By 1961, social music in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village had been a Sunday tradition for 17 years . There was a traditional folk music revival scene centered around Izzy Young’s Folklore Center, where Pete Seeger and a 19-year-old Bob Dylan would gather. Musicians and ordinary New Yorkers gathered to play guitars, banjos, and autoharps—and along with bongos came beatniks, African Americans, and even mixed-race couples.
It was not a concert. There was no stage, no ticketing, no headliner—just people showing up to make music together. Izzy Young had taken care of applying for the permit from the Parks Commission, which was routinely approved…until March 1961, when the permit was denied with no reason given. Official explanations cited concerns about damage to pathways.
But the real reason was found in a memo by Newbold Morris, the Parks Commissioner, who wrote:
"I want to emphasize I am not opposed to the wonderful symphony concerts... What I am against is these fellows that come from miles away to display the most terrible costumes, haircuts, etc. and who play bongo drums and other weird instruments attracting a weird public."
But this is the first time the practice of recreational group drumming becomes a civic issue, and raises the question of who has rights to use public space, and how? Beatnik drummers were just too weird for the establishment, seemingly a symbol of what they found threatening about the new generation.
The folk community saw it differently. They saw the ban as an attack on their constitutional right to assemble and on free speech. A "Right to Sing" Committee was formed, led by Izzy Young, who organized a protest. On April 9, 1961, nearly 3,000 people gathered in the park to defy the ban. They carried guitars, banjos, autoharps, and bongos. They sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the civil rights anthem "We Shall Not Be Moved." The atmosphere was a mix of a festival and a protest. This conflict, between citizens using public space for free expression, and authorities who tried to assert control , would be played out over and over in other parks, with other “hippie” drumming gatherings, across the country during the 60s.
The police were ready with paddy wagons. Using billy clubs, they dispersed the crowd, and at least 10 people were arrested. The first was Robert Easton, an 18-year-old microbiology student, who was singing and playing his autoharp—a moment captured on film by a 19-year-old filmmaker named Dan Drasin. Drasin’s 17-minute documentary, Sunday, is now recognized as the first major social protest film of the 1960s. It’s an inspiring film and historical document. Have a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEvKe2WLumI
This conflict, between citizens using public space for free expression, and authorities who tried to assert control , would be played out over and over in other parks, with other “hippie” drumming gatherings, across the country during the 60s. It almost seems like suppression became the transmission vector - the thing that inspired other groups to assert their rights to free expression in public spaces.
The film is packed with close-ups that capture the key dialogues between protesters and police, which could not have been scripted better to capture the issues.
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