Power to the People

Though we think of the 1960s and the early ’70s as a time of radical social, cultural, and political upheaval, we tend to picture the action as happening on campuses and in the streets. Yet the rise of the underground newspaper was equally daring and original. Thanks to advances in cheap offset printing, groups involved in antiwar, civil rights, and other social liberation issues began to spread their messages through provocatively designed newspapers and broadsheets. This vibrant new media was essential to the counter-culture revolution as a whole and helped proliferate ideas. “Power to the People” presents seven hundred full-color images and excerpts from these astonishing publications, many of which have not been seen since they were first published almost fifty years ago. From the psychedelic pages of the “Oracle”, Haight-Ashbury’s paper of choice, to the fiery editorials of the ‘Black Panther Party Paper’, these papers were extraordinary for their graphic innovations, experimental typography, and wildly inventive layouts. Assembled by renowned graphic designer Geoff Kaplan, ‘Power to the People’ pays homage in its design to the radical press.