Hillbilly Symbols
In the 1950s a new kind of music jolted the American mainstream: rock 'n' roll, a loud, fast, liberating sound that primarily appealed to teenagers. Rock 'n' roll was an offshoot of the rural blues and urban rhythm and blues music that for years had entertained
SPLC: At least 160 Confederate symbols taken down in 2020 Quote from the article: When rioters tore through the U.S. Capitol last month, some of them gripping Confederate battle flags, they didn’t encounter a statue of the most famous rebel general, Robert E. Frieze is the definitive resource for contemporary art and culture, offering reviews, essays, interviews, videos and podcasts from around the world and three annual art fairs in London, New York and Los Angeles.
The song titles and lyrics of early rock 'n' roll hits, most of which were written specifically for teenage audiences, expressed the feelings of the era's young people. A fair number of rock 'n' roll songs celebrated dancing and laughing, feeling carefree and having good old-fashioned fun. The 1955 song 'Rock Around the Clock' captured teens' enthusiasm for the new music. Love was another prominent theme in rock 'n' roll. Expressing the yearning for true love despite the frustrations and disappointments of romance, the song 'A Teenager in Love' was perhaps the era's classic romantic lament. Yet rock 'n' roll also dealt with teenagers' coming of age, their first stabs at independence. In the song 'Yakety-Yak' a teenager is nudged to complete his household chores if he wants to receive the 'spending cash' that he will use to buy the latest rock 'n' roll hit and the tightest fitting T-shirt.
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was the first enduring rock 'n' roll idol, and his look was as popular as his sound. As he performed such hits as 'Jailhouse Rock,' 'Hound Dog,' 'Heartbreak Hotel,' and 'All Shook Up,' Elvis swiveled his hips and wore wide-shouldered jackets and loose, lightweight slacks that moved with him. He radiated rock 'n' roll style and attitude with his ducktail, a favorite hairstyle of the time that he made popular, sideburns, and mock-surliness.
The Patriot Party was founded in 1970 after infighting among members of the leftist Young Patriots Organization in Chicago. The group sought to improve the condition of disadvantaged whites, particularly recent immigrants, drug-users, the unemployed, welfare-recipients, blue-collar workers, and 'dislocated hillbillies' who had left Appalachia. An added influence was the hillbilly music, or white blues, that was popular mostly in the rural American South. The song titles and lyrics of early rock 'n' roll hits, most of which were written specifically for teenage audiences, expressed the feelings of the era's young people. The father and son behind one of the Big Apple’s most popular pizza shops - Prince Street Pizza - are stepping down after being accused of making racist comments, mocking the Black Lives.
During the decade, the types of parentally approved and appropriate dress for teen boys consisted of loose-fitting slacks, an ironed shirt and tie, a sports jacket, and polished black or brown loafers. Haircuts were short and neat. Clean-cut preppy boys donned tan chinos, a type of pants, that ended just below the ankles, V-neck sweaters, and white buck shoes or Top-Siders, deck shoes. Their female equivalents wore saddle shoes, bobby socks, blouses with pleated skirts, or dirndl dresses, which featured lots of petticoats, and came sleeveless or with puffed sleeves. Favored hairstyles included the ponytail and bouffant, hair that was teased and combed up to stand high on a woman's head.
Teens who embraced rock 'n' roll began looking and dressing in ways that veered from the accepted norm. Teenage boys wore tight-fitting blue jeans and white T-shirts: an outfit that represented the essence of rock 'n' roll rebellion. Or they adapted the 'greaser' look favoring tight T-shirts and dungarees, a type of jean, along with black leather jackets. Their hair was grown long, greased with Vaseline, and combed on both sides to extend beyond the back of the head: a style known as the ducktail, or D.A. White bucks were replaced by blue suede shoes: the name of a mid-1950s smash-hit by early rock 'n' roll icon Carl Perkins (1932–1998). Their girlfriends expressed themselves by wearing felt poodle skirts, which often featured such images as record players and musical notes attached to their fronts, or they wore short, tight skirts, stockings, tight blouses and sweaters, and an over-abundance of eye shadow and lipstick. While a preppy couple who was 'going steady,' or seriously dating, exchanged class rings or identification bracelets, a greaser girl instead put on her boyfriend's leather jacket.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Brunning, Bob. Rock 'n' Roll. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1999.
Fornatale, Peter. The Story of Rock 'n' Roll. New York: William Morrow, 1987.
