January 14 - Remembering the Human Be-In

nPosted on January 14, 2019

Key Points

nBy this date in 1967, there had been some very important sit-ins. This is where peaceful protesters sit down, with or without signs and placards stating their issue, in a public place or in a public or private institution, and refuse to move until – usually – they are arrested and removed.

The best sit-ins may have been in drugstores and food counters where black people weren’t served – they just sat in the seats meant for customers with the intent to stay there until they were served – or until police officers came to remove them.

nWith quite a few sit-ins fresh on their minds, someone decided that the hippie event about to take place in San Francisco, California, should be called a be-in. But, to make it more clever, it should be a “human be-in” (like human be-ing, get it?).

nThe Human Be-In was billed as a free “Gathering of the Tribes”…

nThere were going to be speakers talking about ecological living, learning about “higher consciousness,” and dropping out of the buy-buy-buy mainstream. Speakers would talk about questioning authority and the need for peace, about civil rights and the need for alternative media.

nBasically, it was going to be a big counterculture shindig.

There was also going to be logs of music, with Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and Big Brother and the Holding Company among many other less famous groups. And, frankly, there were going to be illegal drugs.

nWhen the Be-In happened, the national media sat up and took notice, because about 20 to 30 THOUSAND people showed up!

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nAfter that event, all of a sudden there were all these “-In” events, including Teach-Ins, Love-Ins, Fly-Ins, and Rowen and Martin’s Laugh-In on TV. And San Francisco became a mecca for about 100,000 young people – “flower children” and hippies – for the entire summer of 1967.