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! 

Here are the directions to the research project and here is the contract that I have signed. I'm trying to decide between the two topics of the Woodstock festival in 1969 or factory farming in the 1900's.

A Photograph Can Tell A Story Too

This picture illustrates how the families during the Great Depression did not have money to spend on toys and games. It also shows the high unemployment level during this time period. The group of boys don't have many places to go and play so they play outside of their homes. You can see that they don't have any toys with them showing that their families did not have enough money to spend on leisurely things like toys. SInce the boys don't have toys of their own, they play with each other instead. The woman resting on her window sill shows the high unemployment rate during this time. She has nothing better to do than sit and do not do a thing. She obviously has a lot of time on her hands to be able to just sit and gaze down the street. And since she is sitting outside this could show that she isn;t able to afford air conditioning because of her unemployment. Overall this picture shows the high unemployment rate and lack of money during the Great Depression.

New York, New York. 61st Street between 1st and 3rd Avenues. Children playing in the street.
Walker Evans

Hunger Strikes by Suffragists

In US History class this week, everyone was assigned a topic to research and blog about; all relating back to World War 1. I happened to bring my laptop to class on the day we were supposed to, so I got to draw my topic first. I ended up with a very interesting topic which is Hunger Strikes by Suffragists. At first I just typed in Hunger Strikes on Google and got way to many results so I asked my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lawson, for some guidance and she pointed me in the right direction. With this help I came across three great websites, Woman in History, History Matters and Spartacus Educational. They all provided me with key information about the hunger strikes that I really enjoyed learning about.

Alice Paul

One of the most important woman figures who helped lead suffragists to victory was Alice Paul. Alice was once part of the National American Woman Suffrage Association but separated from it to form the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage which later developed into the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1917. Oh and one really cool thing I learned is that Alice and I have the same birthday, January 11^th! Anyway, back to the subject, while WW1 was going on the NWP's main focus was to win the right for woman to vote. They did this by picketing the White House in Washington, DC. As most strikes go, the police were called and the picketers were sentenced to a few days in jail. But this didn’t change anything in the minds of the suffragists and the picketing still went on. But finally on October 20, 1917 Alice Paul, who was one of the NWP’s main leaders, was arrested by the police in order to break the spirit if the suffragist and end the picketing. Alice was sentenced to seven months in prison and this is where she started a hunger strike.

Woman picketing in front of the White House

 Alice, my birthday twin, would not eat anything while in jail. Alice was deprived of everything she once had while in prison and the only option she had left with was to go on a hunger strike. It was the only thing she could control. Alice once said "It was the strongest weapon left with which to continue our battle.” She was transferred from her cell and into a psychopathic ward. By doing so prison officials hoped to label her as insane. Yet Alice did not eat. Her hunger strike lasted an insane number of 22 days. During the last week of this 22 day strike the prison hired doctors to force feed Alice.

Force feeding

Force feeding is such a disturbing thing, especially during this time period. In this case suffragist on a hunger strike would be forcibly held down by multiple people, sometimes 10 or more were needed for just one suffragist, or the suffragist would be strapped down to a chair and have her hands and legs tied to it. A doctor would come in with a small plastic tube about two yards long and force the tube down either the woman’s mouth or nose and into the stomach. Usually the tube would go down the mouth but occasionally they would do the nose just to scare the woman even more and make them want to eat. This process was extremely painful for the woman. The tube would scrape up the inside of their throat and cause bleeding but when the tube was pushed through the nose it was unbearably painful to the point where the doctor and nurses would have to stop the process because the women would be in so much pain.

Often times the liquid food that was poured through the tube and into the stomach was leftover food from the jail that had gone bad and would have been thrown away. Mixed with whatever liquid the doctors could get their hands on, the food was well blended until smooth. These feedings would go on twice to three times a day per suffragist. It was an event every suffragist dreaded. Many times after a force feeding woman would vomit up the liquid because of either how foul it was on their empty stomach or by the severe trauma they experience during the feeding. Even after starving themselves and forcible being fed through tubes, woman still continued their hunger strike. 

They did all of this so to gain the attention of Americans, turning their views of woman voting into something that should be allowed. When articles published the abuse these women were being put through sent a feeling of sympathy and anger into the American heart and slowly but surely helped change their views on women voting. On November 27 and 28 of 1917 all the suffragists were released from jail due to the public pressure on the government. And in 1920 woman voted for the first time in the presidential election, thanks to the help of the suffragists who went on hunger strikes. 

Woman getting to vote for the first time

My vote counts!

     I find it unbelievable that woman would starve themselves and endure such pain for the right to vote. I use to take the right to vote for granted but now that I have researched this topic I realize how important and what a privilege it is to vote. From now on when I vote I will think about what these woman went through in order for me to have a say in the country that I live in! 

Medical Transport

After looking around for some interesting pictures on this website I decided I would find a picture based around medicine. So I typed in medicine on the keyword finder and the first picture that popped up was this one. In this picture a cargo hold of a hospital barge has been converted into a functioning ward. This shows that there was a numerous amount of injured soldier, so many that there was not enough room for them all. Converting a cargo hold into a functioning ward shows how there was more injured soldiers than people expected there to be. Every inch of floor space that could be used was used during these times. 