Gish, D. L. Rock 'n' Roll. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media, 2002.
Kallen, Stuart A. The Roots of Rock: The 1950s (The History of Rock 'N' Roll). Bloomington, MN: Abdo and Daughters, 1989.
Marcovitz, Hal. Rock 'n' Roll (American Symbols and Their Meanings). Philadelphia, PA: Mason Crest Publishers, 2003.
| Founded | 1970; 51 years ago |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | Mid-1970s |
| Preceded by | Young Patriots Organization |
| Headquarters | Chicago |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-left |
The Patriot Party was a socialist organization of the early 1970s in the United States that organized poor, rural whites in the Appalachian South and Pacific Northwest. The party was formed after a split with the Young Patriots Organization. The YPO's membership was drawn from street gangs of Appalachian whites in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois; it became politicized after working with the Young Lords, an ethnic Puerto Rican gang; and the African-American Black Panther Party.
Founding[edit]
The Patriot Party was founded in 1970 after infighting among members of the leftist Young Patriots Organization in Chicago.[1][2] The group sought to improve the condition of disadvantaged whites, particularly recent immigrants, drug-users, the unemployed, welfare-recipients, blue-collar workers, and 'dislocated hillbillies' who had left Appalachia.[2]
The Patriot Party was a member of the original Rainbow Coalition, formed by Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party and others to create a broad-based, multi-racial political coalition. It formed after the United Front Against Fascism conference held in Oakland, California in 1969. The coalition included the Young Lords, the Brown Berets and I Wor Kuen. Hampton's intention was to have multi-ethnic gangs working together to accomplish peaceful solutions, rather than battling each other.
Strategies[edit]
Redneck Symbols
The Patriot Party borrowed strategies of community organizing from the Black Panthers.[2] For instance, they established a Free Breakfast for Children program.[citation needed] They established 'liberation schools' to teach their ideology to children.[2] The Eugene, Oregon chapter, location of the University of Oregon, garnered much community support with their 'Free Lumber' program. At this time in the Northwest, some poor people still relied on wood-stoves for cooking and heating, and cheap wood was hard to come by.[3]
The Patriot Party believed that whites would abandon racist beliefs after identifying the capitalist system as their true enemy.[2]
Use of the Confederate flag[edit]
Despite its association with white supremacism,[4][5][6] the Patriot Party used the Confederate flag as a symbol. In addition to easy access at military surplus stores, the flag was used, according to Amy Sonnie and James Tracy, 'as a symbol of southern poor people's revolt against the owning class.' Buttons with the slogan 'Resurrect John Brown' - a reference to the avowed abolitionist - were also commonly used. Pamphlets contained slogans such as 'The South will rise again, only this time with the North and all the oppressed people of the world.'[2]
Downfall and legacy[edit]
In 1970 the FBI arrested the entire central committee of the Patriot Party[who?] and charged them with various felonies.[7] They later dropped the charges but, by the mid-1970s, the FBI's COINTELPRO program had effectively suppressed the organization.
The group was also strongly opposed by far-right white militias.[2]
In 1982 the civil rightsactivistJesse Jackson adopted the name of 'Rainbow Coalition' for organizing multi-ethic groups to support and vote for liberal (generally Democratic) candidates for public office, in order to strengthen minority voices by acting in collaboration.
References[edit]
Hillbilly Symbols
- ^Lamoureux, Mack; Makuch, Ben (January 21, 2021). 'Despondent Trump Fans Find Solace in Fantasy of New 'Patriot Party''. Vice. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
- ^ abcdefgFarzan, Antaonia Noori (January 25, 2021). 'Trump is threatening to form the Patriot Party. That name has already been used — by 'hillbilly' socialists'. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
- ^Rankin, Alan (December 31, 2020). 'What is the Patriot Party?'. wiseGEEK. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
- ^Chapman, Roger (2011). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices. M.E. Sharpe. p. 114. ISBN978-0-7656-2250-1. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
- ^'Confederate Flag'. Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^McWhorter, Diane (April 3, 2005). ''The Confederate Battle Flag': Clashing Symbols'. The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^Phillips, McCandlish (February 23, 1970). '12 ARE ARRESTED IN WEAPONS RAID'. New York Times. New York. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- Sonnie, Amy (2011). Hillbilly nationalists, urban race rebels, and black power : community organizing in radical times. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Melville House. ISBN1935554662.