a huge article about Rock Music in the Sixties that mentioned the Woodstock Festival multiple times. I learned that this festival was a legendary rock festival located in Woodstock, New York from August 15-18^th on a remote farmland, where more than 400,000 people gathered to hear a number of very famous rock n roll artists.

The textbook gave only a brief overview of what Woodstock was so I decided to go deeper. This time I wanted a primary source so I went on Google books and typed in Woodstock Festival 1969. One of the first few items that popped up was the perfect fit for what I was looking for. It was a LIFE magazine, I trust what this magazine says because I found it on Google books and because it’s a LIFE magazine; a world famous magazine known for its photographs. This one magazine holds over 55 pages of wonderful pictures that really gave me a sense of what the festival was like. There were pictures of mass groups of dirty hippies sitting on a hillside, groups of skinny dippers washing off in nearby ponds, braless women chilling with their men, a few pictures of some drugs and of course a ton of peace sign. I really loved looking at these pictures because it made me feel like I was part of the festival. From this magazine I learned a ton of details about why this festival was so legendary. First of all the festival was only suppose to be about 50,000 people but ended up being and incredible amount of over 400,000 people! This was due to the amazing line-up of some extremely famous artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana, The Grateful Dead and many more. The organizers were not planning on having so many people arrive, so they didn’t set up properly. Overrun with thousands of people the festival ran out of food, space and toiletries. One reason why the Woodstock festival is so famous is because for three straight days this massive amount of people lived in harmony and peace, helping each other out as they faced the uncomfortable conditions of the festival's lack of supplies and preparation. There was a sense of community created between the people at Woodstock that is still talked and wished upon today. 

Original photo of the stadium surrounded
by the overwhelming crowd

The LIFE magazine had some great information and wonderful pictures but I wanted to find out even more about why this festival became so legendary. I went on Google and the first site I thought was a good secondary source was this one. It is a .org website as well as the website of the Woodstock museum. I trust this source because a museum’s purpose is to educate its viewers with only interesting facts about their certain event. On this site I found out that a day before the festival even began, much of the area around it had become one enormous traffic jam of thousands upon thousands of hippies and their Volkswagon bugs. On the third and final day it poured rain, creating massive pools of mud. The remaining 35,000 people that stayed after the downpour, to listen to Jimi Hendrix, last performer, became covered in gooey sloppy mud. One really funny thing I learned from this museum's website was that there was a “freak out” tent which was reserved for people who were suffering from bad trips on drugs. One key aspect of Woodstock in 1969 was the abundance of drugs. They were everywhere and everyone was either high or tripping. Even though people were having a great time, they were still difficulties they had to overcome. The festival’s concessionaire, Food For Love, ran out of supplies due to the huge amount of people that swarmed in, but this was not a problem because residents shared their food and water among the many festivals goers who then shared with each other. Woodstock really created a community where everyone was kind and giving which is one reason why I think it is so famous; so many people in such a small area working so well together.

Original Woodstock 1969 poster

After learning even more about what the Woodstock Festival really was, I wanted to know some specific facts and numbers. I decided to search the web for an article published on the festival because I thought that this would be one very specific way to get some really great in the moment details. Since the festival took place in New York I thought I would take a look in the New York Times magazine archives. Here is found this great newspaper article on the festival itself, I trust this primary source because it is a real article that was published the day after the festival ended. With this great article I learned that two people died, one from a heroine overdose and one from being run over by a tractor in a nearby field. There were two births given at the festival, one being in a car stuck in the miles long traffic jam on Route 17B. There were over 4,000 people treated over the three-day festival for injuries such as falling off a car roof while high, illnesses like influenza from the downpour of rain, and multiple adverse drug reactions. Another interesting fact that this article gave was that there were over 100 campfires made with scraps of wood people could find around the festival. I thought this was a really fun aspect because whenever I think of a campfire I always think of love and spending time with friends, and this is exactly what the people of Woodstock did. They might have been on drugs but they came together with love and compassion for one another, worked together to live in unpleasant crowded conditions, gathered around campfires and bonded while listening to a number of incredible artists.

Jimi Hendrix performing on the last day of the festival

Through all of these great sources I really got to learn a lot about what Woodstock was. This festival was not just another fun music fest that is a day trip adventure, this festival was a massive group of people coming together to listen to one of the most star studded line-ups in history. This group of people, despite its huge numbers, overcame difficulties and helped one another along the way. They stayed a peaceful harmonious group, taking pleasure from the simplest things. The Woodstock festival is looked at as one of the biggest symbols of the 1960's youth culture. This time period was full of drugs, music and peace just as like the Woodstock festival. After this legendary festival occurred people have tried to put on similar fests attempting to become even more than what Woodstock was. Nobody has succeeded so far. Woodstock will forever be known as “Three days of Peace and Music”. After researching about this topic, it really makes me want to go get a time travel machine, dial in August 15^th 1969 and become part of that peaceful loving crowd. Thank you Mrs. Lawson for letting us have the freedom of researching whatever we liked! Now if you could, help me find a time machine!