rationing, with outbursts of occasional violence,
but that was not the only problem. Inflation
was also high, as was unemployment. The econ-
omy was stagnant, and it appeared as if all the
giddiness of the 1960s had died by the middle of
the 1970s. President Richard Nixon resigned in
disgrace in 1974, amid scandal and rumors of
hush money, cover-up, and government cor-
ruption. The hopefulness of the 1960s protests
for equal rights seemed to collapse under the
violence of anti-busing protests in the mid
1970s. Hopes for desegregation of schools and
greater access to equal education were never
realized. In fact, the number of African Amer-
ican children attending segregated schools
deceased by less than half a percentage point
during the 1970s. It is no wonder that Giovanni
was discouraged about the lack of change.
However, as her poem ‘‘Winter’’ suggests,
change is always in the air; thus the 1970s were
not only a decade of violence. The 1970s were
also a decade of disco music, tie-dyed clothing,
and love-ins.
The Counterculture
The 1970s were also characterized by rebellion
against what was perceived to be the rigidity of
the past. In the late 1960s, young people rejected
traditional family values, including the pursuit
of money and the racism that had divided
classes. In their place, young people substituted
communal living, alternative religions, and the
power of love. During the 1970s, the hippy life-
style that had begun in California at the end of
the 1960s spread across the United States.
Many young people adopted the labelhippy,
suggesting they were hip (or current) on the
latest trends. Communes were established in
rural areas as separate societies, in which people
could live without the conventions usually
assigned to married couples and without tradi-
tional jobs. As alternatives to conventional
Judeo-Christian religious practices, young peo-
ple explored Eastern religions and tried yoga
and meditation as a way to find greater mean-
ing in their lives. The poet Allen Ginsberg cre-
ated the phrase ‘‘flower power’’ to define the
love-focused hippy opposition to the Vietnam
War. The rebellion of the 1960s focused on
changing the world. That decade ended with
protests against the war and against racism to
be replaced in the 1970s by peace signs, flower
power long hair on both men and women, and
bellbottom pants.
Environmental Concerns
The 1970s was marked by a new attention to
environmental damage and loss of habitat. The
dangers of environmental pollution and the eco-
logical effect of loss of habitat had been funda-
mental to the founding of the Sierra Club in the
late nineteenth century and the establishment of
the National Parks system, also during the nine-
teenth century. What changed was that modern
technology allowed for destruction on a much
larger scale and at a faster rate and greater
awareness was drawn to that destruction. Travel
into space provided a clear picture of the beauty
of the Earth, which resulted in an increased
awareness of the need to preserve the planet.
Suddenly people began to discuss acid rain (rain-
fall that contains high levels of nitrogen and
sulfur oxides) and other industrial byproducts.
Acid rain destroys forests, rivers, and lakes and
the animal populations that live in those
habitats.
However, acid rain was not the only con-
cern. Many factories had been dumping mercury
into rivers and lakes; developers were destroying
the rain forests of the Amazon and of Southeast
Asia, leading to concerns about animal species
extinction; and chlorofluorocarbons were
destroying the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, led to
political pressure to create government regula-
tion of environmental pollution. The Environ-
mental Protection Agency was created two
months after the first Earth Day celebration.
Greenpeace was formed in 1971 to oppose U.S.
nuclear testing, and by 1972, the United Nations
had become involved in environmental concerns
when it held its first environmental conference.
By the end of the decade, concerns about the
environment were beginning to be part of the
general vocabulary and Green Party politics
had become a political force as well.Critical Overview.
Giovanni emerged as a poet during the black arts
movement that lasted for a decade from the mid-
1960s to the mid-1970s. Her early poetry often
depicted the injustices and oppression endured
by African Americans. As is the case with the
early work of many poets, Giovanni’s early
poetry was not reviewed by book critics. There
are ways, however, to evaluate the impact thatWinter