Interesting facts

I learned all of the ports that the ship docked at, what day they arrived and what day they departed from this website. I also learned that by sending the 16 ships on their trip around the world Roosevelt was sending the message that the US had arrived as a global naval power. This website has helped me learn all about the Great White Fleet.

Learning in a day

Today I discovered that while in egypt word was received of an earthquake in Sicily. America trying to show off its friendship with Italy decided to offer aid to the sufferers. The ships Connecticut, Illinois, Culgoa and Yankton left for Messina and the crew of the Illinois recovered the bodies of the American consul and his wife who were caught in ruins.  I also learned that 100,000 people showed up for the arrival of the fleet in New Zealand which is 10% of their whole population! In Melbourne, Australia there was a dinner planned for 3,000 soldiers but only 7 of them showed up! They enjoyed Melbourne so much that they wanted to stay out and enjoy the party as long as they could! I learned a lot from these two websites and got most of my information from this website. 

What I've discovered

So far today I have discovered about all the different places where the Great White Fleet landed. They pretty much traveled the world! I would have loved to go on a trip like this for 14 months. It would have been such an amazing experience! One thing I found particularly interesting was that there was a small "hospital ship" following the 16 large battleships. I thought it was interesting that instead of having their own mini hospital in each ship they instead had one large hospital ship. Very cool fact in my opinion. One other thing I found out that was cool was that the fleet on their way to the Suez Canal, celebrated Christmas onboard! They decorated the ship with palm trees and streamers and played holiday games. This trip around the world sounds like a ton of fun to me!

What I've read

I read Noelle, Anna and Brantley's blogs tonight! I really enjoyed learning about Coney Island and the entertainment business there because I too did the entertainment business. I also liked reading about the Gibson girl because I thought it was interesting that that was one of the first drawings that really set the standards for woman's beauty back then. And lastly I enjoyed reading about Frank Lloyd Wright because my house was modeled after one of his designs. I really liked this project and enjoyed reading and discovering what other people wrote. Great idea Mrs. Lawson!

The Circus in the late 1800's and early 1900's

The arrival of the circus is the one thing I’ve always looked forward to no matter what my age. This same excitement that I feel towards the circus has been present in the hearts of children, adults and elders living back in the years of late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Nothing in the show business could match the excitement of a circus rolling into a town. Shops closed their doors, schools cancelled classes and factories shut down all in the excitement of the circus. Families would travel in horse-drawn wagons long distances on dirt roads to reach a town where it was being held. The circus was a time in which families of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s could escape from reality, take a day off from their stress filled lives, leave behind any sort of worry they might have, spend time with loved ones and simply be entertained by the circus.

During this time period there were two major circuses, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s. These two circuses were very different from each other but equally popular in the U.S. Ringling Brothers was known for it’s 61 horse show, performers, clowns and gymnasts while Barnum & Bailey’s was known for it’s wide range of exotic animals all trained to perfect obedience which was once called an “unexcelled congress of wild beasts”.  These two show businesses were in wild competition, trying to outdo the other whether that was through performances, the amount of advertisements sent out or the actual size of the show. Although these two circuses tried there hardest to be different from the other and achieved that in many ways, they still functioned the exact same way.

The circus was once described as a city within a show. The amount of labor and work it takes to set up, perform and take down a circus is incredible. The average amount of employees working for the circus was around 1,000, which consisted of average 800 men and 200 women. The nickname “the army” was given to the employees because there were so many of them. Then there were the animals.  In 1893 Barnum and Bailey’s had a total of 407 horses and ponies, 2 mules, 1 giant and 1 hairless horse, 12 elephants, 4 camels and 8 dromedaries. These numbers varied from year to year depending on the income the circus made each year. They might sell some animals in order to pay the employees or buy a few exotic rarities if they had extra money. Having more and a wider variety of animals increased the popularity of the circus. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s had the largest group and most variety of animals in the world.

Another similarity that these two circuses had between each other was the labor preformed to make the show happen. The “roustabouts” were manual laborers who every working day in Barnum and Bailey’s circus erected a total of 68,000 yards of canvas using 173,397 ft. of rope to hold it all together. In Ringling Brothers there was the cook tent in which 75 cooks cooked 3,200 meals a day for the employees using 4,000 lbs. of meat. For breakfast alone 3,600 eggs and 800lbs of mutton were used. Each circus had their own way of making their city run but in the end the similarities between them were always much greater.

The social structure in these two circuses was built upon an occupational hierarchy. Performers would sleep, eat and spend time with other performers; same with laborers, musicians and every other occupation within the circus that you could think of. It was very similar to a caste system. Workers and performers spent a great deal of their time carrying out their jobs with people in their occupation, therefore they created friendships within that occupation which only further enforced the division of labor in the circus. People of the same occupation ate together, owners, managers and performers sat on the left side of the tent while the laborers sat on the right. Sleeping arrangements indicated occupational hierarchy, the closer you were to the end of the train the higher your position it the caste system. Laborers usually slept in tightly packed bunks while owners usually had their own private bathroom and living quarters. Also laborers slept close to the occupation that they performed such as the horsemen, which slept in a narrow space above or beside the horses. Worker wages also reinforced their position in the hierarchy; the more you were paid the higher your position. The least paid workers were the laborers, which slept in the tightly packed train cars. Between the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s wages were pretty much the same, just like the majority of things between these two circuses.

The circus, known for its big top tent, exotic animals and long train cars was used as an escape from every day life for the workers of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Today I get super excited to see all the beautiful animals that the circus brings, the amazing performers with their incredibly muscular bodies and the gigantic tent that the shows are held within. I know that the people living back in the day had the same exact feeling that I have today. The circus will always be a symbol for excitement, entertainment and escape for people living in America. 

             The big top tent in which the main performances were held.

One of many Barnum and Bailey's posters saying that they are the best circus in the world.  

      A Ringling Brothers poster also claiming that they are the best show in the world. 

An old picture of a group of circus performing elephants getting a nice drink of water, and the elephant men whose job was to care for these elephants. 

An illustration of the "roustabouts" performing one of the many hard manual labors in order for the circus to be set up.

 

A band of circus players positioned on top of an elephants ready to preform. 

My Topic the Circus

Today in class I grabbed for the book The Circus Age Culture& Society Under The American Big Top and immediately started reading the section called Spectacular Labor. I researched the types of jobs people in the circus did, the hierarchy within the circus and how the circus really functioned from an insiders view. There was so much information about this one section of the circus that I didn't get to read anything else. This topic is very interesting to me and I can't wait to learn even more!

Halloween, the increasingly popular holiday

Americans love to have fun decorations, costumes and candy for the holiday of Halloween, but how much are they willing to spend?

Halloween sales have increased by 9% this year, on average a customer spends $66 to $72 a year. In total 5.8 billion dollars is expected to be spent on Halloween items in US alone, an almost 17.7% increase from previous years. On the other hand sales for Christmas have decreased almost 50%, from what use to be 860 dollar spendings have now dropped to 430 dollars. Halloween sales have increased while many other holiday sales have decreased. Its crazy for me to think about how much money Americans really do spend on holidays each year.

Who did Frankenstein take to his prom?

His ghoul friend!

Why were woman excluded from the National Labor Union?

Woman were excluded from the National Labor Union because men believed that women were used to drive down their wages and that woman should be the ones to stay at home and take care of the household and children instead of working. Woman agreed to staying at home and watching over the household and children as long as conditions made it possible for men to support their families. If conditions made it impossible for men to support their families; women argued that they should have full and equal opportunities in the workplace.

Immigration

I think being a “nation of immigrants” means that our country has a large diversity in cultures and ethnics. The characteristics of the people that leave their homeland to go start a brand new life, in a world that they know close to nothing about, are very brave, enthusiastic and hardworking. These characteristics in my opinion helped the U.S. become the strongest country in the world.

These traits have helped the U.S. become so successful by hard work by driven people working in jobs. The courageousness also helped the U.S. grow because without these people America would not have been explored or cultivated. Hard work is ever present in the culture of America and this is because of the determined immigrants that swarmed into the country.

In my opinion I don’t feel very closely connected to the ancestors and immigrants that I have read about because I have not been put in such a difficult situation that they have. I have not had to work extremely hard jobs, decide whether or not to leave my country and I have not had to struggle to survive in a brand new world. All immigrants in my opinion were strong, determined brave souls. 

Faces of America

The TV episodes of Faces of America were about people learning about their backgrounds, where they came from and what kind of people they are related to. One might find out that they were related to royalty or might have thought they were American Indian but actually have more French in them than American Indian. One may learn what their great great grandparents did for a living, where they lived and what kind of life they lived. These episodes were about learning about the backgrounds of people and how they made it to America. 

From watching these episodes people will appreciate the effort and courage it took for their ancestors to come to America. They might learn how people ventured to America or how they lived before they can to the U.S. People after watching this show will become more interested in discovering their own past, about where they can from and the people that helped create the life they live today.

Carnegie's Philanthropy

I started finding out about Carnegie's Philanthropy here. Carnegie, in the eyes of the public, became a philanthropist in the year of 1901. Carnegie became a philanthropist because he wanted to change the way the public viewed him. He was viewed as a harsh powerful business man, but after the view changed he became a public-spirited man who cared very much about the education of his people. Carnegie gave away money by building Carnegie Libraries all over the U.S, U.K. and other English-speaking countries. He funded around 3,000 libraries scattered all around the world. He did so because he believed strongly in the movement of spelling reform and he cared so much about the education of his people. Carnegie also gave 10 million dollars to establish the Carnegie Trust for the University of Scotland. I learned that Carnegie was a giving man and that he loved him community along with their education. He wanted to help the world by creating libraries and universities so that people could be well educated just like him. Carnegie was a powerful yet giving man.